Group Ticket – CX Lessons Learned

When you book a large number of tickets as a customer, you are probably a B2B customer. But I wasn't in this case. Still, in such a case, you want to feel a little special. I'm booking 13 tickets! That must be a nice deal for the company, right? Better than 1 plane ticket, right?!
I felt nothing about this whole transaction. It was difficult, process-oriented and I even have ambiguity. Because, do I have the tickets or not! There is no portal where I can see if my booking was successful.

When I look at this process with my CX glasses on, I have four ideas on how to improve it:

  1. Step into your customer's shoes.
    Try booking a group ticket yourself. See how long it takes to get a quote. Experience the wait time on the phone. Print out the quote and contract. See how ugly it looks. Find the differences between what is in the contract and in the e-mail.
  2. Shortlist simple improvements and have a dedicated team pick it up.
    Especially the contract and communication. Add the "warm customer feeling. Make me, the customer, feel that you are happy with this 13-ticket deal. And see where you can remove ambiguities and add clarity.
  3. Align with other processes that customers are familiar with.
    Align with the convenience of individual processes, especially when it comes to booking an individual ticket. Also align terms and conditions. Why do I have more flexibility as an individual as a customer who has booked 13 tickets? Align and design the future. Think about digital channels, especially if you have problems with wait times in your customer contact center.
  4. Share in the organization, when it comes to customer-centric change.
    I would share these kinds of examples in the organization. At the Group Tickets team, these contracts and practices are the norm. This is how people have been working for years. They have "The Curse of Knowledge. But if you are a customer, like me, who is completely new to this, you feel trapped in the internal jargon and processes. So sharing the need for change and continuing to question daily routines is necessary for shaping a successful future when it comes to changing culture.

This is really about process improvement, but from the customer's lens. So not just Business Process Redesign, but really stepping into my shoes (that of your ideal customer) and helping me. Customer Journey mapping is the perfect way to do this. Did you know that my colleague Barbara van Duin has a great course to learn this. I took the course myself and recommend it.

I hope that everything will be okay with the tickets and that my friends, daughter and mother will fly to Bologna on May 20th! Time to experience La Dolce Vita. And then the experience with the group ticket booking is probably completely forgotten.

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*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.