South Sea Cruises, a leading tourism operator in the scenic paradise of Fiji, embarked on a transformative digital journey to enhance customer engagement and improve service quality. They have a number of brands you may be familiar with including, South Sea Cruises, Blue Lagoon Cruises, Awesome Fiji, South Sea Sailing and Malamala Beach Club.
With the integration of an AI chatbot and review product from Yonder, South Sea Cruises has witnessed a remarkable evolution in its operations, delivering outstanding customer experiences and gaining valuable insights into all five of the above brands.
Before implementing the improvements with the help from Yonder, South Sea Cruises faced several challenges in managing customer communications effectively. The company previously used live chat solutions but discontinued them during the COVID-19 pandemic. As communication increased upon reopening, their staff became overwhelmed, with a substantial backlog of emails.
Recognizing the need for a modern, efficient approach, South Sea Cruises turned to the Yonder AI chatbot solution. By introducing the chatbot on their five different brands the “standard questions we’re getting are now addressed head-on automatically on the website” says Sonya, General Manager Marketing, reducing the volume of easily answerable questions reaching their staff. In a 30-day period the chatbot for South Sea Cruises alone can answer over 600 conversations immediately, saving over 49 hours of staff time every month, and that's only for 1 of their operations! When you add up the time the chatbot saves them across all 5 brands, it’s well over 80 hours of staff time per month. In addition, the chatbot has contributed to increasing direct bookings as the team has been able to streamline their customer service processes. Overall the brands have moved from 15% direct bookings to over 35% direct bookings. Sonya believes that the convenience and accessibility of mobile devices, coupled with improved data connectivity has made their customers more comfortable booking through the chatbot.
The chatbot not only revolutionized their customer service and direct bookings but also provided valuable insights into their website's performance. Data collected from customer interactions helped South Sea Cruises identify areas where their website could be improved and supported informed decisions to improve user experience and drive better results.
Yonder's automated survey and review gathering system has proved to be a game-changer for South Sea Cruises. “Pre covid, our system was automatically collating email addresses (via those accessing our free Wifi) but we were manually sending it out”, describes Sonya. Frustration with low completion rates as well as the staff time involved in this manual process led them to implement Yonder.
Thanks to the integration between Yonder and their booking system CustomLinc they now automatically send surveys at the right time, capturing feedback when customers are most likely to engage. This has resulted in completion rates of 55% for Blue Lagoon Cruises and 29% for South Sea Sailing. The company is also able to measure customer satisfaction using Net Promoter Score (NPS), and with a whooping NPS of between 93-95 for South Sea Sailing they can be rest assured they are delivering a quality experience.
Yonder's comprehensive reviews gathering system enables South Sea Cruises to gain deep insights into customer sentiment, preferences, and pain points. The ability to group keywords and topics from direct customer feedback and online review sites, allows them to identify trends and focus on specific areas for improvement, such as customer commentary on coaches.
Integrating Yonder with South Sea Cruises' booking system CustomLinc allows them to link customer feedback directly to booking information. In the case of negative comments, of which they get very few, the company has been able to swiftly identify the customer, gain context around the issue, and take appropriate action. This proactive approach ensures prompt resolution, fostering customer loyalty and trust.
Through its partnership with Yonder, South Sea Cruises is transforming its digital customer engagement strategies and elevating their service quality to new heights. Implementing the chatbot and reviews products helped improve customer experiences, increase direct bookings, save staff time and give valuable insights for business growth. By harnessing the power of digital technologies, such as AI, as well as ensuring a focus on customer-centricity, South Sea Cruises has solidified its position as a premier tourism operator in the South Pacific and serves as a beacon for other businesses seeking to elevate their customer service standards.
