Communications service providers will be committing larger portions of their budgets to improving the customer experience, according to a new study from Alcatel-Lucent and Heavy Reading.
The survey indicates that service providers are extremely interested in understanding the experiences that their customers have with various products and services, so that any problems can be corrected and customer loyalty can be improved.
The survey also found that:
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Service providers view customer experience management as strategic, with more than three-quarters of respondents indicating that improved customer experience management provides an opportunity to attract new business, two-thirds agreeing that it could improve their brand image and nearly six-in-ten confident that it will provide competitive differentiation.
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Most providers intend to measure customer satisfaction more often.
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Ninety-percent of survey respondents cited importance of answering customer queries and resolving problems in a timely fashion as a critical customer experience management issue.
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Cross-organizational cooperation is the most often cited obstacle in implementing customer experience management programs.
“One thing that jumped out to me is how serious service providers are about understanding the experiences that their customers have with various products and services, so that any problems can be corrected and customer loyalty can be improved,” said Greg Owens, Alcatel-Lucent senior marketing director, customer experience solutions, in a prepared statement.
Atlanta, Ga.-based telecom analyst Jeff Kagan told Loyalty 360 that customer experience management “is an opportunity for competitive advantage for companies who start the process. Then as time passes, customer expectations change. Then companies who don't join in are at a competitive disadvantage. We have gone through this same process in the past. In the 1990's for example, there were countless competitors and they started to focus on customer care improvement. Customers loved it and it helped companies as well. Then as the years passed and acquisitions picked up, the eye was taken off the ball.”
Kagan explained that customer experience is always at top of mind with telecom providers, but it has fallen behind some other priorities in recent years as the industry went through acquisitions, mergers, business integration, spectrum (with wireless firms) and other issues. Now much of the merger-acquisition and other activity has fallen by the wayside.
“Now that so much time has passed, and the number of competitors has changed and the entire industry looks very different, it's time to start this train all over again,” Kagan said. “So I predict customers will like it, and that will help companies as well. Over the next few years, the customer will be king again. Then as time passes it will change from something special, to something expected and demanded by customers. Then the eye will be taken off the ball once again and we'll start this whole cycle all over again.”
All of the carriers are just ramping up, but are working hard to improve customer experience management, with no clear leader among the different providers, according to Kagan. “In the next few years, we might see one pull ahead. But right now there is no true leader. The good news is that customer experience management is starting to become the focus again.”