Bain & Company and MaritzCX recently surveyed 120,000 UK consumers to find out how likely they would be to recommend 190 different brands to their friends or family. They compiled the responses and ranked 16 industries from worst to best. Where did telco fall in the lineup? Fourth worst, topping water, energy, and logistics only.
With UK customers not looking at telco as favorably as we might hope, it’s crucial that telcos hone in on customer service and make the customer experience as effortless and seamless as possible. They can do this by using customer service management (CSM) to meet modern customer service demands and offer personalized experiences. This makes both customers and employees happier.
Meet Modern Customer Service Demands
“Today’s consumers want it all,” according to a Zendesk research paper. “They demand near-instant solutions and expect a flawless experience from their channels of choice when contacting customer service.”
What are some specific demands of the modern customer? According to the Zendesk report, 28 percent of customers said that “having multiple options for contacting customer service made it a good experience.” On the other hand, 27 percent of customers “report not being able to contact customer support using their preferred method made it a bad experience.” Customers want to be able to contact customer service via the medium they prefer.
ServiceNow’s CSM can help meet this customer demand. It allows for efficient, seamless service across a wide range of channels by automating common tasks like routing customers to the right service representative. Using automation and artificial intelligence—instead of more human capital—CSM is a cost-effective solution that can meet customer demands on scale, 24/7.
Offer a Personalized Experience
According to Salesforce research, 70 percent of customers say that to win their business, it’s very important that companies understand how they use products and services. Are telcos aware of how their individual customers interact with their company? Having one platform that houses all customer data is crucial for telcos to understand their customers and offer the personalization they’re looking for.
ServiceNow’s CSM platform, for example, gives agents one view of the customer and all the historical and current interactions they’ve had with the company. This 360-degree view enables customer service providers at telcos to “build closer relationships with customers, helping to streamline interactions and even predict customer behavior.” Altogether, this one-platform view allows telcos to personalize their customers’ experiences.
Easy for Customers, Easy for Telcos
When telcos offer their customers multiple channels for getting support and personalization, it makes for an effortless and seamless customer experience. But it’s not as though employees have to work extra hard behind the scenes to ease the burden for customers. Quite the opposite! With the help of CSM, an easier experience for customers is an easier experience for employees.
For example, ServiceNow CSM is easy to integrate with other databases. According to ServiceNow, “the most common integrations are with CMDB, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, User Administration, and Single Sign-on.” Employees can easily connect other customer database systems to the platform, so there’s one source of truth for each customer account. That way, employees can find answers easily, and customers can feel they’re in good hands.
It’s time to take measures to make both customers and employees happier. With a significant opportunity to improve the perception of telcos in the UK at the moment, it’s crucial that telcos focus on customer service to make the customer experience as effortless and seamless as possible. By using a CSM to meet modern customer service demands and offer personalized experiences, you’ll be able to do just that.
