A recent analyst report published by Forrester Research cites that cross-channel tools like click to call “give travel technology pessimists the confidence and comfort to engage with you online, providing a virtual safety net for the customer should a problem occur.” (Understanding Travel’s Technology Pessimists, Forrester Research, January 18, 2007). In Spanair’s case, the airline found that users overlooked error messages generated when required fields were not completed during the reservation process. Oftentimes, these users would not understand why they could not proceed, so they would abandon the site completely. Spanair needed a way to rescue these customers, so it turned to eStara’s Click to Call.

Click to Call allowed customers to connect with a Spanair agent directly from its Web site, plus eStara’s real-time reporting helped Spanair identify sections of its site that would lead to abandonment. According to Carolina Robles, a booking agent at Spanair, “With eStara, our sales results have increased significantly. Error pages that once provoked abandonment are now driving sales.

As a result of its Click to Call program, Spanair not only provides personalized service over the phone, but also is able to streamline its online booking process to reduce Web site abandonment. A survey of Spanair customers found that 18 percent of customers booked because they were offered Click to Call.

“Nothing frustrates customer more than having to ‘start all over again’ with a customer service representative when they transition from the Web to the phone,” said eStara CEO John Federman. “With Click to Call, Spanair saw an opportunity to identify points on its site where customers were having issues and offer assistance when customers needed it most to avoid customer frustration and convert sales. Subsequently, the company was able to use eStara’s reporting tools to improve the usability of its site and minimize the kinds of errors that prevented customers from completing the transaction online.”

To view the full version of the Spanair case study, visit this link:

http://www.estara.com/resourcecenter/pdfs/SpanairEN_cs.pdf

To view the Spanish version of this case study, visit this link: