Project details
*Confidential Project*
Certain details have been omitted due to the confidential nature of the project. More details about this project can be discussed in person.
Academic | Master Thesis
Year : 2019 ( 6 Months Project )
University: TU Delft
Company: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Categories : Interaction Design, Service Design,
UX Writing
Design: Taresh Ghei
University Guides:
Dr. Anne-Madeleine Kranzbühler
Ir. Ehsan Baha
Company Mentors:
Joost Olieroock
Christiaan Van De Koppel
Tanvi Pande
How can KLM change the perception of passengers during a disruption in a positive way?
An airline disruption is a sudden event that passengers do not have control over and usually leads to stressful situations and negative feelings. Effective communication might help in reducing that perception. The tone of voice of the message, the nature of the information ( helpful, not helpful, feed-forward ) and the mode of communication has a big part to play in a person’s perception of the service or the event. Passengers want to feel valued and want to be heard. They also want relevant, transparent information at the right time which will help them take their next steps.
The Asix structure of information content was created In order to make all information more user friendly and helpful across all channels and touchpoints. KLM can now consistently deliver the most relevant informational content as expected and desired by passengers experiencing flight disruptions.
THE ASIX STRUCTURE
The structure gives guidelines for how information can be created and structured in a way that it’s more meaningful, sincere and impactful to the passenger.
This structure was utilised to redesign the information sent through SMS and email which are the two channels with which KLM can reach the maximum number of people.
RESEARCH
DISRUPTION TYPES
DELAYED FLIGHTS
CANCELLED FLIGHTS
MISSED CONNECTIONS
THE PASSENGER
The focus of KLM is on functional minded and cautious travelers who travel for both leisure and business. They mostly fly economy and take occasional trips. In general, these passengers want a pleasant start to their journey. They want their journey to be as smooth as possible.
Travel Mindsets
-Trips for leisure are usually done with partners or friends
-The trips are planned much in advance with some research
-Spend time at the airport before departure exploring it, eating or reading.
-Many check-in online, but some still prefer to check-in at the airport counter.
Passenger Needs
-Prefer their flights to be punctual and on time
-Expect good information support
-Expect staff to be helpful, responsive and competent
-Seek transparency
-Expect to be updated as soon as something changes
-Prefer things to be properly organised and go smoothly
INSIGHTS
People want to be heard, acknowledged and recognised. They want the airlines to empathise with them.
“Flying for business for 30 years, worst experience ever, no information provided, queuing for 90 mins to speak to someone in Amsterdam, klm staff hanging about with no sense of urgency, laughing and showing no sensitivity to the hundreds of people suffering over delayed and cancelled flights.”
During a disruption, passengers only focus on how it impacts them and their travel plans.
“Our flight to Brussels from AMS got cancelled after we were already checked in and waiting to depart. The result was we had to take 2 flights via Germany to get to Brussels from AMS. KLM lost our bags and cost us a day of out 6 day holiday. We got our bags back 2 days later. Not happy!!! We had preferred seats booked an no refund. We had to buy clothes in Brussels, also no refund. I always fly KLM, but they really lost the plot this time!!!”
People want to feel in control of their situation and need information that will help them take their next steps.
“CLEAR, comprehensible directions SHOULD have been given to ALL passengers transferring from one flight to the other. And, we should have been given additional time to find the other terminal AND gate. No such information was written on the ticket/boarding pass. The time AND distance between the landing terminal and transfer terminal was insufficient.”
STORYBOARDING & JOURNEY MAPS
Multiple Micro-Action journey maps of a not-so-amazing journey
I created multiple storyboards and journey’s of KLM Passenger Archetypes, to undertsand the micro and macro painpoints, touchpoints, needs . These helped me and the klm team identify opportunity moments.
OPPORTUNITY:
Information Inconsistency
Passengers perceive information on four dimensions - Information content, Information timeliness, Proactive and reactive response and Information channel. It is a combination of these four dimension working together that create the holistic perception of information experience for passengers.
For the purpose of this project, we focused on Information Content and its influence on passenger perception of information.
01. INFORMATION CONTENT
The absolute content, the way it is structured, the message or notification is designed, tone-of voice and the emotion it generates.
02. INFORMATION TIMELINESS
The time it takes for information to reach the passenger. Information when needed to be informed, reassuring, generating confidence to take the next step.
03. PROACTIVE / REACTIVE RESPONSE
Whether the information is delivered proactively (without the passenger asking for it) or reactively (in response to a specific query or request from the passenger.
04. INFORMATION CHANNEL
The message / information coming to the preferred channel as decided by the passenger.
INFORMATION CONTENT INCONSISTENCIES
DESIGN GOAL
To evolve a communication structuring, design and dissemination framework which effectively and consistently delivers the most relevant informational content as expected and desired by passengers under conditions of flight disruption and otherwise.
The Design Essence: A superior information experience which positively impacts the passengers’ perception of the airline as genuinely caring.
IDEATION
Multiple brainstorming sessions were conducted with service designers and domain experts at KLM headquarters to derive ways in which the information content to passengers can be improved and made more empathic.
THE CONCEPT
Based on the Asix structure, new information flows and message templates were created for SMS’s and E-mails sent to passengers during a disruption.
THE NEW INFORMATION EXPERIENCE
Passenger is recognised and information is transparent, contextual and relevant.
Information is actionable and the passenger is given suggestions for what to do next.
The impact of the disruption on the passengers plans is acknowledged.
Along with delivering bad news, genuine effort is taken by providing the passenger with some form of compensation.
Tone of voice is friendly, calm and reassuring - more human.
INFORMATION FLOWS
Delayed Flight Information Flow
Canceled Flight Information Flow
Missed Connection Information Flow
TESTING AND FEEDBACK
The new information flows were tested with over 50 participants in two test phases. There were two main hypotheses that were tested -
H1 - “Sharing of relevant, complete and feed forward information in a proactive and timely manner will greatly increase passenger confidence and help them take their next steps with greater assurance.”
H2 - “Sharing of relevant, complete and feed forward information in a proactive and timely manner will reassure the passenger, reduce stress and help change their perception of the disruption as well as that of KLM.”
RESULTS
Both the hypotheses were proven true with 60% of the participants feeling that the messages were clear, helpful and informed them of the next steps. They also felt more reassured and confident.
“It directs me to my next steps and eases my journey. I do not have to look up other info on my app or ticket or on Google.”
“Because you gave me specific indication regarding, location, time, waiting time. I can get a coffee before standing in line. First thing you do is to stand in line to preserve the spot, this way I can reschedule my time/routine at the airport.”
“I feel stressed because of the situation. But the message is reassuring and gives some direction to the vague situation. Giving incentive helps.”
“The fact that there’s really not much to do and that I’m stranded. They acknowledge the delay and the €10 food coupon makes me feel like they’re making an effort even though there’s not much they can do about bad weather.”
CONCLUSION
Based on passenger testimonials, it shows how passengers perceive the messages as being more genuine and caring which falls in line with KLM desired customer experience.
However, even with the new Asix Information structure, it cannot take away the actual pain of a flight delay or cancellation, as those factors are beyond what KLM can change. The Asix therefore, is just one step forward in positively influence passenger perception and to show that KLM cares for you.
