Orbitz beta tests IM customer support

Diane Clarkson | October 16, 2006, 09:23 PM

On October 11, Orbitz’s announced that they are beta-testing live instant message customer support comes as a pleasant surprise.

In the last few days, I have become even less enamored with technology’s role in customer service. (I didn’t think less enamored was possible either.) I hollered every synonym I could think of to speak to a live person in the UPS system. It was like a customer service game show: “Assistance! Customer Service! Representative! Operator!” I’ve sent random emails to everyone from Customer Service to Investor Relations to an airline who changed my flight time and flight number while I was overseas and couldn’t telephone.

My colleague Zach McGeary’s research shows more customers are adopting customer service chat and 58% of those are satisfied with it. Customer service chat is not for all situations.

Orbitz customers receiving error messages or in the middle of unusually long sessions will be contacted via their instant message service by a service representative.

It’s a great sales strategy to assist customers with the complexity of vacation packages. It is also another addition to the customer service promise that Orbitz’s is focusing its brand around.

For me this week, it is also reassuring. Proactive customer service. A few short days ago, I had nearly given up on this concept.