Loyalty in the Rail Industry

Customers are increasingly demanding quality and value from services offered by rail operators. However, only a few rail operators have loyalty programs and there is still a huge scope for improvement in their offerings. Most of these programs are based on point accumulation, which can be used to get ticket discounts and a few offer privileges, such as newspapers, meals, access to lounge areas and seat upgrades.

Accenture recommends rail operators to deliver valuable, innovative services or support at every stage of the travel experience, including facilitated access to travel, door-to-door travel services, real-time information, and innovative in-station and onboard services.

We help rail operators increase customer loyalty while improving profitability and growth potential by using assets and capabilities in analytics, strategy and program development, and execution and measurement. Our proven approach is based on the following core principles:

• Supporting brand fundamentals: Building customer bonds to achieve recognition, an excellent customer experience and an emotional attachment to the brand’s essence and heritage

• Enabling deep customer insight: Understanding what matters most to customers in their purchase and repurchase decisions to help forge stronger relationships

• Personalizing customer routes: Managing the customer experience during presale, sale, complaint handling, product assistance and customer self-service

• Supporting the front-office workforce: Raising awareness about the importance of delivering a great customer experience and motivating employees by establishing a reward system

• Piloting investments: Managing marketing and commercial investments by devising pilot programs that establish the business case for larger investments

• Leveraging new technologies: Implementing technologies and mobility applications and services to make loyalty management programs more efficient and help increase the return on investment

Accenture helps rail operators create a framework and select the best contact channels for making relevant offers to customers.

We help measure performance of their loyalty programs to gauge profitability. Where needed, we also support the implementation and day-to-day management of processes and tools, including outsourcing of customer loyalty operations, such as customer segmentation, marketing campaigns and performance analysis. We have offered our services to leading rail operators including:

• Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais (SNCF): Developed a complete customer relationship management strategy and designed an action plan to identify, target, segment and satisfy their customers.

• Deutsche Bahn: Launched a pilot mobile application that offers frequent travelers a set of integrated services, and provides access to travel information and services.

• iDTGV: Launched a Facebook application to encourage customer dialogues. Travelers not only have the opportunity to post comments about their experience with iDTGV, but also to plan various activities.