Case study
Co-founder and East Coast Car Rentals (Australia) owner Rohan Marx shares how Shuttle Solutions has revolutionised his customer collection process.
"This has resulted in the equivalent of 4 to 4.5 full time employees not being replaced or being repurposed to concentrate on ECCR’s sales and general res enquiry channels."
– Rohan Marx, owner ECCR
After our successful beta release with ECCR in Australia we found that our solution;
- Knocked out 65% of all customer phone calls coming through the ECCR shuttle request phone line.
- Reduced call wait times from an average of 4 mins+ during peak times to an average of +/- 30 secs
- Streamlined dispatch of shuttles which is of particular importance at larger airports with 2 or more terminals being serviced in busy periods by 2 – 4 shuttles at once
- Massively improved communication between res / branches and shuttles, with click to call also now introduced for shuttles to be able to call lost customers directly from our App.
- Eliminated poor reviews caused by customers experiencing confusing Airport pick up process or long waits for shuttle pick up service (our shuttle solution now gets multiple mentions in positive reviews)
Our system is purpose built for rental car companies running complimentary shuttles to and from primarily Airport locations to rental company depots where customers complete paperwork pick up and drop off cars.
It is designed to:
- Nullify as many of the 100 000 – 125 000 initial phone calls we get from customers arriving at ECCR serviced Airports. During peak periods even with 6 – 8 staff rostered on in our central res team customers could wait up to 10 minutes for their initial Shuttle request was answered.
- Improve the information delivery to customers particularly around instructions on how to get from Baggage claim or customs to pick up points. Previously there would become long phone conversations between our reservations staff and customers.
Improve the expectation of shuttle arrival times for customers by mapping and displaying shuttle locations - Improve the efficiencies of shuttles, especially where more than one are operating at the same Airport by giving dispatch staff and shuttle drivers clarity around where each shuttle is and what customers they are servicing.
- Give Business managers data on their shuttle operations – where there are ongoing issues with speed of process etc.
As a result of beta testing and formal release through ECCR we found that;
- We reduced the total number of calls being received by the res team for Shuttle bus pick ups by 65%. Note we have a completeness of record for mobile phone numbers of 85%.
- So of those around 75% are self-requesting shuttles through the customer facing web based app that customers are sent an SMS message with link to.
- This has resulted in the equivalent of 4.0 -4.5 Full time employees not being replaced or being repurposed to concentrate on ECCR’s sales and general res enquiry channels.
- The removal of these pick up phone calls alone should pay for this solution and any other benefits you will experience should justify this solution further.
- With the removal of over half of the total Shuttle Bus pick up request calls coming into the res team, ECCR have seen an immediate lift in the total revenue gained from more sales enquiries being captured through the reservations team.
- ECCR’s call waiting times across all queues have been alleviated and seldom go above 1 minute and are habitually below 30 seconds. Triple that wait time on average without the Shuttle Bus Solution in place.
- Improved customer satisfaction. ECCR are seeing for the first time multiple positive reviews that are complimenting us on our shuttle bus service and in particular the information delivery by the Shuttle Solutions Ltd App. Of Particular mention is commonly the Airport walking instructions and updates on shuttle process and expected arrival. Prior to the shuttle solutions App our pick up process was a common negative area in customer feedback.
- Added staff satisfaction. Shuttle Bus Drivers in particular are responding well to the App. Shuttle drivers like the easy and large format interface, branch staff and managers like the clarity given around where shuttles and customers are. We have this week released the ability to make phone calls from to customers, between branches and shuttle, res team and shuttles, between shuttles.