Customer service after X (formerly know as Twitter)
Where will organisations get roasted?
On an excessively hot afternoon in June last year I was with friends after a country hike, sweltering on a platform at Tring railway station. We were stuck waiting for a train that, as it would eventually transpire, would never arrive. There were no staff, no information, no announcements, nothing from the Trainline app. All the “official” information sources (Google maps, National Rail app) informed us that a train was coming soon. But some detective work on X (formerly known as Twitter) led us to believe that a train wasn’t going to materialise anytime soon. X was absolutely crucial to getting us home that day.
As X descends further into management chaos and strange design decisions. I am left wondering: Where will customers go to find crucial “live” travel information? What outlets will there be to use our collective voices to publicly hold rail (and other) companies to account?
I want to walk through a couple of commonly experienced customer pain points in rail (delays and accessibility and inclusion failures), explore the risk to services posed by the deterioration of X and how rail companies will have to step up their customer care in light of this.
Crowdsourcing intelligence for delays
As we waited for the train, deprived of any official announcements, information or support, X provided a unique source of customer information and support. Critical information not available through any of the official channels and there were no staff, a situation likely to become increasingly common with staff and customer support cutbacks.
We pieced together a picture of what was going on via X. Facts we were able to source through this channel were:
- How long the delay had been going on: from when customers first started asking questions
- The cause of the delay (a trackside fire): from local news reports posted to X
- The size of the delay: from other customers tweeting about the delay at other passengers
- The impact on our “back up” options: which other lines were affected and therefore which Plan B options were available
- The train companies response: not through “official” announcements but through replies to other X users
This opportunity to “listen” to the situation unfolding from other customers and stations along the line helped us piece together the nature of the delay and make a semi-informed decision about what to do in the absence of staff and at station announcements.
After a 90 minute wait, we decided a train wasn’t likely to materialise and opted for a cab to the nearest tube line. It turns out, this was the right call as no train came for another three hours that day.
What can (rail) companies do?
Obviously the role of X was needed due to an absence of staff and information. While the ideal solution is real-time, reliable and actionable information direct from the organisation there are some unique benefits of information on X that we should try to retain:
- Information on the timing of delays — how long it’s been going on for, how it’s going to last
- Information that is beyond the local station — recognising the fact that customers journeys are impacted by and could divert towards other stations so it’s important to understand the bigger picture
- The cause of the delay: to help customers guess the seriousness of the situation and likely impact
- Provision of alternatives: working with local bus services, other rail companies or taxis and helping customers complete their alternative plans
- Support for vulnerable customers: safe places to wait (shade from heat or poor weather) and provision of facilities at stations (a platform side cafe could be an invaluable source of refreshments and information as customers arrive at a delay)
- The public outlet: an opportunity to understand if the same situation has happened to others, and possibility to learn from their experiences.
Holding organisations to account on accessibility and inclusion
The public nature of twitter means that when organisations do not meet their legal obligations under accessibility legislation, customers can use X to share their poor experiences and use the platform for public accountability.
Some examples I’ve seen shared and amplified on X include:
- Highlighting the legal and customer service failings of ticket office closures for disabled customers
- When train companies are not meeting their legal requirements to provide accessibility such as reluctance to move a train 5 meters down a platform to allow wheelchair access with a ramp or refusal by train staff to meet a train company’s legal obligation to communicate with a Deaf passenger using a notepad and instead insisting on bypassing the passenger to talk to their travelling companion
- The impact of lift failures on customer journeys
- Experiences of racism from fellow passengers or discrimination from staff based on ethnicity or disability
- Experiences of sexual harassment at stations and on trains.
These powerful stories and posts about services that let down disabled and vulnerable customers helps to hold rail companies accountable and forces them to address these failures.
They also bring attention to the inequality of rail travel for other passengers who may not have first hand experience of these problems — like me who as a non-disabled, white, cis-female with a middle class accent, will not experience the discrimination and service failures that other passengers do. This helps us become advocates and allies for changing the industry to make it more accessible and inclusive. Increasingly in our research in the transport sector I hear all customers advocating to remove the gaps in access and service experience between customers. This is an important and rallying cry for change helped by the amplification of failures on X.
What can (rail) companies do?
In the absence of X it will be important that rail companies and the media help provide a platform for sharing and hearing these stories. Private complaint platforms and procedures are not enough and do not afford the same power to customers as X. Nor do other social media platforms.
What next?
With the deterioration of X it becomes increasingly important that rail companies create opportunities to listen to and connect with customer pain points and their complaints.
One of my colleagues Sam Saint-Warrens has had the inspired idea of Roasting Sessions where customers have the opportunity to come together and vent. Or an “open complaints” section on your website where customers can share their own frustrations and add their voice to those of others. Listening to and understanding the pain caused by service failures, as afforded on X, is so important, if we lose it we must find another way to understand and learn from these.
To end on a more positive and optimistic note for organisations, from pain points, if handled right, stronger customer relationships and trust can emerge. I’ve run several “customer care” projects for rail and other public organisations and one of the enduring findings is always that in the “best” examples of customer care at least half, often more, of the examples come from how companies step up and fix problems when things go wrong. If we can rise to the challenge of failure we can make significant improvements to the rail industry and beyond.
If you’d like to chat about learning about your customers pain points, co-designing a platform for complaints or anything else about making railway (or other public) services more accessible and inclusive please get in touch: hello@common-collective.org
