Social media as a revenue channel

The airline is known worldwide as an absolute pioneer in social media service. However, the organisation wanted to take the next step: effectively harnessing the enormous commercial potential of millions of online customer interactions.

The challenge was to establish a 24/7 operation in which service agents not only answer complex questions about baggage, cancellations or rebooking, but can also proactively guide travellers towards a purchase or upgrade. All of this had to happen without compromising the legendary, personal service standard and extremely fast response times passengers have come to expect from the brand.

RIFF provided the operational and technological capabilities needed to realise the airline’s commercial ambitions from the Digital Customer Engagement Centre in Amsterdam:

• Integrated 24/7 operation: Managing real-time interactions across all major social platforms, including Twitter/X, Instagram and Facebook, in both Dutch and English.

• Social commerce & payment link: RIFF supported the implementation of the innovative Payment Link Project. This enables agents to generate a secure payment link directly during a chat, allowing travellers to book and pay for their ticket, seat upgrade or additional baggage within the conversation.

• Sales & engagement training: Agents were specifically trained to recognise commercial opportunities in service conversations and follow up on them naturally and in a highly customer-friendly way.

Through its partnership with RIFF, social media has evolved into a fully-fledged and highly profitable sales channel for the airline. The barrier to purchasing additional services or upgrades has been minimised, as the entire transaction takes place within the familiar chat conversation.

The results demonstrate the power of this hybrid service and sales model. The airline has been able to handle huge volumes of customer enquiries seamlessly, while social commerce has been transformed into a serious, multimillion-euro business unit that strengthens the passenger experience and brand loyalty every day.