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Virgin Atlantic increases service levels and booking conversion rates
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
- Aerospace
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Virgin Atlantic, the UK's second largest long-haul airline, prides itself on offering a high level of customer service, starting from the point of booking via their website. However, managing fluctuating levels of customer enquiries, particularly via email, was proving to be a significant challenge. The average query took at least three emails and 48 hours to resolve. The airline needed to find a way to improve this response time without increasing costs. Additionally, Virgin Atlantic wanted to improve ticket sales conversion rates and catch website visitors who were dropping off before completing the booking process.
About The Customer
Virgin Atlantic is the UK's second largest long-haul airline, flying to 30 global destinations. Since its launch in 1984, the airline has continually broken new ground in airline passenger service, with a mission statement of building an airline “where people love to fly and where people love to work.” Virgin Atlantic differentiates strongly on customer experience, offering end-to-end differentiated service starting at the point of booking via their website. The airline is committed to pushing innovation in all areas of customer service, holding true to their brand motto of “everyday pioneers.”
The Solution
LivePerson was appointed to implement online engagement across two areas of operation: Sales, where live chat was deployed within the booking funnel to increase booking conversion, and Service, where the priority was deflecting enquiries from email to live chat. Once installed in the sales funnel, LivePerson’s sophisticated business rules engine worked intelligently, identifying and prioritising higher revenue customers, determining precisely at which point to offer help during the booking process. Live chat was deployed only where it would drive incremental revenue or increase average order values. For instance, if a customer showed interest in cabin class, that visitor became a priority to whom assistance would be offered. The system also located where customers became potentially confused or distressed, by detecting simple user-driven errors on the route-planning engine. Live chat was then intuitively offered at that moment to rescue the sale. In the service area, by replacing the “click here to email” button with an invitation to chat on the contact page, visitors were proactively encouraged to use live chat as a first point of contact.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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