Kiwi.com Keeps in Touch with Customers on the Fly with Vonage

With a belief that everyone should be free to experience the world, Kiwi.com is breaking down the barriers to low-cost travel, making the world open and accessible for all.

“At Kiwi.com, our vision is to simplify air travel and remove any frustration or anxiety travelers have related to air travel. As tech innovators, we’re creating solutions to make affordable travel available to everyone and as people, we’re changing the way we travel to make a more open and tolerant society,” said Pavel Řezníček, Group Product Manager for Kiwi.com. “Our unique algorithm compares billions of prices across 750+ airlines across the world for the best deals. With 100 million searches and 70,000 seats sold daily, we need to keep in touch with customers on the move, all over the world, and Vonage helps us do that.”

By leveraging the Vonage SMS API, Kiwi.com has the ability to not only engage with customers wherever they are in a timely manner but to confirm the status of each message - what has been received and reacted to - to ensure a better customer experience.

Make the Connection

“Email is typically the first point of contact with customers, but with the complexity of the travel industry and the frequent changes and updates made by airlines, it is critical that we can connect over multiple channels to ensure customers see these updates to their travel plans,” explains Řezníček. “With SMS as a communications channel, we can engage customers in a more immediate way, providing information they need now and prompting action that helps remove anxiety related to their trip, like online check-in for flights.”

Let’s say a customer books travel on Kiwi.com, but accidentally provides an email address with a typo - if not spotted on time, this can cause a variety of inconveniences, such as the customer missing important travel updates. Thanks to the Vonage API, the Kiwi.com team can reach out to the customer via SMS to alert them to the issue, confirm that the message was received, and guide them through the process to fix it before it becomes a problem. This kind of proactive engagement has reduced the number of inbound customer support contacts and allowed Kiwi.com to help make the overall travel experience even smoother. 

Messaging that Travels the World

While Kiwi.com started in Europe, the company quickly grew to be global. To stay connected to customers, Kiwi.com needed a strong partner with a good reputation and the proven ability to support high delivery rates around the world. Vonage does that. 

“On a weekly basis we are sending around 200,000 SMS messages to customers as they travel the globe,” noted Řezníček. “A lot of these messages are time sensitive - a changed flight, a missed connection - and may need the customer to respond or take action within the hour. Thanks to the Vonage SMS API we are able to reliably communicate with customers worldwide - and not only that, but we have the ability to confirm the status of messages sent so we can be sure that our customers are getting the important details they need for a smooth trip.”

Because Vonage is a global platform, the company understands that working with a global customer base means considering local regulations and standards. For example, the new 10DLC standard is a sanctioned solution for A2P messaging that all major US carriers have adopted to deliver better customer experience along with business benefits such as brand accountability and more reliable deliverability. While the 10DLC registration process can be frustrating to handle alone, the Vonage team supported Kiwi.com through it, allowing the travel tech company to meet the standard, improve the delivery of messages with a local presence, and increase throughput and SPAM protection for end users.  In addition, Opt-Out Assist enables Kiwi.com to simplify operations by allowing Vonage to manage mandatory compliance keywords on their behalf.

“Vonage is a strong partner, giving us the tools we need to provide easy intuitive customer support to travelers,” said Řezníček. “And when challenges arise for us, like the 10DLC registration process, the Vonage team provides us with great support and a personal connection, guiding us to success.” 

Discover how Vonage Communications APIs can help you build better connections, communications and engagements with customers around the world.