"Designing the brand experience along the customer journey is central"

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE What role does the customer’s voice play in product and service development—and how is it analyzed? In an interview with the magazine «Contact Center Manager,» Judith Rott, Head of Customer Experience at TUI, reveals what her presentation at swiss contact day will be about.FROM CLAUDIA GABLERCMM: Almost nowhere is the voice of the customer as visible as in the tourism industry thanks to review platforms and social media. How important are customers in the development of offers and services?Judith Rott: A major role in any case. We want to offer our customers products and services that are tailored to their wishes and needs. That is why we have developed our own hotel concepts in recent years that are precisely tailored to specific target groups. The TUI Travel Worlds are a good example of this: Here we offer suitable hotels and round trips for the seven most important vacation motifs - from the health-oriented to the sun worshipper to the nature lover. We closely involve our customers in the development of such offers, and the feedback we receive from our guests - whether through our guest survey or in the form of complaints - is also a very important and free quality assurance tool. We can react quickly to acute problems or make long-term changes to our product portfolio. In recent years, we have consistently streamlined our hotel portfolio on the basis of this feedback.CMM: How do you systematically bundle and evaluate the voice of the customer in order to improve - across all channels?Judith Rott: All complaints - regardless of whether they were posted on a social media channel or reported personally to the tour guide - are stored and evaluated in a central system. This enables us to recognize whether it is an individual case and decide whether and how we need to intervene. We also systematically evaluate the results of the guest survey. Just like the frank comments of our guests, we not only use the data internally for improvements, but also make it available to our partners. If, for example, satisfaction in the hotel falls below a certain level, we contact the hotelier and define measures together with them.CMM: How do you conjure up the famous TUI smile on customers' faces across all channels?Judith Rott: A vacation with TUI is a promise - for high quality and outstanding service. Inspiring our customers is our most important goal. In addition to the best product quality, the design of the brand experience is also a key point, and this along the entire so-called "customer journey". Among other things, this means that we are there for our guests at all times before, during and after the trip: From advice and booking to arrival and support at the hotel, right through to saying "goodbye" and returning home. It doesn't matter which channel the guest uses to contact us. This also applies to the Customer Services department. By equipping our tour guides with a wide range of skills, we are able to satisfy 80 percent of guests who make a complaint during their vacation - and put a smile back on their faces. swiss contact day keynote speaker Judith Rott.