information architecture

the problem

During the pandemic, airlines had major operational issues re-opening services that had been shuttered during travel bans.

Customer support was an area where the demand was far greater than those available to support it. This led to extensive on-hold wait times (72+ hours) and massive customer and employee satisfaction issues. 

One of the tactics we were instructed to use to "deflect calls" was to remove the phone number from the website. 

my hypothesis

My hypothesis was that we were not actually reducing any call volume by hiding our contact information, but rather negatively impacting our customer experience, and opening customers up to mis-dial traps and scammers. 

A thoughtful approach to promoting self-service (when possible) would actually reduce calls, without seeming untrustworthy. 

my approach

I partnered with a UX research specialist to observe usability tests where customers were trying to accomplish flight interruption-related tasks (a major driver of call volume). 

• Accept a proposed alternative to a canceled flight
• Reject a proposed alternative flight and select another
• Reject a proposed alternative flight and get a refund or travel credit

We also investigated the users' experience asking the chatbot for support, and finding the contact information they needed to perform tasks that weren't self-serve enabled.

• Ask Juliet for contact information for the customer service line
• Ask Juliet for contact information for the vacations support line
• Ask Juliet about the status of an upcoming flight (will it be changed or canceled?)

the findings

Oh boy, were our users unhappy! It was not surprising as we had purposefully obfuscated important information and implemented a deceptive pattern. 

The findings of this study (and the recordings of confused, frustrated, and upset customers) gave us the evidence we needed to convince our leaders to let us solve the problem.

the outcome

We were able to get support for three high-impact projects:

1. The Travel Ready Hub. A central location for all information about travel during the pandemic. Properly researched, measured, and iterated upon, this info hub is proven to have increased customer confidence in booking, increased conversion rates, and increased customer likelihood of recommending the airline.

2. The contact tree. It was unclear whom to contact to complete certain tasks. We built a decision tree that helped guide customers to the right agent's queue, rather than waste time on hold in the wrong line.

3. Updates to the main menu. Previously, the contact us page was linked only from the footer (and briefly not at all). We moved it to level one of the main menu and created a help folder at that level to surface self-serve and FAQs.