Civil Aviation Authority

Building foundations for better customer experiences.

Sectors: Public Services. Year: 2024

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulates the UK aviation industry. But after the Secretary of State for Transport received complaints about the experience customers were receiving, they were under pressure to turn things around.

We delivered three parallel research projects to show them the value of customer-centred ways of working. We also provided the foundations for improving their customer experience over the long term. We created resources and toolkits, including a measurement dashboard, as well as a roadmap.

And most challenging: we began to shift their risk-averse culture.

Outcomes

Through our work, the CAA now:

  • See the value of customer-centred design.
  • Know how to build a customer experience team
  • Have tools to help them design customer centred services
  • Know what to do next, and how to track their improvements

And we’ve shifted their culture. From “I’m not sure customer experience is right for us” to “I’ve put customer experience into my objectives”.

The problem to solve

The CAA’s responsibilities include ensuring that industry members (airlines and airports) meet safety and security standards. They also make sure consumers are treated fairly.

Yet consumers were complaining about the quality of CAA’s services. Complaints reached the Secretary of State for Transport, and scrutiny was increasing. An independent review panel was set up, and the government planned a public body review.

Customer experience became a board priority.

But becoming more customer-centred wasn’t going to be easy. As a regulator, the CAA is naturally risk-averse. And, because they lack competitors, many staff didn’t think that they even have customers.

What we did

We demonstrated new ways of working

We needed to convince people about the value of being customer-centred. But rather than telling them, we ran three research projects to show them.

One project explored how to improve the security-screening process for people working in aviation.

Another examined the needs of people in the industry, when accessing regulation guidance online.

The third focussed on what happens when a package holiday provider fails, as in Thomas Cook’s failure in 2019.

Thomas Cook, which failed in 2019, was an ATOL holder.

If a provider fails, consumers are protected by a CAA scheme called ATOL. ATOL helps in various ways: they can arrange flights for consumers stranded abroad, or reimburse them for things such as hotel costs.

But we found people were unsure about what help they could get. They were trawling through ATOL’s site, trying to find information for their specific situation (e.g. if a failure happens before they leave).

Our recommendation was a tool that gave specific guidance, based on a set of questions. This would cut contact centre calls, and CAA costs.

Our projects uncovered many insights like this, showing the value of customer-centred working.

We built the foundations for Customer Experience

Next, we provided the CAA with foundational tools and resources – setting them up for long-term improvement:

  • We created a plan for a dedicated Customer Experience team. This described the roles needed, and how they should work with the rest of the CAA.
  • We created a set of ‘Service Standards’ (adapted from the Government Service Standards), to guide the design of services. For example: ‘Make sure everyone can use the service’.
  • We created an online ‘customer experience toolkit’, including topics such as ‘how to run a Discovery phase’.
  • We defined how to measure Customer Experience. We made a dashboard, connected to survey and complaints data, enabling them to track improvements.

Finally, we created a roadmap. This included recommendations from our research projects, but also strategic initiatives, including steps to build the Customer Experience team.

Our plan for a dedicated Customer Experience team, describing one of the roles needed.
The CAA Service Standards (adapted from the Government Service Standards).
The proof-of-concept measurement dashboard we built.

We shifted the culture

The CAA’s board told us our biggest challenge would be culture. Teams felt that testing imperfect solutions with customers could conflict with safety and security.

We used organisational psychology.

Changing what teams do, can change the way teams think. So, we encouraged the board to sponsor more customer experience projects.

We helped them advocate for customer experience by connecting it to the CAA’s values. For instance, customer research connects to their value ‘never stop learning’.

And we expanded the CAA’s customer experience vocabulary by running talks on topics like ‘inclusive user-centred-design’, open to everyone.

Outcomes

At the start of our work, we heard things like “it’s going to be really hard to get feedback”, or “I’m not sure customer experience is right for us”.

But in five weeks, teams were focusing on their customers: “Why don’t we speak to applicants?”; “Why don’t we do a survey?” And even “I’ve put customer experience into my objectives”.

So, we’ve shown the value of customer-centred working.

And we’ve provided the foundations for long-term customer experience improvements:

  • They know how to build a customer experience team
  • They have tools to help them design customer centred services
  • They know what to do next, and how to track their improvements

Despite the CAA’s risk-averse culture, we’ve strengthened their commitment to customer experience, from board-level, down.

I have really enjoyed […] working with CX Partners on my first discovery! I have learnt a lot from all of you and it has definitely given me a different perspective and mindset to use moving forward. It has been a really enjoyable team to be a part of and I know the wider project team feel the same.

Julia George Project Manager

[The team have] been magnificent – as good as any I’ve seen – really grounded in the approach

Peter Drissell Director of Aviation Security

Learn more about Civil Aviation Authority

Amanda Payne

Reach out to Amanda Payne

Experience Strategy Director