Customer service is an integral element in growing and keeping a competitive edge in the telecommunications industry. This has not changed at all, but with new technological innovations come greater challenges to meet the demands and expectations of consumers. To ensure customer loyalty and attract more over time, it is crucial for key decision-makers to find ways on how to further improve their respective customer service experience to boost satisfaction and secure long-term revenues.
In essence, customer experience refers to the sum of various interactions a customer has with your company. Customer service has a direct influence on your sales potential and the long-term loyalty of your existing and potential customers. Therefore, it is not surprising to know that customer experience is integral to any telecoms company. By rule, the more pleasant customer experience, the more repeat customers and positive feedback you receive over the long term. Additionally, repeat or loyal customers result in a steady increase in profits, fewer bad reviews, and product returns. Therefore, improving the customer experience offers nothing but excellent financial rewards for telecommunications providers.
The Major Challenges Facing the Telecoms Industry when It Comes to Customer Experience
Better customer experience benefits all kinds of businesses, but telecoms companies are expected to set the bar higher. In recent years, digital transformation and fierce competition are forcing telecommunications companies to rethink their customer services. They even risk the loss of their existing clientele to new companies that offer better support through breakthrough technologies, including AI-enabled chatbots, delivering a more customer-centric experience.
Telecommunications companies point to customer service and digital experiences as important tools to further improve their customer experience. By investing in digital channels and state-of-the-art technology, telecom companies can maintain their competitive advantage in the long run.
Poor Customer Retention
In the telecoms industry, churn refers to the dissolution of customer subscriptions, typically caused by poor customer service. On average, a telecom company with a poor customer service program can have up to 27 percent churn rate. In a highly competitive market such as the telecoms industry, it is crucial to sustain current clientele, attract more, and build long-term relationships and loyalty.
Failure to Meet Expectations
Customers have high standards when it comes to dealing with their telecoms provider. In this day and age, customers expect superior digital experiences. In case they fail to receive this from their current service provider, the majority do not hesitate to move to a company that can provide a seamless experience and more.
Greater Understanding of Customer Needs and Expectations
Customer expectations are rising at a fast rate. Telecom providers are now in stiff competition with OTT service companies that offer digital content and services using innovative technologies, and at a lesser cost. For telecom companies to compete with these new-age service providers, they must know what their customers want.
Three Effective Ways of Enhancing Customer Experience by Telecommunications Companies
The Use of Robust Data to Personalise Customer Experience
Telecommunications companies receive and store large volumes of data. Utilising collected information to keep track and analyse key indicators of customer satisfaction provides the right set of metrics and insights. As a result, these data help key decisions to take proactive measures to enhance customer experience.
To achieve long-term growth, AI-based digital tools can boost customer interactions and deliver efficient service. Large telecoms companies now offer a full suite of enterprise solutions that feature human and artificial intelligence to improve their customer service. By providing a highly customised experience based on previous interactions through platforms such as text, phone, social media, and chat, customer service agents can now access a rich information bank where they can use to adjust their interactions with each client.
Using Artificial Intelligence to Boost Customer Satisfaction
The integration of chatbots onto online customer service portals can help improve customer experience by effectively reducing the burden on human staff by offering the following advantages:
- Fast access to information
- Significant reduction to waiting time
- Speedy response time
- Tailored interactions
- Faster enquiry resolution
- Round-the-clock customer support
- Enhanced productivity
Establish a Customer-Centric Culture
Enhancing customer experience is not the job of one team. It should be an organisation-wide effort from all departments within a telecoms company. By creating a customer-centric culture, employees are conditioned to place the needs of the customers as top priority. Customer-centred programs help in training employees over time to focus on satisfaction of clients as opposed to profits and sales.
Improving the customer service experience must be the main priority for telecom providers that are witness to various innovations and competitions in this day and age. Bear in mind that customers are the life and soul that sustains the telecoms industry. Without them companies will not grow and even experience significant losses over the long haul. For more sales, long-term revenues, and greater opportunities moving forward, implementing a strategic plan to improve customer experience should be at the top of a telecoms service provider’s list. If you need assistance in seeking partners or professional job opportunities in the telecoms industry, you can always rely on Telco Build. For enquiries, call us on 0400 6177 11 today.