Mixed results as airlines tackle social media-led customer service

As travelers increasingly send direct messages through platforms like Facebook Messenger and Twitter, airlines and carriers need to prioritize quick responses to such inquiries. 

The takeaway comes from the Airline Benchmark Report from Conversocial, which provides products to help brands manage customer service on social media.

According to the report, North American airlines respond over social in an average of 20 minutes and one second - much faster than the average time for European and Middle Eastern airlines at one hour, 41 minutes.

JetBlue leads the list, responding to customers in an average of four minutes, 50 seconds, with Virgin America, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines less than 30 seconds behind. For the EMEA region, Lufthansa responds the fastest at nine minutes, 15 seconds on average.

The slowest response time for North American carriers was United (one hour, 34 minutes) and in the EMEA, Finnair (five hours, 33 minutes).

“Even when an issue cannot be resolved immediately, it’s important that a service representative shows the customer - and everyone who might see the interaction - that the company has heard them and is working on a solution,” the report states.

“Issues with travel are often in the moment; therefore, a response must be in real time in order to serve the fast-paced demands of the traveler.” 

But time is only part of the equation. Airlines also need to pay attention to how many inquiries sent via social channels go ignored. 

Industry-wide, an average of 25.23% of messages receive a response, but some airlines far exceed that, notably Etihad Airways (50.5%), Emirates (48.7%) Qatar Airways (46.7%) - all ahead of the highest North American carrier, American Airlines (32.5%).

The good news for airlines is that travelers are increasingly turning to private channels such as Facebook Messenger and Twitter direct messages to air complaints rather than blasting them on public channels. 

Between March and August 2017, Conversocial reports three of its airline partners saw Facebook Messenger volume more than double compared to the prior six-month period. During that same time, Conversocial also measured a 50% increase in incoming volumes of Twitter DMs from air travelers. 

Looking ahead, Conversocial suggests airlines incorporate automation into their social response systems as a first step to identify customers’ issues and gather basic information before then involving an agent.

Visual Interactive Voice Response, or Visual IVR - the term for a visual interface that provides touch and click commands on the user’s screen – is available in both Messenger and Twitter and can reduce messaging volume by 15 to 20% while improving routing accuracy and accelerating resolution time.