There's no two ways about it, with the value of the dollar and the cost of fuel (even after its recent 20% fall) the airline industry is not having an easy time staying out of the red but maybe if one of them tried listening to their customers and responding they'd be able to make some actual money and gain an edge over the competition. When it comes to advocates, airlines have spent decades building relationships and have some of the loyal customers almost any business many of whom are clamoring to give input and share their concerns. Yet instead of listening and growing relationships, the airlines turn their backs and continue to invest in acquisition as if there's an endless number of customers - and unfortunately it's not just airlines doing this.
Like many industries, the airlines have been slow to adopt social tools and few have much in the way of community on their websites of any sort [note: there are a few airlines starting to get it with blogs out there including Southwest's, Delta's & Open Skies by British Airways which are all a great start]. But what I'm talking about when I say community is a dialogue - customers talking to each other and the airlines talking back to them, fielding questions, responding to suggestions and even allowing people to get up and tell stories, share photos, trip ideas, menus and all the other items you find on the numerous third party communities today but in a more formalized way that fosters a relationship and shows their commitment to each other.
And why not do it? Unlike with many industries, the airlines know who their top customers are and talk to them all the time. Hundreds of millions of people collect miles many of whom want more and would be likely to stick with an airline if it gave them better service and many would be happy to share their ideas but the true frequent fliers which are the big revenue generators are already sticking around and are itching to be heard. For these customers, cheapest isn't the only thing to consider - status means a lot of perks so loyalty is already there, but with service waning and no one listening, loyalty changes.
What I'm suggesting is empowering people, be it the top elites, the general membership or both, to communicate with the airline in a forum where the airline has people who can actually make decisions and solve problems, not just pass them off to the next person on the chain. Like with so many businesses and industries, people are already talking, sharing their experience, griping about their problems, even offering suggestions and doing all of it in places that other companies profit from without the airlines getting any of the benefits they would, and nothing is going to stop the discussion positive or negative. By asking and interacting with people on their own sites in their own environment the airlines get the chance to open the door in a way where people acknowledge their effort and appreciate their service. By listening and making it clear that they want to act people become advocates and advocates bring business in.
There are of course some things the airlines are doing to stay connected - many have started monitoring third party communities and while I'd like to think it's to stay advised of issues, from the discussions I've seen, one gets the feeling that a lot of it is to enforce their policies surrounding what employees say and to stop the trading of airline miles and other items. Not exactly the best use of resources or a good way to build PR but that's where they seem to have their attention.
Indeed the airlines seem intent on taking an old world approach - gripe about the operating costs, put polices in place which frustrate customers and employees, use resources to track down "abuse" instead of helping the customer and turn to advertising to bring in new faces to drive revenue. But the truth is people are too connected with each other in this world to offer them a bad service and get away with it. And while many customers have to fly and will continue to fly, if all the airlines do is ignore their them, they'll also continue to be in a position of playing price wins instead of brand wins -- even frequent fliers don't last forever and when they see their benefits erode, so does their loyalty.
In the past listening meant focus groups and surveys, it meant costly research projects and thousands of man hours. While there's still a need for resources and time, the turn around on questions and feedback once a company gets things going is amazingly quick and unlike with traditional research, by getting involved there's an opportunity to influence customers on the fly, to solve issues and be seen taking the "right" stance. If the airlines chose to participate in this new methodology and embrace their customers as influencers of the brand rather than just users of it, they'd benefit immensely from direct business and a positive word of mouth factor. It's amazing just how good of things people will say when they're given a little response from a company, a little sense that they matter. By continuing to stay "old world" and ignoring the customer's attempts to aid their businesses, well, they end up the subject of bad reviews, unresolved issues and leave a bad taste in people's mouth that sure doesn't help make sales.
From my seat the airline that takes the time to listen and respond, even if they can't do everything the customers want (nor should anyone expect them to do "everything"), will pick up business right and left - frequent fliers want an airline that values their business and the casual traveler wants a good experience - listen to them and win. It's a simple theory and yes, easier said than done but if they don't try, how can they make any impact? And of course it's not just the airlines who would benefit from listening and nurturing the relationships they have with their customers today... many businesses are in desperate need of a little cleanup to their public image and would benefit from its impact on their bottom line.
Curios about what's being said about the airline world today? Checkout Flyertalk.com, a frequent flier discussion forum with over 175,000 members and over 10 million posts, trip reviews and stories on just about every airline and air program out there.
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