Digital Transformation at Altitude: How SAS Enhanced Customer Experience with Optimal
Flagship carrier of Denmark
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), the flagship carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, partnered with Optimal to revolutionize their digital customer journey. By leveraging Optimal's platform, SAS gained valuable insights into their boarding pass app design, customer engagement platform, and flight fare types presentation. The result? A more streamlined mobile experience, enhanced customer engagement, and optimized booking pathways that boosted both satisfaction and revenue.
The Challenge: Navigating Digital Turbulence
In today's competitive airline landscape, SAS recognized that their digital experience needed significant elevation. They were confronting several critical challenges:
- Uncertainty about the best design and layout for their mobile boarding pass application
- Questions about customer engagement platform effectiveness and interface elements
- Limited understanding of how passengers perceived different fare types during the booking process
- Missed opportunities for appropriate upselling during the customer journey
With thousands of travelers using their digital platforms daily, even minor improvements could translate to substantial gains in customer satisfaction and revenue. SAS needed concrete data to guide their digital evolution, not assumptions.
The Solution: Optimal's Research Platform Takes Flight
SAS deployed Optimal's comprehensive research toolkit to gain clarity on their customers' digital journey. Here's how they utilized Optimal's platform:
Boarding Pass Redesign: Mobile-First Approach
SAS conducted detailed A/B testing of their boarding pass app, examining various designs and layouts optimized for mobile users. This focused on creating an intuitive, stress-free experience for travelers on the go—when accessing boarding information quickly and easily matters most.
Engagement at Every Touchpoint: Button Testing
The airline implemented rigorous A/B testing of their customer engagement platform, specifically comparing versions with and without key button elements. This testing helped determine which interface elements drove the strongest customer interaction and conversion rates.
Fare Clarity at Booking: Long-Term Iterative Testing
SAS demonstrated remarkable commitment to improvement by maintaining 5-6+ iterative tests focused on the presentation and understanding of flight fare types. This long-term approach examined how customers comprehended different fare options and identified opportunities for appropriate upselling without creating confusion or frustration.
Results: A Smoother Journey from Search to Destination
SAS's investment in Optimal's research tools delivered significant improvements across their digital ecosystem:
- Mobile Experience Takes Off: The redesigned boarding pass app created a more intuitive mobile experience, putting essential travel information at passengers' fingertips precisely when needed. This led to increased app usage and higher customer satisfaction ratings for the mobile experience.
- Engagement That Converts: The button testing on their customer engagement platform revealed clear preferences in how customers interact with digital interfaces. Implementing these insights resulted in higher click-through rates and more completed customer actions.
- Fare Options Made Clear: The extensive testing around fare types transformed how SAS presents their various ticket options. By clarifying the benefits of each fare type and strategically positioning upsell opportunities, SAS achieved the dual benefit of helping customers find the right fare for their needs while increasing premium fare selection.
The Power of Self-Service Research
What makes SAS's approach particularly noteworthy is how they empowered their customer experience team with research capabilities. Rather than relying on external agencies for every study, their dedicated self-service team leveraged Optimal's platform to conduct continuous testing and implement improvements based on real user feedback.
Conclusion
SAS's partnership with Optimal demonstrates the transformative impact of sustained, data-driven UX research on the airline passenger experience. By making user research a consistent priority rather than a one-time project, they've created digital touchpoints that truly resonate with their Scandinavian and international customer base.
In an industry where digital interactions are increasingly defining the customer relationship, SAS has positioned themselves as a leader in creating seamless digital journeys that complement their physical travel experience. With Optimal's tools providing actionable insights, SAS continues to elevate both their digital customer experience and their business results to new heights.
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