13 customer service strategies for transport companies

Why don’t you answer me quickly? What do I do if I want to cancel a trip? Am I entitled to a refund? These are some questions that a client may have when choosing your business . Therefore, it is necessary to learn customer service strategies for transport companies to capture them from the first moment.

Good customer service is essential for any business that wants to be successful in its field. As the face of the company, customer service representatives have the unique opportunity to connect directly with consumers unlike any other position within an organization.

In this way, a good user experience is very important to retain customers. Not just because it’s more expensive to purchase new, but because repeat purchases have an overwhelmingly positive impact on a company’s balance sheet.

Next, I will present 13 customer service strategies that every transport company should take into account to strengthen its relationship with its consumers. In addition, you will also learn three tools to measure user satisfaction.

But first, review the points that will be touched on in the article.

13 customer service strategies for a transport company

Customer service is an essential part of any business. But, above all for the transport sector, since it is very vulnerable to crisis situations . For example, the increase in fuel, roadblocks, technical failures, among other things. Therefore, here you will learn how to properly serve your customers.

Collect opinions from your customers

It is very important to know what customers are saying about your business as their positive or negative review will help you grow. To achieve this, there are various methods of monitoring customer satisfaction , such as surveys, reviews or the VOC (Voice of the customer or customer voice) .

Analyzing how your business interacted with your client is vital to learn much more about them and achieve their loyalty . Remember that they are going to be the most objective when evaluating you, what better than having sincere opinions to continue growing.

Obtaining this information does not have to be difficult or expensive. A good idea is to help yourself with a chatbot that allows you to send a small survey after an attention. With this tool, customers will be able to leave their opinions in a much more interactive way.

be proactive

Within the feedback, it is not only important to collect opinions, but also to provide a change response . When a customer reaches out to explain their negative experience or writes a bad review on social media, there’s an opportunity to improve your customers’ experience .

Closing the communication loop means that a company responds directly to customer feedback , regardless of whether it is positive or negative. If there is a complaint, you can offer to make changes to prevent a recurrence of the problem or offer a discount on a future purchase.

On the other hand, if a customer leaves a positive review about your service and you respond by thanking them, this gesture can increase loyalty and turn your consumers into promoters of your brand.

Offers multilingual service  

Land transport is closely linked to tourism. And this implies having contact with people from different parts of the world. Therefore, in this area you must also offer a high quality service in several languages . At least, English, which is the most universal language.

Offering multilingual customer support ensures a better experience as no information is lost in a translation that can be inefficient. In this way, you will be able to foster stronger and lasting relationships with your customers , no matter what country they come from or what language they speak.

Train all your staff

Regardless of the business tactics and technology you may be using, you should take advantage of every interaction opportunity to demonstrate the human side of your business.

In an industry where many problems can arise, such as that of a transport company, customers expect communication with empathy and understanding when they interact with real people.

This is the reason why the customer service strategy must cover all areas of the company. Each worker should be trained according to how their roles affect the customer.

Proper training and orientation keep all team members on the same page and offer users consistent service standards.

Create a customer service manual

Establish goals and objectives through a customer service manual. This manual should reflect the training and include pointers on the organization’s customer service expectations.

Issues ranging from handling dissatisfied customers to mechanical and system issues must be addressed. Also, it is advisable to include basic but essential aspects such as properly greeting customers and thanking them for their concerns and comments.

Anticipate peak seasons

Your customer service strategy should take into account the expected periods of high and low activity for a transport company . Make sure you are aware of events that will affect workflow management and staffing, such as the holiday season, holidays, start of school calendars, etc.

Offers 24/7 service

Ground travel, domestically and internationally, often doesn’t stop, so many customers are unable or unwilling to wait until office hours to seek resolution to their queries.

For that, I recommend you to use chatbots . This tool allows you to send automated messages without the need for service agents to be online . With a chatbot, the client will be able to know the status of their trip, the cost of tickets, bus schedules, and much more.

Have multiple channels: beyond email

Email and phone calls are the standard model for interacting with customers. But, you can offer more communication channels, such as WhatsApp , Instagram, a live chat within your website , among other channels. The idea is that your customers feel comfortable on their favorite channel.

Also, make sure you understand which channels are consuming the most time or receiving the most complaints, so you can prioritize. For this, I recommend that you have an omnichannel platform , since it integrates all your service channels, which facilitates better monitoring.

Managing customer service in an omnichannel way is a time-consuming task if you don’t use software that centralizes incoming interactions . If you are forced to use several programs at the same time, you run the risk of taking too long and even losing important messages.

Invest in self-service solutions

Self – service solutions help customers solve problems on their own , saving them and the organization time . Tools such as chatbots can create a better experience for users who use the web to buy tickets or contract the parcel service.

If they can easily find an answer in the FAQ, you will not only have more satisfied customers, but also fewer calls or chats to attend.

Implement specialized customer service software

Many companies, regardless of their size, use software to better support and implement their new customer service strategies . This type of technology allows you automations, personalization of messages , easy collaboration between staff, data analysis, etc.

If you decide to invest in customer service software, a good option is Ticker . With this platform you will be able to unify service channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in a single conversation thread.

It also allows you to create chatbots for all your service channels . In addition, to offer multi-agent service and ease of access without the need to be in offices. It can be used from different positives.

Create a Customer Journey

The Customer Journey (or customer journey) is the set of interactions that a consumer has with a company in the process of acquiring a product or service. For example, this would be an example of the trip you would take if you wanted to buy a bus ticket :

• You receive a WhatsApp with a special offer to travel because a holiday date is coming up.
• You like the discount, so you click the link and go to the carrier’s website to enter your travel dates.
• You see the prices , the terms and conditions and you buy the tickets.
• Within a few seconds your reservation is confirmed by WhatsApp, you receive the confirmation email of the purchase and the tickets with the QR code.
• On the day of the trip, you arrive at the terminal and show the printed ticket or the QR code to board the bus.
• At the end of the trip you receive an email to rate your experience and if you wish, leave comments, recommendations or complaints.

Each step that occurs within a Customer Journey are called contact points or touchpoints , which are the various interactions that can occur between the user and the organization.

The implementation of this guide should be seen as an opportunity to build relationships that will lead to more sales in the future and not just as a way to solve problems as they arise.

Implement a long-term program

Building long-term programs are great opportunities to build customer loyalty and turn them into brand advocates.

Customer-oriented programs like rewards and special offers make consumers feel like their individual experience matters . In this way, they share their experience with new consumers as if it were a friend you can trust.

Communicate the culture of your business

Some customers will like to know more about your company and brand values. Therefore, give your customers the option to access your company’s information . Many like to know what the care team is or who the founders are. This increases trust in your business.

3 tools to measure customer satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

There are many ways to measure customer satisfaction, but the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is one of the most popular . Questions such as: what is your level of satisfaction with the service provided? o Did the customer service department provide a quick and adequate response?

These questions are evaluated by customers with ratings that can range from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 . Also, terms ranging from “Totally satisfied to “Totally dissatisfied” can be used.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score is a measure of customer satisfaction that asks respondents how likely they are to recommend a brand to someone else .

The response options are on a scale from 0 to 10 , where 0 is “not at all likely” and 10 is “extremely likely”, while 5 is neutral.

With the results, customers can be categorized as follows:

• Promoters (9 or 10): These are customers whose experience was satisfactory and therefore are loyal to the brand. They would be willing to buy more and recommend the product or service.
• Passive: (7 or 8): They are satisfied customers, but not loyal, so they can go to the competition.
• Detractors (from 0 to 6):  They are dissatisfied customers who can send negative comments to their acquaintances.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

The Custommer Effor Score (CES) is an indicator that provides information on how complicated or easy it was for the customer to acquire a product or service . Additionally, it allows estimating if adjustments or changes are necessary, for example, in customer service to improve the general user experience.

Respondents are presented with a series of situations, for example: To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “the company has helped me resolve my doubts regarding my scheduled trip”.

Then, people must choose within a Likert scale  of five points, or seven if more precise results are wanted.

conclusion

Currently, customers of transport companies expect a quality service and effective communication channels to resolve their doubts or present complaints or inconveniences. Automated and personalized attention can help your business reduce costs by improving your customer experience and retaining them along the way.

In addition, it is important to consider that, for good care in this sector, prevention is the key to success. As you have already read, there are many factors that can generate conflict with your customers . Therefore, it is necessary to know what to do in these situations.