eCommerce
along with
the world according
to bob
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, June 18, 2009
eCommerce and Airport Customer Experience
As I stand in line waiting to find out my fate on my maintenance
delayed Delta flight, I can't help but wonder how eCommerce could help
solve this problem. It is a fact, airlines will have delays for either
weather, maintenance or scheduling. It's how the airlines respond to
these makes the difference between a world class customer experience
and crap. Here are a few thoughts for Delta, AA or any other airline.
Some of these things the airlines already do for their elite customers
1. Automatically rebook customers on delayed flights if the delay is
more than 1/2 the time of the entire flight. Do this for all customers
2. Use the power of your web site with things like iPhone apps and
Blackberry apps to interface with your customers ( wap sites don't
count).
3. On of the functions of the app should be a missing or canceled flight
4. Send an apology note to delayed customers and include a free drink
or snack coupon. For elite customers who spend more with the airline,
give them a free upgrade
5. Survey a subset of the delayed customer a few days after the event
to find out how their experience was and act upon what you find! Make
this a part of your business process, not a one time study
6. Send delay or update notifications to your customers to their
wireless devices
Just a few ideas that would help any airline deal with the inevitable.
It's how you react to a event that will create customer loyalty
It's my turn at the desk
Bob Steelhammer
iPhone out...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
forest gump was right
Every day online is a new opportunity to attract customers and find new ways to improve your customer experience. At the end of the day this is what it is all about. As I continue to say; people come to a web site and do one of four things;
- Learn
- Buy
- Self serve
- Leave
While most of us want surfers to do number two or number three; buy, convert or self serve (more on this in a future post). Number one (learn) and three (leave) are inevitable. Surfers must learn before they buy; this can be done on or off property. In most cases you want this done on your website as if it is done off property, there is that much more of a chance for surfers to go somewhere else to buy. Your competitors are only one click away. Our job every day as eCommerce professionals is to ensure that we expect the unexpected and more importantly react quickly. How do we do this; measure measure, measure. There is an old saying that goes: "you can't manage what you don't measure!" If you don't have a sizable investment in metrics or what I like to call metrology; you are "missing the boat". At Cingualr and later at AT&T we had a Director of Metrology, this person was worth their weight and more in the value that they delivered to our business.
The web unlike other sales channels is highly measurable and highly configurable. Look at EVERY campaign. Make sure you test everything you do; don't have one campaign, have two and measure the conversion of each, then dump the under performing one and work to improve the successful one.
Expect the unexpected and embrace what you find; but in eCommerce remember to measure it. Life is like a box of chocolates!
Bob