JETSTAR TAKES ON VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Nuance Communications has announced that Jetstar has extended the deployment of web virtual assistant “Jess” to Facebook Messenger, in order to improve response times and engage with customers online. 

Powered by AI-driven virtual assistant, Nuance Nina, Jess is now capable of providing real-time conversations on Facebook Messenger to resolve customer queries across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.

As the first airline in Asia Pacific to extend the same AI-powered virtual assistant from web to Facebook Messenger, Jetstar is taking advantage of an emerging and developing field of customer interaction.  

Jess is now able to assist Jetstar’s Facebook customers by retrieving customer bookings, resending itineraries, and adding baggage to bookings, amongst a range of other features.

Through Facebook Messenger, Jess is already showcasing results by achieving an impressive 73% first-contact resolution (resolving the consumer’s query through the chat session) when inbound traffic quadrupled during the recent volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Bali.

“We’re excited to extend Jetstar’s virtual assistant, Jess, to Facebook Messenger in partnership with Nuance. We have been testing Jess on Facebook since November 2017 and have been overwhelmed with the response. Jess has lowered response time from up to 17 hours to zero minutes and has already assisted thousands of customers with their enquiries,” said Liz McCarthy, Head of Customer Care, Jetstar.

“Jetstar’s deployment on Facebook Messenger is setting a new standard, allowing customers to engage with the brand the same way they would their friends. Through Nuance’s natural language understanding, conversational dialogue and advanced resolution techniques, Jetstar customers can converse in real time, everyday language whenever and wherever they are and receive immediate and accurate responses,” said Robert Schwarz, managing director for Nuance Enterprise, Australia and New Zealand. 

With increasing expectations for personalised and targeted interactions, Jetstar’s expansion of its virtual assistant offering to Facebook reflects consumer demands to reach brands through their preferred online channels.

Earlier this year, Nuance was ranked the number one chatbot/virtual assistant vendor for enterprise customer service by leading research and advisory firm Forrester. There are over 6,500 enterprises using Nuance’s self-service technologies, processing an estimated 16 billion transactions each year.