British Airways Case study discussion
What problem does BA have?
Traditionally, success in complaint handling has been measured by the lack of complaints, i.e., a rise in complaints is negative. This is not always true, as this case clearly goes to show. In the early 90's BA discovered that as many as a third of BA passengers were in some way dissatisfied with their BA flight, but that 69% of those passengers never registered a complaint.
BA had been trying to concentrate on “melting the complainant iceberg” and was especially determined to get the 69% of dissatisfied customers who currently remained silent to speak up.
Is there a need for a shift in strategic grid ?
The 69% don't bother to complain as they feel it’s either too much hassle or they feel nothing will ever come of it. Delving further into complaint data shows that 90% of Executive Club members experience a problem - large or small - sometime during ‘the flying year'
Encourage customers to communicate. An opportunity occurs somewhere on the network every 15 seconds. Make it more convenient to register complaints. Make it truly worth their while. Market your CRM program.
What more could be done for British Airways?
Looking at the monthly data allows us to track any movement of a service issue in terms of complaints and defection rate. Again, it’s worth looking at seat allocation. It rose steadily throughout the quarter, peaking at 16.6% of customers who experience a problem, making it number one. (The quarterly figure is an average over the period.) Next month, we will look at the benefits of after- service Customer Retention and how this can complement solving the problems above.
Traditionally, success in complaint handling has been measured by the lack of complaints, i.e., a rise in complaints is negative. This is not always true, as this case clearly goes to show. In the early 90's BA discovered that as many as a third of BA passengers were in some way dissatisfied with their BA flight, but that 69% of those passengers never registered a complaint.
BA had been trying to concentrate on “melting the complainant iceberg” and was especially determined to get the 69% of dissatisfied customers who currently remained silent to speak up.
Is there a need for a shift in strategic grid ?
The 69% don't bother to complain as they feel it’s either too much hassle or they feel nothing will ever come of it. Delving further into complaint data shows that 90% of Executive Club members experience a problem - large or small - sometime during ‘the flying year'
Encourage customers to communicate. An opportunity occurs somewhere on the network every 15 seconds. Make it more convenient to register complaints. Make it truly worth their while. Market your CRM program.
What more could be done for British Airways?
Looking at the monthly data allows us to track any movement of a service issue in terms of complaints and defection rate. Again, it’s worth looking at seat allocation. It rose steadily throughout the quarter, peaking at 16.6% of customers who experience a problem, making it number one. (The quarterly figure is an average over the period.) Next month, we will look at the benefits of after- service Customer Retention and how this can complement solving the problems above.