6 Ways Telecom Companies Can Improve Customer Experience

Improving Customer Experience: What Telecom Companies Need to Know

Today’s customer loyalty is no longer determined solely by brands, products, or prices, but also by the level of service they receive and their overall experience with a business. To thrive in a highly competitive world, businesses need to prioritize customer satisfaction by implementing effective service management software. According to a recent survey by American Express, 40 percent of U.S. consumers prefer to seek support from a real person over the phone to resolve complex issues like payment disputes or complaints. This highlights the importance for telecom companies to invest in reliable service management software to enhance their customer experience.

What does it take for telecom companies to improve their customer experience?

1. Understand Customer Expectations

 The first step towards improving customer experience is to understand your customers and what they expect from you in terms of service.
Today’s customer expects anytime, anywhere access. Due to the rapid changes brought in by the latest technologies, their requirement to get seamless accessibility has increased. They seek fast resolutions to their challenges. Customers are now looking for various connectivity alternatives such as live mobile chats, text chats, SMS, voice support, and so on. Hence, they keep moving from one communication method to another to get a better experience and solution to their problems.  
Several aggressive newcomers have now started delivering the latest technology at low cost which seems to threaten the traditional business models and revenue streams of telecom providers. It’s important for forward-looking telecom companies to ensure that their engagement strategies sync with the external environment. For instance, promoting 3G at a time when 4G or 5G enjoys a high availability leads to customer dissatisfaction. 

2. Deliver Omni Channel Engagement

The new-gen digitally savvy customers prefer to engage with service providers through multiple channels, at their whim. They may engage with customer support through live chat, post a tweet, send a voice message to customer care, email their problems, or call up support directly. All that depends on the most suitable option available to them at a particular time. They expect round-the-clock support and consistent service across all touchpoints and channels of engagement. 
 A sound omnichannel engagement strategy is indispensable for telecom companies to engage with their customers effectively and enhance their experience. 

 3. Leverage the Power of Big Data and Analytics

 Successful telecom companies draw up a set of critical indicators relevant to customer satisfaction and track these metrics regularly. This enables them to scale up to customer expectations. Examples of such key indicators include download speeds, feedback score, Average Revenue per User (ARPU), response time from the service provider, and more.
Smart telecom companies analyze the data related to customer representative conversations regularly to find out if strategies and tactics work as planned, and to see if there are any expectation mismatches or communication gaps. They try to analyze customer interactions at various touchpoints and offer personalized service to the extent possible. 

 4. Ditch the Script

 Many telecom companies force their customers through monotonous mechanical scripts or IVR rather than listening out to their core problems. They orient their systems to make things easy for their business and expect the customer to adjust, rather than orienting systems around the customer. More than two out of every three customers hang up the phone if they are not able to talk to a human agent. A bad phone experience drives away three out of every four customers to a competitor. 
The customer service representative reading out the laid-down script and taking the aggrieved customer through a series of questions and steps is a sure way to erode customer goodwill. Following a script in a robotic, mechanical manner prevents the representative from connecting with the customer and identifying the real issue. 
 A telephonic script can only be a guideline. Telecom companies should try to empower their customer service representatives to handle customer woes more efficiently. An empowered representative can offer the customer a discount for the time their line was down and promise a resolution within a certain time without waiting for authorization. 

 5. Personalize the Engagement

 Telecom companies spend millions of dollars on IVR technology. Do you know that 60% of your callers bypass IVR, and around 83% of interactions that begin with IVR end up as a direct conversation with a live agent?
 Co-opting new technology such as Artificial Intelligence powered chatbots goes a long way in enhancing customer satisfaction. Verizon’s Digital CX blends human and artificial intelligence to deliver personalized experiences to each customer based on previous interactions through email, social media, chat, text, or phone.

 6. Reach out to Disgruntled Customers

 Proactiveness is always an effective tool to delight customers. Proactive customer support allows companies to keep track of customer issues and inform the customer in advance without waiting for them to contact customer care. Also, offering detailed information as to why the problem occurred and how it will be resolved gives you more credibility than merely promising to resolve the issue. Such an approach would remove misunderstandings and make customers more tolerant of any unavoidable delays.

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 How Field Service can be improved in the Telecom industry?

 Field service is the core of the telecom industry. Field service management software plays a great role in ensuring a smooth and seamless resolution of issues and fostering customer delight. Field service software allows field technicians to manage their work effortlessly, enables managers to get a bird’s eye view of the operations, lets supervisors monitor their technicians in real time, and helps customers track the technician’s arrival.
Field service management software like ReachOut Suite empowers Telecom companies to offer better self-service for customers. It allows users to keep track of usage, raise service or maintenance tickets, make payments, and do more without the hassles of dealing with customer support. 
Want to know how ReachOut can improve your operational efficiency and bottom line? Contact us to know more.