Customer Service Management

Customer Service Management

Executive Summary

Mapping the customer journey helps organizations understand the expectations of their customers. The organization, in turn, observes all its touchpoints and ensures that customers’ expectations are met. The lack of a strategy in organizations leads to the occurrence of a service failure, which has negative impacts on customers and the organization. The inability to pay attention to the customer’s service journey caused United Airlines to create a bad experience for Dr. Dao when he was forcefully dragged from an overbooked flight. The airline developed a bad reputation and provoked criticism from customers and government officials. In the future, such incidents can be avoided by paying attention to the customer service journey and finding more amicable solutions to conflicts that do not involve putting passengers in harm’s ways.

Table of Contents

Part 1

An Overview of the United Airlines……………………………………………………………4

An Examination of the United Airlines’ Customers Demographic Profile…………………….4

Global Consumer Trends Leveraged by the United Airlines…………………………………..5

The Likely Expectations of a Typical United Airlines’ Customer …………………………….6

Part 2

Dr. Dao’s Service Journey……………………………………………………………………..7

Physical Evidence……………………………………………………………………………..8

On Stage Interactions………………………………………………………………………….8

Back Stage Interactions……………………………………………………………………….9

Support Processes…………………………………………………………………………….10

Line of Interaction, Visibility, and Internal Interaction……………………………………….11

Conclusion; Occurrence of Service Failure…………………………………………………..12

Consequences and Recommendations on Service Recovery…………………………………13

Part 1

An Overview of the United Airlines

The United Airlines traces its roots from Varney Airlines, formed by Walter Varney in 1926. The airline’s first flight was from Washington to Idaho, and by 1984, it had flown to all 50 US states. The airline is known to be amongst the first airlines to carry Hollywood celebrities. The airline has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, and has a domestic and international route network across all six continents. United Airlines ranks third in the world by fleet size and route networks with a total of eight hubs and is a member of the largest airline alliance, the Star Alliance. The Chicago O’Hare hub is the most massive of the eight hubs. The airline prides itself on an inclusive work environment full of dignity and respect (Munoz, 2017).

In February 2017, the United Airlines chief executive officer, Oscar Munoz, stated the airline’s pride in its vision statement. According to Munoz, the airline “flew right, friendly, together and above and beyond.” Besides, the airline’s mission statement depicts an intention to create an inclusive environment, uphold dignity and respect, and empower workers to serve customers exceptionally. The work environment of the airline, therefore, contributes to its reputation. However, barely two months after the same statement, viral videos of Dr. Dao being dragged from the aisle of an overbooked flight provoked a public outcry. Congress members rebuked the incident and demanded new regulations in the industry. Munoz was also denied a pending promotion to chairman following the event, which seemed to contradict his statement directly (Lartey, 2020).

An Examination of the United Airlines’ Customers Demographic Profile

A demographic profile refers to statistical data regarding the population characteristics. Vital information in a demographic profile includes age, gender, and income. The demographic profile of the United Airline’s customers fits in the general outlook of customers in air travel. Based on age, most of the airline’s customers are aged 18-59 years, as shown below. In the age bracket of 18-29, more people always travel as compared to those in the 30-59 age bracket. However, the latter has 32% traveling very frequently, which is higher than the former, at 27%. Most of the people in these age brackets are continually moving for education, business, and official duty and leisure, amongst other reasons. The United Airlines marketing policies are therefore tailored to meet the needs of customers is these age brackets.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/708545/air-travel-frequency-united-kingdom-uk-age/

United Airlines serves more male customers than female customers. Globally, women constitute about 55% of the total labor force. United Airlines serves all the United States in which half the labor force is comprised of women. However, men occupy better positions, such as boards and executive committees. More men are hence more likely to afford air travel as compared to women who are also more concerned with air travel expenses. Besides, 80% of men earn more income than women. In the markets that the United Airlines operates, slightly above half of the people can comfortably afford air travel, therefore promoting the airline’s operations (Pautrel, 2011).

Global Consumer Trends Leveraged by United Airlines

Customers in the air travel industry follow consumer trends that are leveraged by United Airlines to promote its operations. Consumer trends are habits influencing the consumption of goods and services amongst consumers. Such patterns result from consumer preferences and the value they want their money to create. The constant need to chase opportunities and experiences all over the world is a growing habit that makes air travel a necessity. Customers continuously seek quick and efficient means of travel to get to their destinations. The United Airlines leverages this consumer trend by offering fast and reliable means of travel for their customers across all continents (Sivlia, 2019).

Globalization has also greatly necessitated air travel favoring the operations of the United Airlines. There is a need to keep up with global political and economic trends across all nations, an aspect which makes mobility a necessity rather than a luxury. Political reasons such as trade, governance, and peace meetings have created a need for air travel. Manufacturing and production industries also need a constant exchange of goods and services, thereby deeming the availability of air travel a necessity. Education pursuit has led to a need for air travel, especially amongst millennials across institutions all over the world. Tourism and leisure have led to a demand for air travel amongst millennials, both regionally and internationally. Most of these consumer trends are attributed to globalization, which has made the world seem like a small interconnected region (Sivlia, 2019, p.8-9).

The Likely Expectations of a Typical United Airlines’ Customer

All United Airline’s customers expect the airline to perform according to its mission statement. The work environment provided to customers should hence promote excellent customer service, leaving customers satisfied. Customers of the airline also expect to be treated with dignity and respect, as stated in the airline’s mission statement. According to the mission statement, the work environment of the airline should empower its workers to serve a global market and contribute to its success. The airline’s customers, therefore, expect exceptional service from the airline employees and round the clock assistance in case of any issue. Customers expect to be valued highly during interaction with the airline before, during, and after flights (Hudson and Hudson, 2017).

Customers expect the airline to deliver on its promise of safety and reliability. Security is expected both on the ground and in the air. The actions of employees towards customers should ensure their protection against any physical or emotional harm. Employees should, therefore, not hurt customers, whether through actions or words. Customers expect to be able to rely on the airline for support and assistance during all instances of interaction. In a situation such as the one with Dr. Dao, customers expect that the airline should be accountable for its mistakes. In case of disagreement, there should be an amicable resolution without causing customers any harm or distress. Customers expect convenience and exceptional service rather than humiliation and inconveniences during their interaction with airlines (Stouras, 2016).

Part 2

Dr. Dao’s Service Journey

A customer service journey maps the experiences of a customer during an interaction with a product or service. The service journey maps not only the knowledge that the customer goes through but the response of a customer to these experiences as well. According to customer engagement theories and frameworks, correct mapping of the customer service journey could help airlines understand the expectations of customers at every touchpoint with the airline. Airlines can then tailor their services to meet actual customer expectations rather than providing the services they think customers need. The customer service journey has different stages, and the response of customers to each step helps in the growth or failure or an airline (Dandrea, 2011).

The best way to map the customer service journey is through a blueprint diagram that visualizes the relationship between service components. The blueprint shows the roles played by managers, customers, and employees to help identify the service being offered and the flow of the service process. Looking into Dr. Dao’s service journey, the different elements of the service blueprint were not cross-functional, which led to service failure. The failure to understand the service itself led to the initial service failure. Consequently, service failure occurred at other touchpoints with the airline. A service blueprint diagram consists of the physical evidence, the on-stage and backstage interactions, the support processes, and the lines separating these clusters. Each of these components contributes to the overall success of the customer service journey by ensuring service failure does not occur (Gibbons, 2017).

https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-design-airline-experience-case-study-94329d72056f

Physical Evidence

A customer service journey begins when the customer is attracted to a particular service through physical evidence. The United Airlines brand does not struggle much with recognition being a renowned airline. Dr. Dao’s service journey started when he decided to travel to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was due for a shift. The next step was then to find the means of transportation to his destination. He could have chosen to fly with United Airlines for several reasons, including the fact that it was the only available flight that could get him to Louisville in time for his shift. Dr. Dao had probably not used the airline frequently based on the reasons the airline had for choosing to get him off the overbooked flight (Tax, McCutcheon and Wilkinson, 2013).

Dr. Dao probably found out about the airline through social media or the company website. Based on the urgency of his trip and aspects like the pricing of the flight, he decided to purchase a ticket. The ticket could have been purchased digitally on the airline’s website, through a phone call with a call-center employee or in physical store offering tickets, which all serve as physical evidence of the customer service journey. Dr. Dao’s purchasing of the ticket became his first experience with the airline. How efficiently he was served during his purchase of a ticket creates his first customer experience in his service journey. Answering questions such as traveling first class or economic and how the employees served him afterward created his first touchpoint with the airline (Silvia, 2019, p.7).

On Stage Interactions

On stage, interactions with a brand occur once the customer has interacted with the physical evidence and made a decision to purchase a service or product. In Dr. Dao’s journey, on stage interactions occur immediately, he decided to purchase a ticket with United Airlines. On stage interactions in the presence of a customer, whether in person or digital means. Dr. Dao had as on-stage interaction with the United Airlines brand when he either made a call to purchase his ticket through the call center or the bookings website. Purchasing the ticket physically from a store is also an on-stage interaction with the brand (Albrecht, 2013).

Dr. Dao’s on-stage interactions with the brand may have included him answering several questions as standard procedure for purchasing a ticket. Such questions include where he was traveling to, the time he wished to travel and whether he was traveling first-class or economic. If Dr. Dao had any questions regarding his flight, they are likely to have been answered at this stage. The back and forth questions between Dr. Dao and the airline formed the better part of his first experience with the brand. Further on stage interactions between the two parties include Dr. Dao’s processing at the airport. For example, his interaction with the gate personnel inspecting his luggage and the receptionist who directed him to his flight (Tax, McCutcheon and Wilkinson, 2013, p.454-456).

Back Stage Interactions

Backstage interactions occur behind the scenes. Customers have no view of these interactions, but they support on stage interactions. The performer of such actions may or may not be seen by customers. Dr. Dao had a backstage interaction with the brand in his first experience of his service journey. The backstage interaction depends on the physical evidence in play. For instance, if Dr. Dao purchased his ticket from the airline’s booking platform, the programmer and designer of the website become a backstage interaction. The programmer of the website designs it in such a way that it attracts a customer to click through it. Also, the website is made to be user friendly such that customers like Dr. Dao do not struggle with finding their way through the website (Tirenni, Kaiser and Herrmann, 2007).

Dr. Dao’s experience at the airport has evidence of backstage interactions. For instance, the cleaning personnel at the airport ensure that customers are in a comfortable and clean environment when they are traveling with the airline. The personnel in charge of packing luggage in cargo holders and placing flight brochures in the seat of passengers. Any time passengers board a flight; they find brochures on their seats providing assistance information such as brace positions that they might need in instances such as a potential crash. Information regarding flight laws and regulations is also provided in the same brochures. Such information is essential to passengers, but they never see the person in charge of such activities (Albrecht, 2013, p. 1052-1055).

Support Processes

In mapping a customer’s service journey, support processes aid in both on stage and backstage interactions. Support processes help smoothen the customer service journey by synchronizing on stage and backstage interactions. In other words, support processes support the service journey. The lack of support processes in a service journey would lead to confusion and inefficiency in service delivery. In Dr. Dao’s service journey, the support processes include catering and parking services offered to customers arriving at the airport. Such processes are not part of the service, but they add to a customer’s comfort and feeling valued. A customer is more likely to go back to an airline if they are offered a cup of water or tea before boarding a flight (Tax, McCutcheon and Wilkinson, 2013, p.458-462).

Support processes at airports also include the personnel that direct planes on taxiways. Such personnel ensures that airplanes are not stuck in the runways. The absence of such personnel would lead to potential accidents in the airport, endangering the lives of passengers onboard flights. Air traffic control and other instructors ensure that traffic is flowing smoothly through the airport, eliminating all possibility of delays. Printing companies also form support processes for airlines. The brochures that contain flight instructions and plane tickets are made available to airlines by printing companies. In the absence of such processes, airlines would have to provide all instructions and directions by word of mouth, which would cause confusion and the need to repeat over the instructions. A customer is also likely to miss out on important details which they would not forget when reading on a pamphlet (Tirenni, Kaiser and Herrmann, 2007, p.130-134).

Line of Interaction, Visibility, and Internal Interaction

The service blueprint maps the service journey of a customer into a cluster of detailed action plans. To set clarity in these clusters as described above, there are lines used to separate them; the line of interaction, the line of visibility, and the line of internal interaction. Dr. Dao’s service journey should have been mapped right from his first experience, and the action plans separated by these lines to provide clarity. Having the right strategies in place, such as a blueprint diagram to map the customer experience, helps in foreseeing possible weaknesses and devising necessary measures to counter them, which in turn protects a brand from potential blowback (Albrecht, 2013, p.1060-1064).

The line of interaction depicts all interactions between a brand and its customer. The line of interaction shows all touchpoints which sum up the customer experience. The line of visibility separates activities that customers can see and those that they cannot see. The on-stage interactions between a brand and the customer appear above this line, and backstage interactions appear below it. The line of internal contact separates the employees that a customer contacts directly and those that they do not come into direct contact with. In Dr. Dao’s service journey, the latter would be a pilot, and the former would be the receptionist. However, the physical evidence of the service journey remains the first part of the service journey (Tax, McCutcheon, and Wilkinson, 2013, p.465-470).

Conclusion; Occurrence of Service Failure

Mapping the customer service journey, or lack thereof can cause serious implications to an organization. A customer’s experience with an airline can make them come back for another trip or force them away. An airline should ensure that it creates a customer experience that provokes a positive response from the customer. Dr. Dao was forcefully removed from a United Airlines’ jet, which was said to be overbooked. Dr. Dao was amongst four others who were asked to leave the flight to make room for airline crew that was due for shifts in Louisville. Following the urgency to see a patient in the same destination, Dr. Dao refused to heed the instructions to alight from the plane.

The chief executive officer of the airline ordered aviation officers to remove Dr. Dao from the flight during which an armrest struck his face, and he was taken out apparently unconscious. Passengers aboard the flight were left in dismay as they took videos, which went viral. Service failure occurred in all these touchpoints with the airline. During his purchase of a ticket and boarding the flight, Dr. Dao would have been made aware that the flight was fully booked. Consequently, he would have been able to seek alternative travel means. The decision to remove Dr. Dao from the flight was based on reasons such as frequency flier with the airline, ticket class, and check-in time. However, Dr. Dao had a more urgent reason to get to a patient in Louisville.

Consequences and Recommendations on Service Recovery

The actions taken by the United Airlines to drag a passenger of a jet provoked a public outcry and a rebuke from government officials. The reputation of the airline was also badly damaged after the videos of Dr. Dao being dragged off the plane went viral. Besides, the chief executive officer released a statement saying that Dr. Dao had been “disruptive and belligerent,” which was contradicted by the witness statements of passengers on the plane. Consequent, Munoz was denied a promotion to chairman of the airline. Congressmen demanded that the laws and regulations of the industry be reviews and appropriate action taken. The airline also lost customers who now greatly mistrusted the airline after the incident (Tirenni, Kaiser and Herrmann, 2007, p.138-142).

To avoid further damaging incidents in the future, there are recommendations that the airline could take up and improve customer service. First, the airline should have a blueprint diagram in place, depicting all crucial touchpoints that contribute to the customer experience. All departmental efforts should be synchronized to avoid incidents such as overbooked flights. Errors occurring on the airline’s side should be resolved beforehand, and involving customers should be avoided. Passengers should not be inconvenienced because of airline mistakes. Instances in which conflict arises, amicable solutions should be used before the situation escalates in front of the passengers. For instance, Dr. Dao should have been allowed to remain on the flight, and a person with a less pressing need politely asked to leave the flight (Ofori-Owusu and Kamara, n.d).

Bibliography

Albrecht, J. (2013). Micro-mobility patterns and service blueprints as foundations for visitor

management planning. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(7), pp.1052-1070.

Dandrea, R. (2011). Customer Service as a Journey. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Gibbons, S., 2017. Service Blueprints: Definition. [online] 27 August. Available at :< https://

www. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-blueprints-definition/ [Accessed

2 May 2020].

Hudson, S., and Hudson, L. (2017). Customer Service in Tourism and Hospitality. Oxford:

Goodfellow Publishers, Limited.

Lartey, J. (2020). United Airlines passenger violently dragged from a seat on an overbooked flight.

[online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/10/united-airlines-video-passenger-removed-overbooked-flight [Accessed 2 May. 2020].

Munoz, O., 2017. Connecting people. Uniting the world. [online] 8 February. Available at: <

https://hub.united.com/connecting-people-uniting-world-2247890534.html [Accessed 2 May 2020].

Ofori-Owusu, D. and Kamara, S. (n.d.). Governance, Accountability and Effective Service

Delivery.

Pautrel, X. (2011). Age-Earning Profiles and the Macroeconomic Impact of Demographic

Shocks. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Silvia, S. (2019). The Importance of Social Media and Digital Marketing to Attract Millennials’

Behavior as a Consumer. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RESEARCH AND MARKETING, 4(2), pp.7-10.

Stouras, K. (2016). Online Product Support Forums: Customers as Partners in the Service

Delivery. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Tax, S.S., McCutcheon, D., and Wilkinson, I.F., 2013. The service delivery network (SDN) a

customer-centric perspective of the customer journey. Journal of Service Research, 16(4), pp.454-470.

Tirenni, G., Kaiser, C., and Herrmann, A., 2007. Applying decision trees for value-based

customer relations management: Predicting airline customers’ future values. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 14(2), pp.130-142.