We first started working with Eurostar in December 2009 after five trains were trapped in the Channel Tunnel.
We have been working with the Eurostar’s communications, social media and customer service team ever since to review and develop best practice. And to train new joiners.
As part of that training we developed and ran a number of real-time simulations, bringing in journalists and role-playing social media influencers to test how the PR and social teams perform under pressure.
We helped the team to establish social media monitoring and response tools. And we also helped them to develop new escalation and cascade processes which ensure that the communications, social and customer-service teams now use and udate the same lines against enquiry in real time.
The crisis communications training included the 'four stage' process we recommend:
- Identification
- Evaluation
- Escalation
- Response
We have also provided hands on support and consultancy to the Eurostar team to offer hands-on support during live crises and issues.
The results
The social media team customer service extended their operating hours to ensure they were always on-call to deal when trains were running.
From communicating delays through to dealing with shutdowns of the network, the PR, social and customer-service teams now use the same core scripts.
Responses are now faster and more accurate than ever before.
🧐 Strategy and training: Chris Reed
