Burson-Marsteller Crossmedia

EasyJet hopes to Get Satisfaction

von Mark Howells-Mead

I hardly need to introduce EasyJet, the budget airline founded in 1995, which has become the fourth most popular airline in Europe (if one counts the number of passengers carried between 2005 and 2008). The company, which was among the first European carriers to encourage travellers to book independently of agencies, has long been known for open and constructive communication and a progressive attitude. One could say that their business approach – which has since been expanded into the realm of hotels and car hire, amongst other things – helped to boost a revolution in international travel for the common man. The policy, adopted from American airline Southwest, was (and is) to carry passengers for the lowest cost possible. By not selling connecting flights or offering free onboard refreshments, yet avoiding the patently ridiculous ideas of competitors where every “extra” such as toilet use incurs additional costs, it’s now a totally realistic idea to jet across Europe for the weekend to visit far-flung relatives or business colleagues.

My own personal experience of the airline over the past eight or nine years is excellent, with hiccups such as the inevitability of an occasional delayed flight or damaged baggage either being dealt with professionally and quickly, or being attributable to a related service provider at one airport or another. The British “fly on the wall” documentary show Airline, which shows the company and passengers in a true-to-life atmosphere of both positive and negative experience, became one of the most popular documentary series on British television; EasyJet themselves hoped that the popularity of the show would show the public both the positive aspects of the company, as well as help them to see how EasyJet goes about dealing with problems and problematic customers.

Before a change of slogan to “Come on, let’s fly!“, EasyJet used the slogan “the web’s favourite airline” as a play on British Airways’ slogan “the world’s favourite airline“. The EasyJet slogan made a direct reference to the fact that at the time of its adoption, the company had sold more tickets online than any other airline. The web has played a central role for the company for many years, after a single telephone number – advertised soley on the sides of the aircraft – took bookings and enquiries until 1998. From then on, EasyJet encouraged passengers to book their flights online to ensure that costs for customer support staff could be minimized through handling enquiries online, instead of through the notoriously expensive and less efficient alternative of call centres. By April 2004, an estimated 98% of all bookings were made online, thereby placing the internet as a means of communication firmly and permanently at the centre of EasyJet’s pre-flight customer service operations.

With such a history of progressive technology and development, it’s hardly surprising that the company actively adopts more modern means of customer service. To that end, Paul Hopkins and the rest of the customer service team have been using Twitter (@EasyJetCare) since March to answer and respond to the complaints and enquiries of the more web-savvy customers. One can tell just how popular the service has become by looking at the account statistics: in just less than six months, Paul has posted almost 3,000 responses and gained over 1,300 followers. With a friendly and open approach to their customers and the medium, the online image of the company is only being increased; not just through positive Tweets such as the one above, but also through a Facebook fan page (sporting just short of 6,000 fans) and – in the past few days – a new forum/community area at Get Satisfaction. A company which does so much to create dialogue with its customers can only improve its image and, if their goodwill is genuine and matched across the company, hopefully generate a continual improvement in its services.

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