Birth of Messaging Services => Death of Call Centers

Few experiences conjure more consumer loathing than being transferred from department to call center department. YouTube is replete with outrageous, frustrating call center clips. GetHuman built a cult following among consumers desperate to hack dehumanizing call center process.

Messaging provides a path out of this morass, but like any new tool, adopting a better communications strategy demands an organizational change. Customer communication must be the shared responsibility of the entire team, not an isolated task for contact center agents.

As discussed in “Welcome to the Post-App Economy,” messaging presents a powerful, high engagement channel, with far greater usage than voice. And messaging interactions dovetail with consumers’ desire for authentic, one-to-one relationships. But to realize this potential, brands must change their approach to customer communication and empower operations with tools to interact efficiently and intelligently with the consumer.

Current Communications Fragment Response

Travel brands have concentrated customer interaction in large-scale, off-premise customer contact centers. Whether a hotel, rental car agency, or other travel brand, customer phone calls are handled by agents in places like Omaha or Ireland. Over time, these operations have grown from call centers handling a 800-number to contact centers encompassing a range of communication channels, including email and social media as well as voice. These scale operations have some real benefits; their scale enables 24x7 support and lowers customer contact costs. For making reservations or checking point balances, contact centers are essential tools to manage customer interaction.

However, consumers do not use messaging channels like SMS or FB Messenger for transaction processing or account management; instead consumers interact around service delivery and a real-time experience. As Checkmate’s study of tens of thousands of customer messages demonstrates, consumers use messaging tools to ask questions about immediate needs. Travelers want answers to questions like when their rooms will be available, what time a shuttle will get to the airport, and whether room service is still open. The separation between contact center agents and individual locations makes contact center agents ill-equipped to respond to messaging inquiries.

These limitations are illustrated by one global hotel brand’s experiment with

Facebook Messenger (see screenshot). To Hyatt’s credit, the brand leaned in to Facebook Messenger and invited guests to use Messenger to communicate with their hotels.

However, responses were handled by their contact center agents, not the property team. Instead of strengthening the brand, the agent’s response — through no fault of his own — fell flat. Contact center agents lack the tools and context to address the customer’s need. In this case:

• A message to the Hyatt Regency San Francisco resulted in a response to “call the hotel directly”. Since contact center agents lack the tools to easily reach the team on property, this response is no surprise. But for the guest this is confusing. The typical guest will wonder “who did I talk to?” and “why did I waste my time?”
• Despite an initial message (and response) via Facebook Messenger, the guest is directed to talk on the phone. Again, internal systems dictate this response. Since the property team lacks access to Messenger, the only way to reach the property team is through a phone call.
• Response times are challenging for service delivery interactions. A six hour response time would be fine for questions around a point balance, but for on-property service delivery this falls short.

Making Communication a Shared Responsibility

To realize the benefit messages can bring, travel brands must approach customer communication as a team. All employees — not just contact center agents — must be empowered to engage the customer in relevant channels. And teamwork requires tools that coordinate responses and activity throughout the brand. What does this mean in practice?

One inbox to rule them all

Today, messaging channels are fragmented. SMS, email, social media, in-app activity, and web chat (not to mention TripAdvisor and OTA messaging tools or phone and voicemail) each have their own interface. Expecting an employee to respond quickly across all these channels is a fool’s errand that leads to exasperated employees, disjointed responses, and disappointed guests. A single inbox for all channels makes for timely interactions and sane employees.

Play as one team

Travel brands are complex operations that require the coordination of many teams and individuals. Different departments must interact to serve the customer; a request for a car to be brought up must be transferred to parking and a valet must get the car. Shift-based employees must transfer information to colleagues who will cover when they leave for the day. Messages are persistent and easily circulate through the organization.

Build a memory of the customer

A single conversation thread for each customer provides employees with the context to respond intelligently. How often does a consumer get passed between departments and have to ask the same question multiple times? When employees are unaware of colleague’s interactions, this is a necessary evil. However, messages provide a record every employee can access. They see past interactions and customer history, and they don’t start from zero in their interaction with the customer. Rather than a fragmented customer experience, every employee is aware of interactions with that customer.

Checkmate has worked closely with Commune Hotels to make this ideas a reality. To see the results, download this case study.