The low cost arm of Singapore Airlies, Scoot, on July 23 launched a transactional chatbot named MARVIE (Most Awesome and Resourceful Virtual Intern Ever) on its Singapore Facebook page via Facebook Messenger.
The ‘recruitment’ of MARVIE, described as “the first chatbot by an airline in Asia to allow transactions, in addition to responding to customer queries”, coincided with the one-year anniversary of the merger of Tigerair into Scoot.
Apart from handling queries in English, MARVIE assists customers to search for flights, display the same fares and availability as reflected on Scoot’s website and mobile app, make flight bookings and allow payment by credit card – “essentially a full transaction flow,” said the airline in a media statement.
According to the carrier, since the chatbot soft launched on July 2 it has serviced on average 50 unique users a day and successfully resolved 37.5% of the queries that come through Facebook.
This resolution rate is expected to rise as MARVIE is in constant learning mode, and its capabilities will improve over time as more customers interact with it.
Queries on baggage among the most common questions for MARVIE
Scoot reveals the most commonly asked queries to date are on baggage, the Scoot Insider programme, KrisFlyer integration, as well as flight search and booking, “proving that there is indeed demand for transactional capability via chatbot”.
“Instead of having our customers come to us, we are committed to meeting them where they are, when it’s convenient for them,” said Vinod Kannan, Scoot’s chief commercial officer.
“As the first airline in Asia to enable flight bookings and payment via our chatbot, we aim to make it simpler and more convenient for customers to realise their travel plans with Scoot, through a mobile-first approach beyond just the website and mobile app.”
He disclosed since merging with Tigerair, Scoot has grown significantly with its current network covering 66 destinations across 18 countries/territories.
“In the meantime we have also invested heavily in several initiatives to improve our digital capabilities and the customer experience. MARVIE is one of the first of Scoot’s efforts towards this goal.”
Scoot flying higher since merger with Tigerair.
The chatbot was developed with the expertise of Caravelo, a technology company specialising in solutions for the airline industry.
Jonathan Newman, Caravelo’s chief commercial officer, remarked the company was “super proud” of MARVIE “For the last two years, we’ve been pioneering conversational commerce in the airline industry and Scoot’s goals of meeting customers where they are and making travel planning simpler resonate with our view of digital servicing and retail.”
Future development will enable MARVIE. to accept promo codes, assist customers to manage and make changes to their bookings, purchase ancillary products such as preferred seats and travel insurance, make interline bookings involving flights by partner airlines, and accept more payment modes.
There are also plans to make the chatbot available in more languages and on more platforms, including Scoot’s website.
Meanwhile, to help train MARVIE learn and become better over time Scoot challenges you to chat with the intern on Facebook till August 12 with flight requests or any burning questions you have about the airline.
“The top three ‘trainers’ with interactions that help improve MARVIE’s performance the most, stand to win a free flight to any Scoot destination. Three lucky ‘trainers’ who hit a milestone interaction mark will also stand to win SG$100 Scoot travel vouchers,” announced the company.
• All images credit: Scoot
