Great Customer Experience Isn’t Just for Members of a Loyalty Program

“I get to be at the greatest crossroad of customer feedback,” said Danny Cox, director of customer support and insights for JetBlue. Cox was speaking as part of a roundtable, “Passport to CX: Engaging Customers in Travel & Entertainment,” at the Engagement and Experience Expo presented by Loylaty360 in Denver. The panel was moderated by Narina Sippy, CMO, Stellar Loyalty and alsofeatured Briea Berry, director of loyalty programs & supplier revenue performance at Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Steven Neely, CMO, Casino Del Sol.
 
“I oversee the team that deals with all the emails and the one-off complaints from customers,” Cox explained. “And I feel that we want to make it very easy for our customers to complain because we truly feel that feedback is a gift. It is our greatest opportunity. So, I can’t get enough of complaints. I mean that in a slightly masochistic way but also in a way that it gives us the greatest opportunity.”
 
When a customer does have a complaint or concern, JetBlue seeks to deliver the highest level of service possible.
 
“The greatest challenge is also our goal,” Cox said. “And that is to inspire humanity. That’s our mission. Our vision is to be the most caring travel provider in the world.” That’s a very aspirational goal. “We don't to judge our crew members on their interaction with customers based on: did you effectively take care of them? We do judge on that, but did that inspire humanity? I challenge all of our crew members to do that.”
 
One session attendee asked about the shift in the way brands, including JetBlue, respond on social, for example. Whereas in the past the consumer would be directed to contact the call center, social engagement has become more personal.
 
“That was something we wanted to do,” Cox told the attendees, “and that was something I wanted to empower them with.  It brings up the point that they're not going to inspire humanity if they don't feel inspired themselves and empowered in doing that. When you run a call center, you want first call resolution.  We don't want to drive more phone calls or drive more tweets. We want to empower the crew member to solve that situation in a reasonable way and in some ways kind of surprise them. ‘Well, that was easy I didn't have to negotiate.’ We know the negotiation process is just going to cost us more money anyway.” Most of the resolutions don’t greatly impact margin, such as seat upgrades or additional loyalty points.
 
It’s important, though, to deliver that level of service to all customers, and not just weight it toward loyalty members. “The idea is to start with giving great customer service at every level and then it is an attitude of: 'let me enhance that for you because of your status or because of what you purchased,'” Cox says.

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