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Monarch soars with Google search tech
Case study: Google Custom Search has improved the airline's online customer service

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Monday 03 December 2007

Monarch Airlines has recently started to use Google's Custom Search technology on its website to improve its ability to answer customer queries.

The company went live with the tech at the beginning of November as a low cost way of reducing the need for emails to be sent by customers to have their queries answered.

The airline saw a significant increase in email queries following its introduction of online check-in earlier in the year and the tightening up of airport security last summer.

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Monarch wanted to reduce the number of incoming emails containing queries that could be answered on the website to allow its customer service team to work on other more useful projects.

Google Custom Search Business Edition essentially improves the search engine of the flyMonarch.com website, allowing people to find answers to their questions more quickly and easily.

Ian Chambers, ecommerce manager for flyMonarch.com, told silicon.com the airline wanted to improve the speed, accuracy and context for people to find answers to questions on the website.

Compared to the week before the tech went live, Chambers said the first week with the Google Custom Search saw a 30 per cent reduction in inbound emails.

As well as improving the site's search engine, the system also cuts in when people are about to send a query email with suggestions of where they might be able to find the information they're after.

Monarch Airlines pays a nominal annual fee of $100, which allows its tech team to adjust the Google code to fit with the company's business needs.

Chambers said the tech is "highly customisable" as it has an XML output that can be easily tweaked and used with minimal Google branding.

The airline also uses Google Analytics to generate website usability trends such as the most popular FAQ areas and most common queries that need to be addressed.

The search tech was easily extended to other connected sites - from hotels to car hire - as the search tech is able to index additional sites much more quickly than Monarch's old system.

Talking about these additional sites, Chambers said: "Now we've seen the power of it, we can really build on that."