Case Study: Expedia

When potential customers take the time to call Expedia to book a vacation, they are primed to purchase, and expect that the call center agent will have a certain level of expertise. Credibility and confidence on the part of the call center agent improves the likelihood that the caller will book the trip.

Destination knowledge is important — not only in helping identify the best area and hotel for the customer, but in communicating confidence in their recommendations, up-selling attractions, and creating an overall satisfaction with the travel experience. When agents are not able to speak confidently about the locations, they may struggle in their ability to put together a package that meets the customer’s needs.

While other factors were identified as affecting conversion and customer satisfaction, increased destination expertise and credibility were several of the biggest factors contributing to the booking rate. Some agents may know very little about any given destination they have never visited.

Expedia was just starting to invest in e-learning as a strategy in an effort to deliver more consistent training across the call center enterprise. Expedia met Allen Interactions at an international tradeshow; they were looking for an organization that really understood how personal practice and engaging workforce learning could change the performance of their agents.

In this case, Expedia wanted to create an e-learning course with an interface and instructional interactivity that could be replicated for different travel destinations.

For example, when an agent went through the training for a specific destination like New York City, they would open the e-learning course and realize it functions similar to other destinations.

Three interactions were created to be used across multiple destinations, so based on:

• clues and an interactive map, agents can explore the destination’s neighborhoods and discover what makes it famous
• hints from the caller, the agent determines the best destination
• data collected from a customer’s phone call, the agent creates a dream vacation, finding a hotel, transportation, and three must-see sites in the city

Each interaction incorporated visual reinforcement, using maps, photographs, people’s expressions, postcards, and icons. Intrinsic feedback was also used in the form of callers’ changing expressions, postcards from disgruntled customers, and trip reports from happy customers.

• provided interactive and experiential scenarios that allowed agents to explore and practice the needed behaviors and realize their value
• was provided in 15-30 minute learning nuggets that fit with their schedules
• reached the geographically widespread group of agents quickly and efficiently
• could be updated easily with new content to reduce cost and increase efficiency