Let’s face it. Telecommunications providers have a reputation of not providing customer services and experiences that meet the needs of the customers. You don’t have to look far to find examples of customer interactions gone awry, especially in the telecommunications and cable industry. Just a simple Google search can lead you to a variety of blunders, like changing a customer’s name on a bill to forcing a consumer to sell a home they just purchased, that leave you wondering how they can stay in business.

And this isn’t an issue that escapes the notice of the C-Suite. A Bloomberg Business Week study reported that 92% of Telecom Executives rate Customer Experience as a top strategic objective, yet rate their own experiences pretty low.

With four telecom giants on the top 20 list of the most hated companies in America, the telecommunications industry has a lot of ground to make up. But all is not lost, and with the large addressable market, providers have a huge opportunity.

Do not Underestimate the Value of Human Interaction

According to a survey by Aspect, 73% of Millennials want the ability to solve problems on their own through online sources. Even with this, however, telecom providers should not close down the call center and focus all their efforts on self-help sections.

There is much to be said about the value of human interactions in building rapport with customers.  According to an InMoment report that surveyed up to 11,000 North American telecom consumers, they found that human interaction can boost positive feelings for providers. Consumers want quick, easy solutions with pleasant providers, and providing this can be vital to the success of telecoms. A survey by Dimensional Research found that when consumers encounter good service, 52% of individuals and 62% of businesses will increase their spend.

Four Ways the Telecommunications Industry can Improve Customer Service

Customer Service is so important to the ongoing success of a business that 86% of consumers would pay more for better service, according to an Oracle Study. With this, we have found a few things that you can do to improve the customer service your organization provides.

  • Recruit the right people – If you don’t have the right people in place, then it goes without saying that your customer service strategy will fail. Finding the right people can be a demanding task, but there are ways to reduce this burden. Partnering with a business process outsourcing firm removes the challenge of finding the right people, allowing your business to focus on other areas that directly impact the growth of your business.
  • Set realistic and measurable objectives – You can set objectives all day long and implement them throughout your improvement strategy, but if they aren’t measurable, then the effort is wasted. Customer surveys after an agent has completed the interaction with the customer is a good way to assess the quality of the engagement.
  • Offer multi-channel support – No two customers are alike. Some prefer online interactions while others won’t work with an organization that doesn’t provide phone support. Offering self-help, online interactions such as chat and the traditional call center should all be a priority when developing a customer service strategy.
  • Understand the customer needs – Of course, none of this matters if you don’t know what your customer needs. Spend some time researching your main customer on their needs and what effective customer service is to them. Without this, all of you efforts to improve your customer service could miss the mark.

A survey by Zendesk found that 52% of customers who had a positive experience will buy more than those who had a negative experience. This is especially important for telecommunications and subscription-based businesses. This Upwork article states that subscription-based businesses that provide good customer service have customers that stay an average of seven years. This is seven times more than those who had poor experiences, as subscribers who report low customer experience scores only stay for one year.

How can the Telecommunications Industry Improve their Customer Service Strategy with Business Process Outsourcing?

According to Wikipedia, Business Process Outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that involves contracting with a 3rd party to perform operational and business responsibilities. These operational or business responsibilities can include call center tech support, customer service, invoicing and many other back-office tasks.

Partnering with a Business Process Outsourcing firm has significant advantages for the telecom industry. To start, you immediately gain a highly experienced customer service team that is dedicated just to you and your business. The ramp time is reduced, and your partner takes on the burden of recruiting, hiring and payroll, meaning your HR team can focus on recruiting for higher level positions.

Not only is your time to launch reduced, but so are the expenses. The costs associated with finding and training your customer service associates fall on your outsourcing provider, not you.  In addition, the costs to maintain a call center also falls on the partner. You do not need to provide the physical space and technology, reducing your overhead.  And churn is no longer your problem.

Start Your Journey to Improved Customer Service Today

An interesting statistic came from the Upwork article. When mobile telecom giant, Sprint, committed to improving their customer experience, the cost of their customer care dropped by 33%. With the right strategy, your telecommunications business can also reduce the cost of customer care. Find out how outsourcing your customer service needs today. Call Now.

Find out how you can improve your customer service by outsourcing your needs today.