Last week Stockholm played host to the CEM in Telecoms Nordic Summit, bringing together 60 industry experts to discuss the emerging trends in customer experience management in telecommunications. Over the course of the three days, there were some clear emerging trends which were discussed in more detail in the interactive roundtable sessions bringing the conference to a close. SysMech’s Rene Tonon shares some conclusions from the event.
Roundtable 1: Management of multi-channel customer engagement
As digital self-service becomes more popular, achieving consistent customer experience across all available channels can be difficult. With self-service, the key is to keep it simple and relevant, always asking, “How does this bring value to the customer?” It is also important to remember that each customer is different, and self-service is not always the preferred option.
Operators must also be continuously proactive, regularly seeking out insights from both customers and internal divisions to get a better understanding of what customers want and need. This allows them to serve the customer before the customer even knows they need help.
Roundtable 2: Understanding the customer experience
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been the benchmark for customer satisfaction and loyalty within the industry for decades, however in recent years, its true validity has been under question. Operators are now realising the value in tracking satisfaction over time, along with linking satisfaction metrics back to particular products and communication channels. New measures of customer experience in unstructured form are also being used, specifically looking at vocabulary and tone of voice to understand the customer experience.
Roundtable 3: Customer churn management
There are a whole host of reasons as to why customers churn; unreliable service, uncompetitive price, poor communication, complexity and treating new customers better to name but a few. To help predict customer churn, operators need to be proactive, and introduce a number of predictive methodologies including regular speed tests and tracking of visits to competitor websites.
It is clear to see that CSP’s are making good ground when it comes to customer experience management. With an increase focus on communication channels and new metrics, CEM schemes are expected to begin demonstrating their value in 2015 and beyond.