THE CHALLENGE
Our client, a rapidly expanding global Online Travel Agency (OTA), was facing significant scaling and operational hurdles typical of the high-velocity travel sector. Their primary objective was to secure a strategic Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partner capable of delivering consistent, premium customer support across multiple international markets.
Key challenges included:
- High-Stakes, 24/7 Digital Support: The need for dedicated, round-the-clock live chat support to manage immediate customer issues across all time zones. This required a flexible model to handle extreme volume volatility while maintaining instant response times, which was difficult to achieve internally.
- Expertise and Policy Agility: A requirement for agents with certified C1-level English proficiency to handle nuanced, complex interactions. This high standard was coupled with the critical need for daily training and immediate policy updates to ensure agents could accurately assist customers with rapidly changing regulations and fares before, during, and after their travel.
- Support-Driven Revenue Generation: Beyond standard issue resolution, the client aimed to leverage the partnership as a profit center. Leap Steam was tasked with actively performing key business actions within the chat workflow, including:
- Proactively generating upsells and pushing new bookings.
- Driving yearly membership registration and adoption.
- Maximizing customer feedback volume and pushing for 5-star reviews on platforms like Trustpilot.
Our solutions
Leap Steam Hanoi
Vietnam, were strategically selected as the ideal partner to address the client’s multi-faceted challenges.
Operational Efficiency
Recruitment strictly targeted agents with a minimum of one year of high-touch experience and a verifiable passion for travel. This filter ensured agents possessed both C1 communication skills and the genuine empathy needed for complex customer interactions and effective upselling.
Pre-Interview Cultural Immersion Filter
A mandatory two-week Cultural Immersion Training, co-delivered with the client, served as the ultimate selection filter. Before the final interview with the client, candidates completed a “Traveler’s Journey” simulation (virtual booking and troubleshooting). This intense process guaranteed candidates had the high-level empathy and brand authenticity required to manage sensitive support needs and successfully drive sales and positive reviews.
Agile 24/7 Chat and Sales Workflow
- Policy Agility: A Policy Implementation Team (PIT) ensured agents received daily policy updates and confirmed knowledge via mandatory “Policy Huddles” before every shift, guaranteeing accuracy for rapid changes in fares and regulations.
- Dynamic Staffing: A tiered 24/7 staffing model used predictive analytics to dynamically match agent availability to volume volatility on the live chat channel.
- Sales Integration: Training included modules on ethical persuasion to coach agents on integrating membership, upsell, and higher-value booking offers seamlessly within the support workflow.
THE RESULTS
From 50 to 500 reviews on Trustpilot
Reviews in the first 6 months of operation
Yearly Membership Registration
Exceeded the target, driving a 35% month-over-month increase in the first 12 months
Upsell & Booking Conversion
Achieved a 150% uplift in 6 months
