A Modest Proposal

Every company needs a geek to come up with great ideas. Someone who knows enough about the business to internalize the challenges, and is just disconnected enough from ‘business-as-usual’ to see the potential in something new.

“Our competitors aren’t doing it, so why should we?”

Here’s an example of an idea that would be quite cheap to implement, yet would reap big dividends for an airline. (Let’s see who is listening out there.) Imagine your feeling if you were to receive the following e-mail or text message:

Dear Mr. Pigott:

Please accept our apologies for the lack of complimentary service during your recent flight from Washington to Charlotte. We’re sorry for any inconvenience that might have caused you.

We aren’t asking for you to excuse us, but rather understand what happened. As you might recall, the start of the flight was delayed by about 15 minutes by planes ahead of us in the runway queue. With a plane full of people making connecting flights headed home on a Friday night, we elected to fly a good bit faster than our typical cruising speed to make up the time, and beat the incoming inclement weather. Certainly, making several people miss connections would have had far worse impact on the overall customer experience.

Regardless, we’d like you to accept a beverage upgrade on your next trip with us. Just be sure to swipe your Dividend Miles Card through the check-in kiosk, and it will print a coupon for you. We’re sorry you were inconvenienced, and our crew was quick to alert us of all passengers in your situation – you all got this same message.

Thanks for understanding, and we want your business in the future.

Sincerely,
Ima Piecafiction
USAir Customer Conversations Staff

We’re not talking about anything that would require immense cost to implement. A simple reporting system, even done through e-mail on a Blackberry, could prompt instant customer-service communications. Airline attendants would know which rows were missed, and unless you are on Southwest, they’d reasonably know who was in the seats to be credited.

How much cheaper would it be in the long run to send that message proactively, rather than waiting to see who complained. Imagine how cool it would be to get that in your email before picking up your luggage!

Technology has given us some amazing tools that we are not even close to exploiting. Part of the digital revolution is the realization you can reach directly to clients and customers with less expense and initial investment. The firms that innovate in this regard are the ones who will get the first shot at brand loyalty with an incoming generation of decision-makers who aren’t just tech-savvy but tech-dependent. The horizon is wide-open for companies to find new ways to put their customers first – they just need to listen to their inner geek, or hire one onto the staff.

(psst – US Air, if you are listening, I really did need that drink. I understand why you skipped me, but you didn’t even try to explain it to me.)

[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, marketing, customer evangelism, customer relations, airlines, airline satisfaction, technology, marketing, US Air[/tags]