Our objective at Qantas is always to deliver exceptional customer service to our customers, but that's certainly not all we do when it comes to our customer service via social media. Qantas' approach to social response lies in our dedication to attentiveness, our authenticity and consistency, and our use of humour and wit when appropriate (meaning we sound like humans, not robots). We also want our responses to customers to reflect the happenings of the broader Qantas organisation so they are able to promote new information and content.
In short, Qantas' approach to social response lies in our dedication to attentiveness, our authenticity and consistency, and our use of humour and wit. Our team is also keenly aware of the activities of our social channels and broader organisation, and will always incorporate and promote our strategies and news.
In order to maintain a short response time, we rely not only on programs such as Lexer, but we also rely heavily on our team of customer service representatives who know how to navigate through the immense amount of questions, comments, criticisms, and praise that Qantas receives on a daily basis. Our team members know how to sort by who has been waiting the longest, which comments need no response, etc. in order to provide the best and quickest service to our customers. We're online seven days a week so our customers can contact us whenever they need—even on weekends. Our team also ensures that every single object that mentions us is looked at; no one is lost in the shuffle or forgotten.
We also adhere to specific guidelines in order to not only sound consistent, but also to represent the voice of Qantas. Our responses also go above and beyond to care for our customer. After one Facebook user noticed that her family's restaurant was featured in our in-flight magazine, she asked if we could send her a copy as a memento. After our team member, Rach, assured her that we'd love to send her the magazine, the user wrote to us on Facebook: "Hey Rach, we just received TWO copies of the magazine…really thank you so much for your help and kindness! Wishing you all the best, you are an asset to Qantas, they are very lucky to have you representing them so well, Kind regards Zhao family."
We also want people to see the human side of Qantas, the side that can crack jokes and make puns, and the side that can respond to your words on a personal level. When our team members see an appropriate opportunity to be witty and clever with their response, they take it.
In addition, our team members are aware of the happenings of the broader social media team, meaning they know what posts are going up and are able to promote Qantas posts and news through their responses. For example, when one man thanked us for another safe flight, our team member responded "Safety is what we do best Georgi! Speaking of which, have you seen our new safety video? (link),"
It's easy for social media users to get caught up in their frustrations, but we can see every day that our customers really appreciate the huge amount of effort our team puts in each day. We've attached photos of just a few examples of the positivity we receive from our customers. The team's effort is also apparent in the stats each month. In August of this year, our team dealt with 89,000 objects, with an average response time of only 2.1 hours. In September, the average response time was only 1 hour. Even with massive volumes, like 275,000 in one month, response time was still only 2.3 hours. Considering the huge volumes that Qantas sees every day, the response times are quite impressive, especially considering the fact that we guarantee every object—whether it be a private message or a public post—is looked at by one of our team members. Our stats also show that as we've improved our response time and protocols, more people have been coming to us on social media to address their concerns. In March of 2015, there were a total of 14K objects. In November of the same year, there was a total of 35K. This indicates that in a matter of months, we doubled the number of people who trust Qantas to help them online. Qantas customers have even begun coming to social before even calling us because they trust that their concerns will be met quickly and effectively.
