Northern’s WhatsApp service handles 8,000 customer inquiries in first year

In the first year since joining the global messaging platform, Northern has announced that it has received 8,000 WhatsApp messages from customers. The train operator reports that its artificial intelligence (AI) operated service has saved 1,277 hours of employee time, allowing staff to focus on more complex inquiries.

Customers can use the service to request live train times, service updates and information about disruptions, as well as onward ground transport connections like local taxis. In addition, the service can guide users on how to request assistance, inquire about lost property, report problems, submit delay repay claims, or make complaints. To access the service, customers can message 07870 606060.

Training is a serious game

Mark Powles, Commercial and Customer Director at Northern, said: “We launched our WhatsApp service to simplify the process of getting live train information to customers ‘on the go’. It functions entirely on AI and is therefore available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. By answering thousands of basic questions for us in the blink of an eye, it frees-up time that our customer experience centre can instead dedicate to the more in-depth, complex enquiries we receive. We hope to develop the service this year so that users can ask any question you can find the answer to on our website via WhatsApp instead.”

Northern plans to expand the service to handle a wider range of questions, similar to those answered on its website. The design of the WhatsApp service had been heavily influenced by customer insights, including common queries received by Northern’s customer experience centre, station teams, and on-board train crew. It was tested with focus groups before its official launch in August 2023, and continues to evolve to meet customer needs.

The service’s successful implementation led to a nomination for a Transport Ticketing Global Award shortly after its launch. Northern, the UK’s second-largest train operator, runs 2,500 services daily to over 500 stations across the North of England.