Hawaiian Airlines is debuting two-way texting to give passengers a simpler and faster way to connect for customer service.
By introducing the text service, the airline is bucking the industry trend to introduce chatbots using AI (artificial intelligence) to answer passenger questions.
Two-way SMS messaging is an innovative and low-stress solution for passengers to receive personal customer service assistance, rather than the industry-standard voice call and IVR (interactive voice) tree.
Airlines usually send one-way texts to send passengers flight updates, check-in times, gate changes, and other alerts. The trouble with that is it is all from the airline to the passenger, without the ability to reply. If the passenger has questions they then have to call the airline or possibly get help via the airline website.
Two-way communication allows the passenger to respond to texts at their leisure.
As with all text messaging, the system allows multiple conversations to take place over time in one thread, with the history always accessible by scrolling backwards. Instead of sitting on hold waiting for a representative, passengers can simply message the airline, put their phone away, and wait for a push notification when one of Hawaiian’s customer care advisors responds.
The system is powered by LivePerson, a provider of cloud mobile and online business messaging solutions.
Tracy Behler, senior director, online experience at Hawaiian Airlines:
“It’s very popular because there’s no learning curve. In fact, as soon as guests saw the option, they embraced messaging. The number of conversations occurring through messaging exceeded our original projections since we implemented it in May, and our customer satisfaction with messaging has been higher than with voice, while our agents are simultaneously more efficient.”
“This launch is a first phase in our plan to innovate how we connect to customers. In the future, we’re looking to add other touchpoints, such as a messaging option embedded within our app, to make it really simple and stress-free to contact us, anytime, anywhere.”
Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson:
“Hawaiian Airlines is leading the way in the travel industry in connecting with their customers. By giving them a way to connect with the company on-the-go, via mobile messaging, Hawaiian Airlines is simplifying the customer experience and enabling travelers to interact with the airline the same way they would with family and friends.”
N.B. Image credit: LivePerson
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Hawaiian Airlines (HA)
