Customer Experience, or “CX” has officially become the most important differentiating factor for any business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling cutting-edge technology, entertainment, or communications solutions, your customers will always use your approach to CX to determine whether you’re the brand they want to work with.
In fact, studies show CX may be the number one deciding factor for businesses and consumers choosing telecoms providers. 70% of customers identify CX as one of the top three factors they consider when making a purchasing choice. What’s more, 1 in 3 adults say a single poor experience is enough to consider switching brands. In the telecoms industry, where customer loyalty is crucial to the long-term success of any brand, companies clearly need to get their CX strategies right.
Even when dealing with the challenges of the pandemic, around 43% of telecoms consumers still said they were prepared to sever ties with their communications vendor after one bad experience. This percentage is expected to accelerate to 74% and above going forward.
Here’s your guide to the state of CX in the telecoms sector today.
The Potential for CX in the Telecoms Sector
A desire for exceptional customer experiences isn’t exactly a new concept in the telecoms industry.
For years, businesses and consumers alike have prioritized excellent experiences when choosing the correct vendors. After all, a telecoms investment is rarely a one-off purchase. We make long-term commitments to our communications providers, and we want to ensure we can rely on the companies we choose to deliver an excellent level of service.
However, expectations around customer experience are evolving. In the last couple of years, rapid digital transformation has prompted countless companies to adapt, delivering everything from omnichannel support to AI-enhanced proactive service. To stay ahead of the curve in this new landscape, telecoms brands need to be willing to adopt the latest technology in the CX space.
Investing in the correct CX initiatives doesn’t just allow companies to delight their customers on a more consistent level, it also delivers a range of other benefits such as:
- Opportunities for expansion: The telecoms industry is transforming at a rapid rate, with the arrival of new concepts like direct routing, and 5G. Innovative companies have endless opportunities to expand their service offerings across different avenues and increase their profitability. However, with new services will always come new demands for innovative customer support. CX solutions allow businesses in the telecom environment to evolve, without compromising on excellent service.
- Boosted productivity and efficiency: The right CX technologies don’t just focus on improving customer experience, they look at the entire concept of “Total Experience” within the business landscape. Solutions for workforce optimisation and management, for instance, can help to streamline the workforce, even in an age of hybrid and remote work. CRM solutions keep staff connected on the same page when it comes to personal service, and CCaaS tools boost the overall efficiency of the team.
- Intelligent growth: CX solutions in the modern world typically come with a number of tools for analysing and understanding the customer journey. The in-depth insights you collect within your CCaaS environment and CRM tools can help businesses make better decisions about how to grow their company. The analytics you collect will also help you to better understand which services your customers use, and how you can reduce potential friction points for clients using your technology. By 2024, IDC predicts around 30% of Fortune 2000 companies will be integrating more tools for data collection.
Trends Driving CX in the Telecom Sector
CX initiatives in the telecom sector are a critical part of ensuring higher customer loyalty and unlocking crucial strategic advantages for businesses. Similar to other technology and media companies, telecoms brands are reliant on the ability to build long-lasting relationships with customers to ensure their ongoing success.
Particularly in the B2B world, the right CX strategy can determine whether a business continues to invest in the same service for years at a time, or simply switches the moment a better offer is on the table. While there are many factors influencing the outcomes of CX strategies in the telecoms space today, there are some trends which appear to be having a more significant impact, such as:
- Omnichannel experiences: Omnichannel interactions are everywhere in the customer service space. Customers have grown accustomed to being able to manage their services and access support through a range of different channels. The telecoms industry needs to be able to provide its customers with an end-to-end experience, which includes a range of digital channels. This could include setting up customer profiles for self-service where clients can proactively monitor their communication stacks, and experimenting with environments like video, messaging, and even text.
- In-depth analytics and data: Telecoms companies are both blessed and cursed with huge amounts of data. They collect countless insights on a daily basis, from every interaction with clients, and activities completed by team members. Knowing how to leverage this information correctly is the key to delivering exceptional services. In-depth tracking tools in the CCaaS environment, AI analytics, and even CRM solutions can all work together to help companies to deliver a more personalised level of support.
- Artificial Intelligence and automation: As managing customer experience in the telecom space becomes more complex, the tools companies rely on are growing increasingly intelligent. AI solutions not only enable self-service in the telecom industry through intelligent IVRs and chatbots, but they can also assist with a range of other tasks too. The right automation systems can help companies to offer proactive levels of service, to help reduce downtime and outages for their customers. AI solutions can even predict problems with data centres and tools before they happen.
- Employee experience: The most important aspect of delivering a high-quality customer experience for a lot of telecoms companies is creating knowledgeable, engaged staff members. Creating all-in-one environments where team members can track information about services, products, and customers makes it easier to deliver the consistent experiences customers are looking for across every channel. This is particularly important in a world defined by remote and hybrid work practices.
Looking Ahead with CX in Telecoms
Now, more than ever, companies and consumers are increasingly unwilling to accept anything less than the best from their telecoms companies. We’re all relying on communication tools to stay connected in our professional and personal lives. Telecoms brands need to ensure they’re constantly investing in tools to build trust with their target audience.
As the telecoms industry continues to evolve, CX solutions will play a critical role in determining which businesses thrive, and which go under.
