Customer Journey Mapping: A Walk In Customers’ Shoes

8/13/2019 Customer Journey Mapping: A Walk In Customers Shoes

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Customer JourneyMapping:

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The Experience Matters To Airline Customers Just As Much As The Destination

A customer journey mapping strategy enables airlines

to identify the desires and expectations of individualtravelers and provide appropriate products and servicesat each touchpoint throughout their journey.

By Julie Dent I AscendContributor

A Walk In Customers Shoes


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illions of customers have

boarded airplanes this year

and have embarked on a physi-

cal journey to a destination for

multitudes of reasons busi-ness travelers, families with

children, couples traveling on adventure

vacations, guests with special needs. Each

one of these, and myriad other travel per-

sonas, has a very different expectation of

the brand promise that an airline presents.

An airlines brand exhibits its commit-

ment to customers so they know what to

expect. However, for many, the first time

customers interact with an airlines brand

in person, when it fee ls real, is when a gate

agent or a flight attendant greets them as

they are boarding the aircraft.

Based on this reality, how do you know

if your customers have the same expecta-tions of your brand at this touchpoint as

they did when they were searching for the

best itinerary, making their reservation or

attempting to check bags? Are you willing

to take the chance that you did not meet

their needs and they are sharing their less-

than-desirable experience with others?

Social media allows customers to share

the good and the bad with the world.

Customers advocate when things are good,

and they promote your product to others

through recommendations. They also have

a story to tell when things do not go so

well.

A bad customer experience posted ontwitter, Facebook and various other social

media channels can be very detrimental to

your brand. In fact, statistics show that:

It takes 12 positive experiences to make

up for one negative one.

91 percent of unhappy customers will

not return to your airline after a bad

experience.

As an airline executive, do you know

what your customers expect from your

company from the moment they are

inspired to travel through to the end of the

journey when they are reminiscing with

their friends and family? How many oppor-

tunities has your airline had to interactwith customers before they get to the end

of their journey? How important are your

customers to your airline, and how do you

recognize the needs of each one?

Airlines today are clearly starting to

organize around the customer. Titles

such as vice president of guest experience

and chief customer experience officer,

which have existed in many industries

since the 1990s, are now emerging in the

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Leisure A couple traveling on an

adventure holiday,

Family/group A family of two adults

and two children under 10 traveling to

visit friends,

Special needs A customer who is trav-

eling alone and requires a wheelchair.

The Business TravelerThis customer is likely to have a com-

pany travel policy that dictates the airlines

on which he can travel and the fares that

he can book. Therefore, he is more focused

on ease of check-in, swift transfers when

connecting, perks that are available to him

and access to additional options, such as

in-flight Wi-Fi, so he can remain constantly

connected.

Couples Adventure HolidayThese leisure travelers place more

emphasis on the planning phase, takingtime to shop online or through a travel

agent. They typically seek advice from peo-

ple with similar likes and dislikes that they

may discover on travel advisory websites.

Two Adults, Two ChildrenFamilies traveling with children have

similar needs to the leisure couple but

have more expectations of the in-flight

experience and also seek a stress-free

check-in process.

Special NeedsSpecial needs customers, such as

someone traveling with a wheelchair,are concerned with connections and the

physical movement through the process of

checking in and getting through security. In

flight, they expect crew awareness of their

special needs.

Identifying Steps In The JourneyHaving created the personas, the next

task is to identify the steps in the air travel

journey from the perspective of the differ-

ent passenger personas. The outcome of

this will reveal the touchpoints within each

step that impact the customer experience

for each persona. It will identif y the relative

importance to the customer experiencefor each persona of each step in the air

travel journey. Additionally, it will indicate

the relative importance of each touchpoint

within the steps each persona found to be

the most important.

Last year, customer experience lead-

ers at Sabre Airline Solutions conducted

research, organized workshops and validat-

ed initial findings that have revealed how

customer journey mapping can identify the

most important touchpoints for customers.

For each step in the journey (our research

revealed as many as 26 steps), we identify

the different elements within that step. For

example, a customer could be concerned

about items that fall within the in-flight

step. Will the airline feed me? What type

of entertainment will there be for the chil-

dren? Is there on-board Internet access?

Within the step, consider the types of

interaction your airline could have with

each of the different personas. Interactions

happen directly with airline employees,

over the phone, through mobile phones,

at self-service kiosks, on the airlines web-

site, and through social media and various

other channels.

Identifying the most important touch-

points and associated interactions to focus

on is derived by combining the weighted

importance of the persona to the airline

Importance To PersonasWhen considering the in-flight step of the customer journey, business

travelers and families traveling with children indicated that in-flight services and amenities were more

important than other aspects of their trip. However, leisure travelers and those with special needs did

not rate the in-flight portion of their trip as high when weighed against other touchpoints throughout the

travel journey.

Importance Of PersonasTo determine the importance of each persona, an airline must determine

how many elements in each step of the travel journey are important to each persona. In this case, the

business traveler indicated that 13 elements were important, compared to three areas of importance

for the special needs traveler, five for families traveling with children and eight for leisure travelers. It is,

therefore determined that regarding this particular step in the journey the business traveler persona has

the highest level of importance.

...rest of the journey

...rest of the journey

(P) On the Tarmac

Departing

(Q) In-Flight21

13

8

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0

Traveling with kids

Persona Importance

Leisure traveler

Special needs traveler

Business traveler

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at that step (determined by the amount of

elements in the step) with the weighted

importance to the persona of each step.

For example, a customer traveling on

business indicated that 13 different ele-

ments were important. Therefore, we may

conclude that the business traveler is themost important persona to the airline at

that particular step. In terms of importance

to the persona, using the example of the

in-flight step, the customer traveling

on business and the family traveling with

children have rated the step higher than

the couple taking an adventure holiday and

the customer traveling with a wheelchair.

Once an airline recognizes what each of

its customers desire and expect, it is criti-

cal to align these needs and expectations

with the company brand. From a busi-

ness perspective, it is equally important to

assign a value to each customer.

Customer ValueSome customers drive more value to your

airline than others. An airline can determine

customer value in a number of ways, including:

Customers who drive additional revenue for

the airline through the purchase of ancillaries

and upgrades;

Existing customer value based on the data

derived from information about the most

recent trips, the frequency of trips and the

price paid;

Likelihood to recommend;

A combination of all of the above.

Interdependent Channel TransitionsIn the ever-connected online world, cus-tomers want data and information that is

customized, aggregated, relevant and social.

They also want to travel with an airline that

knows them, offers them the right information

when they need it, and respects and helps

them. Customers want effortless experiences

that are simple, responsive, highly contextual,

proactive and personal. They also expect that

the experience across channels is consistent.

In a previous issue of Ascend, we intro-

duced the typical touchpoints where an airline

can capture the heart of the guest. However,

with customer journey mapping, airlines can

go deeper and uncover previously untappedopportunities to interact with customers,

providing that seamless experience across

all channels.

Shift To Customer JourneyMapping

Ultimately, the process of customer

journey mapping enables an airline to hone

in on the touchpoints that emerge as the

most important to interact with customers

from the customers point of view. This

enables the airline to determine what it

is doing well, where improvements are

needed and where to invest in solutions

to enhance the customer experience,

increase revenue and grow brand loyalty.

Persona creation and customer journey

mapping are just two elements that can

help customer experience professionals

create a sound customer-centric strategy.

To be completely successful, chief cus-

tomer experience officers need a coalitionof top executives who take an active role

in transforming the organization through

customer experience governance.

While most executives support the

idea of customer centricity, many fail to

act because they dont understand the

business value or dont know how to help.

Shifting the entire airline to become more

customer focused and its employees to

become active supporters of customer

experience, those responsible for the

strategy should identify top influencers,

rate their current level of support and

develop a customized plan to bring each

department along.However, much more is needed than

just a shift in mindset and processes. An

airline should find an experienced busi-

ness partner, such as Sabre Airline

Solutions, that can help develop the cus-

tomer journey mapping strategy and drive

it forward. And equally important, it must

identify the right technology to support

the strategy, such as SabreSonic

Customer Sales & Service, a fully inte-

grated customer-centric portfolio. This

advanced technology provides the capabil-

ity to identify and recognize your

customers, collect and distribute customer

information for operational decisions, and

provide a holistic view of your customers

to aid your airline in fulfilling its customer

promises. a

Julie Dent is a customer experience

director for Sabre Airline Solutions.

For additional information about

customer journey mapping or

SabreSonic Customer Sales & Service

solutions, please send her an email

message at [email protected].

Interacting With CustomersCustomer journey mapping enables an airline to identify the touchpoints

for which individual customers want and expect airline interaction. This approach helps airlines verify

what is working well, what isnt and where they need to invest.

Check-In and at the airportCustomer Acquisition/Retention

Documents

Customer Journey Mapping: A Walk In Customers’ Shoes