overview

As part of the global Budget organization, Budget Rent a Car in South Africa operates a large network of over 66 branches strategically located throughout South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. In-terminal branches at all major airports ensure that no matter how customers choose to reach their destination, Budget Rent a Car is never far away.

The Budget Southern African fleet is made up of over 4 500 cars, offering economy, luxury and specialty vehicles, all with an average age of 6 to 9 months. World-class marques form an integral part of the fleet mix, with all vehicles offering the latest safety features, and always at competitive prices.

In the highly competitive car rental business, Budget strives to consistently deliver world-class customer service and continuously find ways to further improve the customers' experience. With the relative ease of moving to a competitor the need to retain existing customers and build brand loyalty are critical for success.

It is especially important to immediately identify customers who are dissatisfied with one or other aspect of their experience with Budget, and rapidly attempt to address their concerns if at all possible. As Budget caters primarily to the business traveler, the lifetime value of each customer is substantial and every effort is made to retain customers.

As most travelers are busy and in a hurry to get to their next destination, Budget strives to minimize the time it takes customers to collect or return a car. As an example, the Budget Rapid Action program removes the necessity for the customer to sign any documentation at the time of vehicle collection. On arrival, the customer simply proceeds directly to the Rapid Action dedicated counter, where the keys are handed over.

Unfortunately these and other programs limit the opportunity to interact with customers at a personal level and obtain feedback about their experiences with the car or service they received. Customer's who have had a negative experience, in most instances, do not have the channel to complain and simply move to a competitor the next time they hire a car while sharing their negative experience with friends and colleagues.

In an attempt to get customer feedback, Budget in the past has primarily used pre-paid reply cards. However the effectiveness of this method to capture and immediately respond to customer issues was very poor and the overall response rate very low. It typically took up to three months for a customer to get a reply to their complaint as these cards had to be delivered to a central point at head office, manually captured into a computer system, assessed by a customer service representative, sorted in terms of type of complaint and an appropriate response formulated. In most cases the customer simply received a generic letter from the managing director advising that their issue was being looked into and steps were being taken to avoid a recurrence. This delayed and impersonal method of communication had the potential of further alienating customers and losing them to competitors.

a new approach

After being introduced in 2004 to the ESP customer feedback management system developed by TouchWork, the forward looking Budget corporate customer service management team realized the potential of the system to instantly capture and provide real time customer feedback using its SMS text messaging features as well as the ability to immediately act on negative feedback and address customers concerns. It would resolve many of the shortcomings of the reply card process and enable Budget to differentiate itself from competitors.

Budget realized that the ESP system provided an innovative and personal communications channel to interact with customers and address their concerns. The SMS and email notification and workflow capabilities of the system furthermore ensured that negative customer feedback was immediately brought to the attention of not only the branch manager for on the spot action, but also to regional and head office management for follow-up and appropriate corrective action.

With the wide spread use of cell phones across all sectors of the South African population and the growing use of SMS text messaging, Budget also wanted to be seen as an innovator in using new technologies to further enhance customer perceptions about the company as being a leader in its space.

planning and running the campaign

These questions were printed on a hanger with simple instructions on how to assemble and send a response. They are placed on the rearview mirror of every car when the customer collects the vehicle. This ensures that the customer will notice the hanger, as it has to be physically removed prior to driving the car. Counter top posters were also created for display within each branch.

As an incentive to submit a response, customers are offered 50 miles with the Voyager frequent flyer program provided by South African Airways (SAA). As Budget caters primarily for business travelers and has a partnership with SAA, the majority of its customers are SAA Voyager members and the fifty miles was deemed to be a meaningful incentive representing the equivalent of a US$100/R600 credit card purchase.

Budget branch personnel were not required to do anything more except to bring the campaign to the attention of customers. Branch managers were instantly notified by an SMS text message whenever a negative response was received and were tasked to immediately follow-up with the customer. Regional and corporate managers were also notified by means of an email.

All responses are stored in the ESP database and are available 24/7 on a secure website. An extensive range of management reports is provided to identify trends and determine a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) for corporate reporting purposes.