{"id":14631,"date":"2015-06-09T06:53:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T10:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/?p=14631"},"modified":"2019-12-03T08:20:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T13:20:58","slug":"ryanair-profits-do-not-equal-loyalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/ryanair-profits-do-not-equal-loyalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryanair: Profits Do Not Equal Loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ryanair announced this week that they had 66% ($948m) increase in full-year profits. Michael O\u2019Leary credits Ryanair\u2019s Always Getting Better (AGB) <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/\">Customer experience<\/a> program as a catalyst for these results. \u00a0My reaction in a word: Rubbish!<\/p>\n<p>Other improved stats for Ryanair attributed to the AGB program include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Passenger traffic increased 11% (90.6m)<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revenue Rose 12% to $8.59bn<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ryanair invested in 283 new planes to handle the increases in business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>O\u2019Leary and others said the AGB program is<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-32880096\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> transforming their Customer Experience,<\/a> service and the way they treat Customers. The Chief financial Officer, Neil Sorahan agrees, saying they improved and listened to their Customers. But I am skeptical\u2014not that I would know personally. It will be a cold day in Hades before I step foot on a Ryanair plane to \u00a0\u201cexperience\u201d it myself. My worry for them is like me they have built up a group of people that passionately dislike them.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>My point here is that while the results are good and the increases are real, the reasons behind them aren\u2019t what they think. Ryanair executive team says they have changed their ways, and are \u201ctransforming\u201d their Customer Experience, but they haven\u2019t really. They still approach their airline with an internal focus. Their words have changed; their actions haven\u2019t. For example, earlier this month on a flight from Spain to London,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/travel\/ryanair-flight-to-london-takes-off-without-toilet-paper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> the airplane took off without any toilet paper<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>They still have fees, for everything. \u00a0<\/strong>A recent article on the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.ie\/life\/travel\/travel-news\/ryanair-cuts-controversial-airport-fees-in-latest-customer-service-shakeup-31197826.html?utm_content=buffer08382&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> independent.ie<\/a>praised the company for its reduction of \u201ccontroversial airport fees.\u201d Yes, they lowered them somewhat, but they are still there. Including everyone\u2019s favorite, the airport check-in fee. This is a fee to get a boarding pass at the airport. Now it\u2019s only $69, down from $107.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Their app is still confusing, hard to use, and leaves all the work to the Customer. <\/strong>In a survey published by UK branding company Siegel+Gale, the airline\u2019s app (where you can download your boarding pass and save $69 in \u201cairport check in fee) was singled out as a \u201cmajor headache.\u201d Interestingly enough, <strong>respondents also said they were willing to pay more for a simpler experience.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Some fees were reduced, but other prices are set to rise. <\/strong>Ryanair is raising its \u201ccore fees\u201d starting next Monday (which, to be fair, is what other airlines do, too. But as my mum used to say, \u201cIf everyone was going to jump off a bridge, does that mean you have to jump, too?\u201d). This means the checked bag fee, another favorite of Customers, jumps from $23 to $38.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The senior management isn\u2019t listening to the voice of the Customer.<\/strong>When last October, Siegel+Gale\u2019s 2014 simplicity index showed them as one of the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/travel\/travel_news\/article-2812512\/Ryanair-named-second-worst-brand-WORLD-customer-service-AXA-insurance-comes-poll.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> worst-performing brands overall.<\/a> O\u2019Leary\u2019s reaction to the results was that if their profits and revenue were increasing, then this survey was an attempt for the firm to get publicity. He said also that 87 million people (presumably the estimated number of passengers that flew Ryanair) said the survey was wrong. So maybe he heard what they said, but I think we can all agree he isn\u2019t listening. Passenger inertia is not <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/customer-loyalty\/\">Customer loyalty<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These examples are classic moves of an organization being forced up the<a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/services\/naive-to-natural-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Naive to Natural<\/a> curve by competition. Na\u00efve to Natural is our model developed to help an organization assess their orientation toward Customers. Ryanair is the typical Na\u00efve company. From their AGB slogan, it appears they were heading up to transactional. However, it is important to note that these moves were only precipitated by a poor performance one quarter\u2014and when stockholders and stakeholders put their foot down and forced the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, since the move is forced, it isn\u2019t likely to be effective. Ryanair has a natural tendency to be internally focused&#8211;with a culture so off Customer centricity I call it Customer animosity. Cute slogans for PR and minor changes to annoying, internally focused fees do not make a great Customer Experience. A real Customer Experience transformation requires an outside-in approach to designing the experience and infusing the culture with the Customer at the heart of everything you do. Hiking fees and ignoring feedback are not an excellent start for this journey.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think a leopard can change its spots\u2026but I could be wrong (it\u2019s been known to happen.). It comes down to the Customers and whether they can forgive Ryanair for some of the worse attitudes to Customers I have ever seen. Have they built up so much resentment with Customers that it will result in their downfall or will the profitability continue to improve? The question for me remains, can they make real change in their Customer Experience as long as the leadership they have are in charge or will they just revert to type as soon as they can get away with it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think of Ryanair&#8217;s new Customer program? Have you seen a difference? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>New Webinar: How to Design &amp; Build an Effective Loyalty Program<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Don\u2019t miss Michael Lowenstein, thought leadership principal at Beyond Philosophy, as he provides valuable perspectives on B2B and B2C loyalty programs and offers practical and proven methods for developing consistent loyalty programs.<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/webinars\/how-to-design-build-an-effective-loyalty-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <em>Reserve your spot at this informative webinar<\/em><\/a><em> presented Thursday, June 17<\/em><em>th<\/em><em>, 2015. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong><em>Special early-bird registration offer: <\/em><\/strong><em>Free Whitepaper Download, \u201cLoyalty Programs vs. Loyalty Behavior: Do Marketers Get What They Intend?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in the following blogs:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/ryanair-the-start-of-the-decline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Ryanair: The Start of the Decline?<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/southwest-employees-know-add-fun-customer-flight-experience-free\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Southwest Employees Know How to Add Fun to The Customer Flight Experience\u2014For Free!<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-flight-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Customer Flight Experience<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/our-team\/colin-shaw\/?utm_source=linkedin&amp;utm_medium=pulse&amp;utm_campaign=n2n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Colin Shaw<\/em><\/a><em> is the founder and CEO of<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/189lvWr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><em>Beyond Philosophy<\/em><\/a><em>, one of the world&#8217;s first organizations devoted to customer experience. Colin is an international author of<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/IrQ8uB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><em>four bestselling books<\/em><\/a><em> and an engaging keynote speaker.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Colin Shaw on Twitter\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/1hxF3H7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><em>@ColinShaw_CX<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ryanair announced this week that they had 66% ($948m) increase in full-year profits. Michael O\u2019Leary credits Ryanair\u2019s Always Getting Better (AGB) Customer experience program as a catalyst for these results. \u00a0My reaction in a word: Rubbish! Other improved stats for Ryanair attributed to the AGB program include: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Passenger traffic increased 11% (90.6m) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revenue Rose 12% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}