Your call is important to us

Transcription

1 White Paper Customer Experience. By Design. Your call is important to us Role of customer care in enhancing brand loyalty for mobile services

2 The proliferation of smartphones and mobile applications have given users a convenient medium to connect and communicate with ease. From a business standpoint, this is an encouraging trend. However, it also brings along with, its share of complexities which if dealt with effectively can enhance customer loyalty. For instance, as a mobile user, if you had a problem with the service, where do you report the problem? Do you know the number to call into? The last time you had a problem and complained, did it get resolved? How happy were you with the resolution? In a recent CINDEX* study conducted during the period January 2014 to June 2015 across urban markets, around 5300 mobile users were interviewed about their support issues. It turns out that 12% of these customers mentioned that they have had a problem at least once in the last 6 months. LIMITED OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR THE CUSTOMER TO REGISTER A COMPLAINT To start with, what are the various options for a customer to register a complaint and make his / her concern heard? One of the key channels is customer care either the call center or the company service center. Of the two, call centers are a primary channel. While 12% of customers had a problem in the last 6 months before they were interviewed, only 5% reported the problem to the service provider. So more than half of the complaints that customers face go unreported which is a staggeringly high number. What are the reasons for this? First of all, how many of us even know the number to call into if we had a problem? With a base of about 550 million users in urban India, you can imagine the number of complaints received! Given this, how seriously are these complaints taken and addressed by mobile service providers? * Developed and introduced by Servion, CINDEX is India's firstever independent benchmarking of Customer Experience with products / services. 58% Customers do not register a complaint 42% Customers register a complaint

3 Sometime back I wanted to report a problem on missed call alert service to my service provider. I did not know the number and when I searched through the various text messages I get from the service provider from time to time, I realized that almost all of them were related to information on various products and services such as billed / unbilled information, plans, packs, and dialer tone activation. None of these pointed to a number or an internet address that I could call or write to, to register my complaint. Talking to users, it is quite obvious that the general perception is that it is difficult to get through to the service provider because of complex IVRs and the sheer waiting time to talk to a representative. Consumers just do not feel motivated to register a complaint. As one consumer put it wryly It is almost as if service providers actively make sure that you do not register your complaint. Secondly, assuming that one gets through, how do call centers and service centers fare among customers generally and specifically on complaint resolution? Customer rating for call centers is just average, hovering around 6.8 out of 10. It goes down drastically to 5.5 when measured among those who have had a problem with the service provider and used the channel for problem reporting. Problem handling satisfaction when someone contacts a call centre is abysmally low with a rating of 4.4 out of 10! Quite obviously, when customers call into the center with a problem expecting resolution as against seeking information, the channel fares poorly. And if there is one consolation for service providers, it is that there is not much of a difference between brands. POOR PROBLEM RESOLUTION What problems get reported? What get sorted out? Which ones stay unresolved? There are 3 broad problem buckets network related, SIM card related, balance related (prepaid) / bill related (postpaid). Of the three, relatively fewer customers report network related problems back to the service provider. This could be due to the fact that it is perceived to be a universal problem. Of the three, resolutions are efficient around SIM card related problems, understandably as it involves unblocking, replacing SIM cards. The sour points are those contentious issues related to billing/balance and that really hurts the customer since it impacts the wallet and sense of fairness. 11% Balance / billing issues 60% Reported Happy with resolution

4 HOW IMPORTANT ARE CALL CENTERS FROM A CUSTOMER S PERSPECTIVE? Whether it is a prepaid or postpaid customer, network quality is extremely critical. This includes reach, no call drop, voice clarity etc. This is followed by billing statement in the case of postpaid customers and the kind of content that they can download (such as ringtone) in the case of prepaid customers. Call center related parameters (such as employees being helpful, and resolving problems) do not appear in the top drivers. So, what is the role of the channel in driving customer engagement? Billing Statement 50% when customer care does a good job on problem resolution Satisfaction Loyalty Advocacy Value for money Difference in ratings on key parameters Meets expectations Happy with customer care on problem resolution So, while customers may choose a brand based on network issues, good problem resolution through customer care increases the level of loyalty and advocacy for brands Others Delivers on promises KEY DRIVERS Network quality - reach, no call drop, voice clarity 38% 45% Content I can download Postpaid 40% Prepaid Helpful employees Quick to respond To understand this, let us look at the scenario when the level of satisfaction delivered by the call center is high. A two point difference shows up on all key brand parameters when customer care delivers high satisfaction on problem resolution. Of interest and relevance are parameters such as loyalty and advocacy. Interestingly, the best brand perception jumps from 35% to 63% Handle problems well Overall Contacted with a problem Employees play an important role in creating this relationship. Generally, while customer care employees are rated fairly well, perception about them goes down when they are contacted for a problem.

5 Certainly service providers are investing significantly in human resource and infrastructure on customer care but it appears that it continues to be a challenge for them, presenting a constant risk of churn. Over time, operators cannot rely on price and competitive service offerings alone to retain and attract customers. Customer care will become a critical success factor and could be one of the few differentiators in an increasingly commoditized marketplace. Some of the other trends that will further increase the pressure are increasing usage of smart phones, mobile internet and elevated expectations of customers who expect quicker response and more informed answers. For the service providers, the first and foremost challenge is the increasing traffic into customer care centers. And for the customer, it is the frustrating effort to get in touch and register their problem. How does one ensure that customers who have a problem get an opportunity to communicate it? When I had a problem to report and did not know the number to register the complaint, my first reaction was to look if there was a number already embedded in the SIM card. There was none. In a friend s phone of the same service provider, there was a number but it did not work. I was informed that my service provider has this feature in some circles but not in all circles. Also, can multiple channels such as web, chat, social networks, and online support be used for this purpose? With 25% of users already using mobile internet, this could be a promising option. Now with my new phone, I had a recent query related to phone settings. Perhaps such queries could be sorted out through efficient self-service options without having to go through the customer care. Over time, I sense that service providers have invested in data base management tools to ensure registering a complaint and tracking it. No longer do you have to explain the problem over and over again to various agents. But it stops just there with not as much focus on the quality of resolution or speed. The issue remains if the agent is not able to sort out the problem in the first instance, it gets into a loop which is never-ending. It leads to customer complaints being auto closed despite not being resolved satisfactorily. The question really is about how well is the organizational structure geared to deal with these problems seamlessly? A lot of us would have experienced situations of the agent steadfastly obfuscating you when you want to escalate the problem to the manager / supervisor.

6 How well is real time data made available to the customer care agents and how well trained are these agents to use them to sort out problems? Why then would a customer care agent ask you where you stay when you report repeated call drops at your residence, when you would assume that this information should be available for him to see. Should your call go simply to the next available call agent or to the one who is best equipped to handle it since he / she has depth of knowledge around it? Lastly, real change can happen only if there is a shift in perspective towards customer care center by service providers. Improvements in quality of response and speed can only be achieved by empowering customer care teams to take appropriate decisions. Despite an increasing trend towards self-service in a lot of products / services, most of us feel the need for reassurance of having been heard by a real person and the role of the agents would be irreplaceable come what may. In that context, some interesting questions would be around how customer care centers are viewed by service providers (cost centres?) - What are the key metrics that agents are being measured by and rewarded (number of calls vs quality of resolution) and what investment are made towards skill development / training for these agents? CONCLUSION Approaching the challenge differently, leveraging innovation and information, and focusing on a smart approach to process cycle-time reduction can drive breakthrough results. Today with all service providers being at par, there may not be a high risk but over time, the possibility of losing subscribers or share of air time to competition is quite real, given the increased usage of multiple sims / brands among customers. Regarding the problem that I reported on missed call alert earlier, it still has not been sorted out. After getting a ticket number and a couple of follow ups, it remains an unsolved mystery. And as a customer I have lost interest. I no longer have the patience to wait for the next available service agent. I wonder is my call really important?

7 About CINDEX CINDEX is India's first-ever and independent benchmarking of Customer Experience with products / services. Developed and introduced by Servion, this index measures customer experience at a country, regional and industry / service category level. About the Author Raji Srinivasan is an independent consultant for CINDEX specializing in areas related to measurements and interventions around brands, customers and employees. She has spent about 27 years consulting with corporate clients in India and Asia, providing research insights. She holds a bachelors degree in Engineering from PSG Tech and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Madras. t About Servion Global Solutions With over 20 years of seasoned Contact Center experience across 600 customers, 1000s of installations & 60 countries, Servion has in-depth domain expertise in customer interaction management. For more information, visit us at marketing@servion.com AMERICAS APAC EMEA SOUTH ASIA Customer Experience. By Design. October 2015 Servion t is a registered trademark worldwide. The mention of other product and service names might be trademarks of other companies. This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed at any given point of time. Please do not print if not necessary. Please Recycle Copyright Servion Global Solutions