What I learned from leading a customer service team through the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 caught the world by surprise. When the leadership team sat down to plan out projects to improve customer support in early January we never expected an epidemic or pandemic that would see us re-direct our entire management team to focussing on customer support during the height of the crisis.

I was leading a customer service team providing traveller support services to 4 travel insurance brands, with a service offering that includes live chat, email and phone support to travellers 5 days per week (emergency assistance is provided 24x7 by our assistance partner). 

The COVID-19 pandemic changed rapidly over a very short timeframe. We began hearing about the virus in the international press early in January after the China office of the WHO reported the virus in Wuhan on 31st December. On the 20 January it was confirmed that the virus could be transmitted person to person. On the 31st of January the World Health organisation declared the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. In China, more than 7700 cases had been confirmed, and 170 people had died. There were 82 additional cases confirmed in 18 countries. It took only a month for the virus to go global and to start impacting travel. 

Leverage existing processes first

We had practices in place to assist travellers when events look like they are going to impact travel plans. We notify our travellers via travel alerts on the purchase path and via social media when there are volcanoes like the recent White Island volcanic eruption in New Zealand or when there are major airlines strikes or insolvency that can cause our travellers disruption. When faced with a rapidly changing epidemic, we followed our standard processes but we quickly realised that we needed to do more, to ensure our travellers were cared for. 

Every new situation as an opportunity to grow and learn. Here is what I learned from assisting travellers through the first two months of the COV-19 outbreak.

Respond early and respond fast 

In the face of uncertainty, start alerting customer even if you are unsure how they may potentially be impacted. It is better for customers to be informed so they can make the best decision, even if it doesn’t end up changing their travel plans. It is more important to use information provided by reliable sources, than speculation in tabloids. Rely heavily on the advice of the Australian Government websites like Service NSW, Smarttraveller and the NSW Health websites.

Existing customer alert processes needed enhancing 

Like most insurers we have travel alerts that run across the top of our content website and purchase path. These alerts are country specific. We quickly realised that travellers were missing these alerts despite how much they stand out. We then added a splash landing to the content website and pop ups on the purchase path to notify travellers of the travel alerts. This way we could ensure that travellers were seeing the alerts prior to purchase. 

We went further and sent an email after each policy purchase to inform travellers of the situation with corona virus. We wanted to ensure that travellers who were not aware during the policy purchase were made immediately aware after purchase and could access the 14 day cooling off period to cancel the policy. 

Increased support coverage was required 

As a team we completely empathised with travellers and we knew how anxious and uncertain that they must be feeling. We decided early in the crisis to increase the number of team members supporting travellers and to offer email support over the weekend. We committed to getting back to traveller as quickly as we could so that they would not be left wondering. Even in cases where we were sharing unhappy news, the travellers were thankful that we responded quickly with detailed information. We were able to maintain our traveller happiness score over our target of 75%. 

Technical flexibility is critical 

As a tech first insurance company we were able to leverage our technology platform and made changes fast. We were able to add pop ups, splash landing pages, add alerts and set up automated emails to help guide our travellers. At no point where we blocked from being able to get the message out to our travellers. 

Over communicate with customers

In a crisis you can never over communicate. We constantly adapted our tech and our processes to help travellers. We added travel alerts links to the bottom of all our support emails, we added a number of comprehensive guides to our support emails, we sent communications in our newsletters and as mentioned above we added splash pages and pop ups in addition to our travel alerts. 

Give travellers their money back 

Caring for our travellers comes before everything else. From day 1 of the crisis we made the decision to refund travellers who could longer travel or wished not to travel. It didn’t feel right to hold onto insurance premium at a time when there was so much uncertainty for our customers. 

Step up campaigns to educate travellers on the importance to taking our insurance the moment they book their trip 

Once the COVID-19 crisis dies down, w travel insurance brands will be stepping up our education of travellers on the importance of booking insurance at the same time you book your trip. This way you will not be caught out if a known event happens after you have booked your trip but before you are due to leave. This applies not only to epidemics and pandemics but also to natural disasters. 

We still don’t know what the eventual outcome of the COVID-19 will be but we will continue to ensure our customers are informed and supported through this challenging time.