 |
Happy Birthday, Jenn!
|
Alaska's online virtual assistant has answered 3.4 million questions in her first year at work
|
2/10/2009 10:24 a.m.
|
Jenn, Alaska Airlines' online virtual assistant, celebrated her first birthday Feb. 7 doing what she does best, answering questions from customers visiting alaskaair.com. But Jenn's devotion to duty didn't stop her co-workers in Customer Care from taking a few minutes off to mark the occasion.
"We had a lot of birthday cake and a lot of fun," said Theresa Miller, a Mileage Plan supervisor and the voice behind Alaska's automated voice recognition system. "Three representatives from NextIT, the company that developed the technology for Jenn, joined us for the celebration."
For those who haven't met her, Jenn is an avatar — an online graphic that depicts a person — similar to characters in many computer games. She can be found on the top right side of the main navigation bar on every page of alaskaair.com.
Employees and customers can ask Jenn a wide range of questions by typing them in a box much like an Instant Message conference. She answers with a general typed and spoken response, displays the appropriate page from alaskaair.com and provides links to one or more related pages.
Since Jenn was introduced a year ago, she's been asked more than 3.4 million questions during nearly 1.5 million chat sessions with customers.
"A session is a conversation with Jenn," Miller said. "Each session may include several questions."
The five most frequently asked questions related to:
• Checked baggage policies
• Purchasing / changing tickets
• Mileage Plan and award questions
• First class upgrades
• Seat assignments
Some visitors to alaskaair.com seem to have mistaken Jenn for the Oracle of Delphi, asking her who will be elected president, if she knows Santa Claus, whether she knows any other virtual assistants and what to name their baby. She's even received a few marriage proposals.
Like many real Alaska Airlines employees, Jenn was busy during the big snowstorm that hit the Pacific Northwest before Christmas. She held a record 30,562 chat sessions on Dec. 21, followed by 30,296 sessions the next day.
"The average number of daily chat sessions has steadily increased over the past year as customers have become more familiar with Jenn and we have expanded her knowledge base," Miller said. "Recently, she's been averaging 6,000 to 7,000 chat sessions a day, up from 3,000 to 4,000 a day just a few months ago."
As the first online virtual assistant at a U.S. airline, Jenn has been featured in major newspapers and magazines around the world, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Seattle Times, Business Week and International Herald Tribune. She has also appeared on television and has been the subject of numerous computer blogs.
"In just one year, Jenn has become a media star and a great resource for Alaska Airlines customers and employees," Miller said.
|
|
|
