6 customer experience lessons to put a travel startup on the map

When you are a startup trying to build brand awareness the one area you can’t afford to slip up on is customer experience

It goes without saying that startups have to be nimble and flexible. But sometimes being flexible throws up interesting challenges. Take Rocketrip, a start up that integrates company travel policy with real-time trip pricing and availability to enable savings on all fronts.

“The platform works regardless of where or how travel is booked and this flexibility is something employees love and something we work hard to maintain,” says Jennifer Greene, Rocketrip’s VP, customer operations.

But it does mean there are new challenges when it comes to servicing customers. One of the biggest is working out how to engage with the variety of people using the platform. “We receive instant chats from those who want an immediate response and emails from people less comfortable with that. Then some people want to talk on the phone,” says Greene. To make matters more complicated, adapting to the preferences of users varies by company and person.

By working to provide as many touch points as possible, Rocketrip has learnt the following lessons:

1.     Avoid building in silos:

Individual employee feedback is critical to the design of the Rocketrip platform. The company confronts every problem, but in a systematic manner. “If one of our customers faces a problem, others will likely follow.

We’re careful to avoid building ‘in silos’ based on what we think users might be experiencing

That said, we’re careful to avoid building ‘in silos’ based on what we think users might be experiencing. We also don't base our judgments off singular data points. Maintaining strong communication levels to ensure we’re solving tangible problems is key,” says Greene.

2.     Ensure the response comes from a relevant team member to show accountability

The company has people handling its chat function on the site, conducting customer feedback sessions, and fielding questions via email. Users reach out with questions and enjoy responses from our account management team, an engineer, or even the CEO depending on what they’re asking, of course. “This sort of all-hands-on-deck atmosphere gives our customers the comfort of knowing their questions are being handled thoughtfully and thoroughly,” says Greene.

3.     Take suggestions on board

Rocketrip aims to target seasoned users of the platform, as well as newcomers. Feedback has led to minor user interface and user experience changes, as well as new features. One example was to incorporate a suggestion to ‘gift’ points to fellow employees. “This was a fantastic idea from an employee who does not book her own travel. She felt that rewards should be given to the person who booked the flight and she can now do so right in the system,” shared Greene. Another employee suggested showing off points earned by individual employees in a ranking system to increase competition among employees using Rocketrip. This resulted in the launch of the Leaderboard. 

4.     Tailor your offering

 It’s true to say that some features don’t work for everybody and Rocketrip is quick to respond when new features aren’t gaining traction. “All our customers are different and we have found it beneficial to tailor our product for different cultures,” says Greene. For example, one client requested they remove the leaderboard, as they felt it would be unfair for those who do not travel as often.

5.     Measure emotion

The company evaluates the performance of customer-related initiatives by the happiness level of its customers. “If the customer is pleased, we know we’re moving in the right direction. The level of engagement with tools such as our instant chat, and ‘user voice’ (a tool designed to collect product feedback from users) is also a measurement of these initiatives,” explains Greene.

Direct confirmation from the employee is the best way to ascertain happiness

“Direct confirmation from the employee is the best way to ascertain happiness, and there’s no better feeling than hearing that from them directly,” she says. The happier they are, they more likely they are to continue booking budgets, generating savings and thus earning cash to redeem for rewards. “That said we track the number of budgets saved as a key metric of engagement.”

6.     Make it simple for teams to collaborate:

Feedback is shared with the entire team as the initial step to solve customer problems collaboratively.  Then the information is organised into categories:

  • Feelings about the product (positive or negative)
  • Product-related issues (ie. Bugs-to-fix or language-to-adjust)
  • Ideas about how improve the product’s functionality (nice-to-have vs need-to-have, etc.)

In essence, Rocketrip prioritises customer service, but aims to satisfying the needs of many users as opposed to just an individual, says Greene.

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