Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32F OGHORN asked vessel operators about the vital topic of customer service, and Ben Bernstein, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BB Riverboats, Newport, KY, responded with a great deal of information that every vessel operator can use. FOGHORN: Do you use surveys to gauge customer satisfaction? If so, how often? And, what methods do you use? Ben Bernstein: Yes. Absolutely. We survey all guests. After their cruise, they receive an automatic email asking for them to complete. We are looking at making that a bit more selective based on new technologies, but currently in the system we have, it goes to every reservation. Not person, but every res- ervation. If a customer identifies a problem, how do you address it? If a customer ranks us at seven or below on a 10-point scale on the post-cruise customer satisfaction survey, it triggers a notification. We look over the responses and address them, if needed. Typically, that happens by a phone call or email. We strive for 100 percent satisfaction. Yes, a lofty goal, but we are in the business of showing people a good time and if they do not feel satisfied, we offer them a free cruise to come back. If they decline and are adamant about a refund in a justified complaint, we will refund. I would say at least 85 percent of the time, we get them to return for a second, free cruise and have a high rate of satisfying them upon their return. So, customer surveys are beneficial. How do they help you most? Data is the most important asset in business these days. The more you learn about your customer, the more you can leverage that in your favor to pursue a sale or repeat sale. Our current reservation system is inadequate in this field. It was a wonderful system for years, but it is not cutting edge and pro- gressive. We are transitioning next season to a new platform that will allow us to capture a lot of data and use it in many ways making our marketing and retargeting campaigns more streamlined and efficient. Surveys are an avenue to get a lot of data. It could be a pre-cruise survey or post-cruise. The more data points you capture, the more you can learn about the behaviors of your customer. I sound like Google, huh? We look forward to being able to cut our marketing budget back in terms of conventional means and use highly specialized data to talk only to the people we want to talk to. There are some awesome marketing platforms in this world now, but the data is what drives the effectiveness. What percentage of non-human contact would you say that BB Riverboats has with its customers (not counting cruise time) versus human interaction? For example, purchasing tickets, responding to queries, handling complaints or compliments through email/e-ticketing/online chats/automated phone system versus direct person-to-person conversations? We still believe in personal interaction, but our customers indicate that they mostly prefer non-personal contact. Email is convenient. Leaving a message on Facebook or Twitter is also quick and easy. We strive to be responsive. I’m proud to say, our social media director has received the Facebook respon- siveness badge each week since they started tracking how fast you respond to messages. We average less than five minutes in a response and that goes a long way in developing a sale. People want nonverbal communication, yet still demand instant response. Having 78,000 followers (over 100,000 between all networks), that is a big task. It has been a goal and one that she has achieved each week (Facebook’s responsive- ness badges reset each week). We still receive a good amount of phone calls, but it lessens each year. The majority of our ticket sales are purchased online. Conversely, complaints are mostly dealt by phone; however, a good amount is by email because of customer preference. I include Facebook messages and review sites in these interactions. Our phone system is only automated to ensure your call is routed to the right place. Other than that it is all verbal. Can you recount a customer service situation and how it was resolved? I can’t think of a specific example that sticks out. But, we receive so many different requests. Whether it’s a couple cel- ebrating an engagement onboard or something special for a birthday or even turning a complaint into a learning experi- ence and giving the customer a positive experience upon their 6 NOVEMBER 2016 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: CUSTOMER SERVICE Q&A with Ben Bernstein: How to Gauge Customer Satisfaction and What to Do with the Information