God may help those who help themselves, but God help the call center rep who must handle the frustrated customer who's been thwarted by a labyrinth of service links. Some companies have viewed it as little more than a cost-cutting exercise. It's indeed cheaper for, say, an insurance company to route a customer to the Web for basic rate information than to pay an agent or other rep to hold his hand. Companies must view Web customer service less as a means to trim costs and more as a value-added element of their efforts to cultivate relationships and loyalty. No industry stands to benefit from this advice more than the airline sector.
Most major carriers are adept at letting customers plot flights and order tickets online.
Where airlines are falling down is in keeping customers apprised of delays, cancellations and other flight changes. Here, the Web is an obvious solution. It's an ideal forum for real-time updates that are easily accessible from computers, kiosks, PDAs and other wireless devices. That's because it's not technically easy for airlines to assemble this kind of information for Web delivery. And the payback isn't tangible or immediate.