Customer experience: reaching the higher bar
Customer expectations have risen since Covid, so train operating companies must listen and learn like never before, says Jenny Saunders, GTR’s Customer Services Director.
Jenny SaundersCustomer Services Director, Govia Thameslink Railway
Jenny Saunders has worked in rail for 16 years, most recently as Customer Services Director across Govia Thameslink Railway’s four brands. Simply put, her role is to lead a 2,800-strong frontline workforce in making sure customers are happy.
Since Covid, that job has got tougher, because customer expectations are higher. But, according to Jenny, a genuine ‘customer-first’ mindset, where train operating companies (TOCs) listen and learn, will make for happier customers, and a more prosperous industry.
You’re accountable for the delivery of customer experience at stations and on board trains across the GTR network. What does customer experience in this context cover?
Customer experience means different things to different people. There’s no one-size-fits-all definition. For me in my role, it’s being accountable for what our customers think and feel about using our services and the railway generally. GTR is the country’s biggest TOC, so we influence how customers feel about rail in general.
Broadly speaking, four pillars underpin my approach to ensuring excellent customer experiences:
Act on feedback: We seek out customer feedback and act upon it. For example, we recently ran a public engagement programme in response to growing passenger numbers post-Covid. We revamped an element of our timetable along the West Coast—between Brighton and Southampton—due to the customer feedback we received.
Amplify success: My frontline customer service staff do amazing work for our customers day in, day out. We need to ensure that we capture their efforts and amplify their success across GTR’s four brands. We also invest in staff so they can get even better at providing a great customer experience.
Collaborate with others: This is so important to success. As a recent example, GTR, Network Rail, and contractors worked together to improve how customers use Gatwick Airport station to travel to and from the airport. Collaboration made this multi-million-pound investment project possible.
Cater for all customers: In June 2023, we trialled and launched Aira at four stations. The free app, believed to be a UK first, helps blind and partially sighted people travel around the network. Last month, we extended the use of Aira to eight more stations. We want everybody to be able to use our services, regardless of their disability or need for assistance.
Why should TOCs seek out customer feedback?
Passenger numbers dipped during the pandemic—understandably so. They were growing gradually but have started to stabilise now. The industry needs to work collaboratively to grow passenger numbers further.
Given customer expectations have changed since Covid, TOCs must do things differently. We need to think customer-first and listen to our customers more. GTR knew through customer feedback that our timetable along the West Coast, on the southern network, wasn’t meeting customer needs. By listening well, we’ve been able to make changes that improve capacity, punctuality, and reliability.
Asking questions and listening will help TOCs get ‘under the skin’ of what customers need, to help generate growth. I believe most TOCs are doing that, and there are opportunities for us to learn from each other.
What are the biggest problems customers face when they use rail?
Old infrastructure: The railway relies on centuries-old infrastructure. In a modern, fast-paced world, customers might expect infrastructure-related issues to be resolved quicker than they can be. Managing those expectations can be difficult. Our response is to work closely with Network Rail to mitigate infrastructure issues and get the railway back up and running as soon as possible when things go wrong.
Industrial action: The ongoing national rail strikes are frustrating for customers. They’re also frustrating for customer service and other frontline colleagues. Our response is always to provide the best service we can. For example, we try to provide shuttle services to and from the airport even on strike days. Other operators are doing the same.
Value for money: Customers will always want, and rightly deserve, value for money. Meeting their expectations can be challenging though. The cost of running our railway has risen at a time when passenger numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels. Our response is to work hard to provide reliable, punctual, and comfortable journeys. It’s also to keep customers at the forefront of our thinking when we’re making crucial decisions.
How are you supporting customer service and other frontline staff so they can meet customer needs amid these challenges?
There are around 2,800 frontline customer service colleagues at GTR. My favourite days at work are when I’m on the network listening to their views, understanding their pain points, and hearing how senior leaders can make things better.
My job is to equip and empower my team with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to meet customer needs. This can be done through, say, coaching and training, but the most important thing I can do is be available and listen.
Senior leaders can get caught up in a cycle of meetings and governance, and we can convince ourselves that they benefit our frontline colleagues and our customers. While they do make some positive difference, there’s no substitution for being there for our people.
Passenger behaviour has changed since the pandemic. What are the lasting trends?
Flexible working: More people are opting to work in the office and not at home. As such, passenger numbers are at about 80% of pre-Covid levels. But Mondays and Fridays in general are still much quieter.
Social add-ons: People do more when they come into the office. They might meet friends after work or do a leisure activity. Consequently, the morning peak is busy and the evening peak is more widely spread than it was pre-pandemic.
Digital ticketing: The data shows a clear move towards digital ticketing purchases. Customers care more about their environmental impact, which may help explain this shift.
Lower tolerance: The bar has been raised on customer expectations. Customers now have lower tolerance for being in congested spaces, whether that’s at a station or on board a train.
It’s clear that some big trends are driving customer behaviour. TOCs need to keep responding to evolving customer needs.
How can TOCs leverage these lasting trends?
Leisure travel has bounced back from the pandemic much quicker than commuter travel. It’s a real driver of revenue growth for the industry. It’s key we leverage this by building partnerships with destinations and tourism companies. GTR has been working with Towner Eastbourne to promote the Turner Prize exhibition because the gallery is a great destination on our network. Additionally, we must continue to capitalise on rail being the greenest form of public transport.
How do TOCs stay on top of evolving customer needs?
We need to do five things:
Continue to listen to customers, with an open mind. We’re not to assume we know the answer to a problem.
Do things differently, with fresh pairs of eyes. We’re to ask questions that reframe our thinking.
Think like a customer more than we have ever done before. We need to walk a mile in their shoes.
Keep offering our customers flexibility when it comes to cost and value for money.
Be open to experimenting, like trialling different ticket options—such as flexible tickets—to reflect new travel patterns.
This can be hard to do, especially when we have worked in rail for years and we see customer experience through the lens of our industry experience.
What is GTR doing to meet evolving customer needs?
Trialled new fares: We trialled peak advanced fares on Mondays and Fridays. This was both to encourage people back into the office by making journeys more cost-effective than Tuesday to Thursday and spread journeys across the week. There was a lot of interest in the tickets. Unless we give these things a go, we’re not going to know if they benefit customers.
Longer trains: In May 2023, we introduced longer trains in the busy morning peak to help increase capacity by 60% on some southern routes. We also added extra services to support customers travelling on the busy route between Cambridge and King’s Lynn. These changes were based on customer feedback.
Timetable changes: Timetabling might be the biggest tool we have in our armoury to help customers. We continually monitor what our customers and our stakeholders say about demand, and this influences change. The timetabling work we've done on the West Coast, which will come into effect in June 2024, is a prime example of this.
Beyond GTR, Network Rail has done great work at their managed stations, following customer feedback. They’ve adjusted spaces to ease congestion and make it more comfortable for customers to move around their stations.
These projects were not delivered in isolation by a single organisation. They show the advantages of industry collaboration. I encourage senior leaders to get involved in cross-industry groups like the People on Trains and in Stations Risk Group (PTSRG) that I chair. In doing so, industry can benefit from your expertise and your output.
What more can RSSB do to support TOCs in meeting customer needs?
RSSB is doing excellent work in this space, particularly when it comes to customer safety. Take its work with the PTSRG on reducing risk at the platform-train interface (PTI). Last year we relaunched the PTI Risk Assessment Tool. It now has enhanced features and functionality, making it even easier for TOCs to manage PTI risk (see article Mind the gap: integrating PTI risk management).
But there’s always more that can be done across the industry. The more we think customer-first, the more we avoid assuming we know the answers, the better GB rail will be for customers and all rail employees.
In RSSB’s Annual Business Plan 2024-25, ‘safe and satisfied customers’ is one priority area where RSSB is responding to industry’s needs (see article Keeping industry at the heart of our work towards safer, smarter rail). Read the report to see what RSSB’s commitments are to meet customer needs.
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