Making customers happy !

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/03/27/warm-cuddly-humble-ryanair-notorious-chief-michael-o-leary-outlines-his-plans-start

Extract :

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has said he is taking the notoriously hostile brand in a new, altogether friendlier direction with a refresh to the website, an overhauled approach to customer experience, and its first ever advertising campaign.

“We’ve changed,” he proclaimed at a press event in London. “We’re changing some of the policies I’ve held dear for many years because that’s what our customers want us to do."

He explained that the past 25 years have been about building the low-fare airline to be the cheapest with a “pile it high sell it cheap” approach that “has worked like a dream”.

“But for the business to evolve it has to change tactic,” he said.

Helping him to do this is newly appointed chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, who revealed that customer service and digital are top of the agenda.

Jacobs compared Ryanair’s new approach to that of Aldi, H&M and Ikea: “They started off absolutely focused on cost, then they focused on choice and then they improved the service. That’s the line our brand will go on.”

A cornerstone of the new 'Always Getting Better' strategy is the overhauled website. The site will go live on 10 April and promises to make searching for flights a more intuitive experience.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10726186/Ryanair-cuddly-OLeary-continues-charm-offensive.html

Extracts :

Yup, it’s still all change at “Europe’s favourite low-cost airline”, thanks to a couple of profit warnings. Out goes the truculent attitude of yesteryear, to be replaced by an almost alarming geniality. An image of O’Leary holding a puppy popped up on screen. “That’s the new, cuddly me with my dog,” he said. “Not that I’d ever met it before.”

“Actually, he’s always been quite cuddly,” says Paul Kilduff, author of Ruinair and Plane Speaking: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael O’Leary. “His road-to-Damascus conversion to the new friendly face of Ryanair has only happened because easyJet were stealing all his business passengers and the families who no longer wished to be shouted at.”

And so it went on: the 185 new aircraft, the co-operation with travel agents and systems such as Google Flight Search (which Ryanair has been slagging off for years), the imminent advertising campaign, the eight new European bases due this year and the promise ot make increased use of primary airports – ie, those near a city, rather than 75 miles away in a wood.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/03/27/47431/ryanair+to+launch+tv+ad+campaign+as+it+revamps+website.html

Jacobs said: “We won’t lose our focus around the lowest fares. We will still have a considerable cost advantage on our competitors.”

Glad to know that Ryanair won't lose its focus on the lowest fares. But the fact is : one year ago you could easily find and buy a return trip for around 10-15 euros or even cheaper - now, it's hard to find one at less than 40 euros ...

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/03/28/47459/we-got-caught-up-in-operational-efficiency-admits-ryanair.html

Short extracts :

The airline’s director of customer service Caroline Green said the carrier was in the process of changing from an “operational-centric” to a “customer-centric” business.
“We got to a point about 18 months ago where we could see new customers trying us once and then moving off, so we started looking at what was turning them off and what we could change,” she told guests.
“We are not there yet and it is a work in progress, but we are removing the barriers that stopped people enjoying their Ryanair flight.”
“We got caught up in operational efficiency and forgot about the customer,” she said.
“But we have made fundamental change in the organisation and people are responding incredibly positively.”
Green said Ryanair’s key focus was still on delivering low prices and insisted that better customer service did not necessarily equate to more personal contact.
"The last thing customers want to do is talk to you," she said. "Our research shows that the majority of people want to get through the experience and on to their flight without having to contact somebody."