After the Great Recession, travel agencies have bounced back as the number of consumers who are seeking of hassle-free travel also increased.
According to the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report of We Forum, the number of travellers increased to more than 100 percent compared to the 1950s. International arrivals reached 1.24 billion, which are composed of both affluents and the middle class.
Because of this, travel agencies need to step up their game. They need to adapt to the changing times and use tools and strategies that can bring them closer to their customers. One of which is customer service. But what types of customer service do they need?
For the travel industry, personalization is very important. Travelers these days want unique and very personalized itineraries. They want a vacation that they could truly remember. GetYourGuide CEO Johannes Reck said that “true success in the future of travel comes down to personalization.” Not only him, but James Waters, the Global Director of Customer Service at Booking.com points out that personalization is very important in the travel industry.
He once said that “as we operate in an industry that is incredibly personal, emotional and complex, maintaining the right balance between genuine human interaction and efficient automation is something we’re always trying to fine-tune and optimize throughout every stage of the consumer journey.”
It depends. Here is a breakdown based on the specific needs of travel agencies.
Different types of customer service
There are six types of customer service — the phone, email, chat, IVR, self-service, and social media.
For a more personalized interaction, customer service delivered through the phone remains as the best choice. People who often use smartphones might mistake this type of customer service as dead or inefficient but it isn’t. There are still many people who prefer to use the telephone and converse with a real live human being than with chatbots.
The next one, the IVR or an interactive voice response, might not work as much as the first one. However, there are consumers who do want this type of customer service — those who do not want to interact with real people.
The second type of customer service that might work is self-service. According to Booking.com, 80 percent of customers “prefer to self-serve in order to get the information that they need.” And for millennials, this one is the most innovative, especially if accessed through smartphones. FAQs and videos are few examples of this customer service. Not only will that but by 2020, 85 percent of consumers use self-service customer support than other mediums, as Gartner predicted.
The third type is email support. This is one of the common types of customer service. It is used by almost everyone. Travelers who want flexible booking schedules and itineraries can just email their concerns to the travel agency or company.
Another type of customer service that is garnering much attention from every company is social media support. According to Twitter itself, “Customer service interactions over Twitter have increased 250% in the last two years.” In addition to that, Facebook is also maximized customer service. It is preferred by 46 percent of respondents by Oracle Retail study.
The live chat support is the last type. According to Comm100, “Millennials prefer chat support channels over others.” Live chat is usually used by customers who do not want to use email and phone. Smart Insights revealed that more than 70 percent were satisfied after using live chat on websites for customer service. Moreover, it has increased sales for companies who have it.
Travel agencies cannot deny the importance of customer service. Having a happy and satisfied customer is important and using customer service to do that is very effective.
Contact us now and let your customers know you value their satisfaction!
