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Web & App Updates - More Helpful Help Center

MarkHursh
Employee
Employee

Each year tens of millions of Customers go to Southwest.com or the Southwest app to learn about their travel or to answer a question.  A key section to support them is our  Help Center which we have been overhauling over the past few years.

 

In 2020 we made the Help Center more mobile friendly which doubled engagement nearly overnight.  In 2021 we rebranded our Help Center from the previous name of FAQs which also resulted in a major jump in usage.  And now we are working hard to improve our Help Center even more.

 

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Making our Digital Help Center as helpful as possible is key in ensuring our Customers know about our product & policies when they choose to fly with Southwest, and are informed as possible to best be prepared during their trip.

 

When surveyed we hear from the majority of Customers want to be able to find their answers on their own.  So we are working hard to improve our Digital Help Content.

 

Our Digital Cohearts are centralizing all helpful content across various parts of our website and app, while also making it mobile friendly. This include moving much of the following content into our Help Center including:

  • Our Digital Customer Service Center, which receives tens of millions of annual views about bags, travel accommodations, and policies
  • Rapid Rewards Center, which includes  information about the program and partners
  • Product Content which provides information views about Early Bird, Upgraded Boarding, and more

A first phase of this improvement includes a fully revamped More Helpful Help Center which includes

  • A continued focus on Mobile Friendly design as more than 60% of our visitors are on a mobile device while in the Help Center
  • A more intuitive Help Center landing page organized into key topic areas that are easy to quickly understand along with a more prominent search bar when viewing on a computer
  • New Help Topic Landing pages that provide the quick bits of information that Customers frequently request, as well as let them dive into the details on topics
  • Redesigned Help Page Templates that are more digestible to allow Customers to quickly find information if they are exploring. Information now is organized into bite sized pieces to help Customers discover answers.
  • A Search Engine Friendly Design so that when Customers type a Southwest related question in a search engine it is easy to discover  in our Help Center

 

This release includes a first phase of our Customer Service Section Retirement with the following high usage content being moved to the Help Center. Old links to the content have been preserved and will redirect to the new Help Center pages including:

  • Checked Bags
  • Carryon Bags
  • Special Bags
  • Mobile Boarding Pass

 

After this release we’ll be continuing this summer to update the Help Center by porting in more digital content that currently resides in other locations. We’ll also be refining the Help Center to ensure the most helpful content is surfaced at the top.

 

This most recent update has had great impact.  We’ve already observed a 51% increase in our Help Center visit rate and dwell time in this part of the store has increased 27%.  That means to use that more people are able to find this Helpful part of the store and the content is even more meaningful.

 

Huge thanks to our Mobile Quick Wins team that continues to ensure our experiences are mobile friendly.

 

And an extra special thanks to the following Cohearts that made this release possible:

 

Technology Web Content Management Team

Azhar K

David S

Heather T

Moises E

Padmavathi T

Ramabhadran V

Randy S

 

Digital Solutions Web Content Management Team

Amber G

Chad A

Chris H

Corey E

Kelly D

Roxanna S

Sheila T

 

CDN Team

Aaron S

 

Digital Experience Design

Ashley S

 

Mobile Quick Wins Core Team & Leadership Sponsors

Bill T

Byron F

Carole E

Cindi S

Corri R

Gaurav M

Howard P

Katy S

Jim J

Mandy M

Megan S

Ryan G

Sally A

Sarah L

 

Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences.