article page |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4
processing the customers’ check. Qwest found that an e-bill customer with automatic remittance is 14% less likely to churn than a normal customer. For an SMB, having available a self-serve online analysis package for the bill saves the SMB from having to hire an outside company to analyze the bill, encouraging e-billing. Such a program has helped Verizon Business achieve a 20% paperless rate, twice the industry average. CenturyLink has also implemented such a program, creating an “interactive bill” that consolidates all of what used to be separate CenturyLink bills into a single, online bill. It implemented this originally for their large accounts, but it was so successful – and so cheap – that they offered it to their SMB customers, as well. And with an average of 80% of calls to a Customer Contact Center arising from billing questions, the ability of an SMB to answer the questions themselves without CSP involvement can save a vast amount of money.
|
|
What makes a successful self-service solution? |
|
We’ve all, also, gotten those marketing e-mails, be they promotions, coupons, cross-selling opportunities, specials, or announcements of new services. Carriers who have instant self-ordering capabilities on their web portals can decrease the cost of SMBs signing up and immediately capture that customer’s first buying impulse. AT&T, among others, has implemented an iPhone application for their customers, allowing them to do the same thing on their iPhones as they can do on the web portal, including adding services.
Self-Service Success Factors
What makes a successful self-service solution? First of all, it takes all the things that makes any electronic user interface successful –
|
|
|
|
Many operators have also implemented a method to self-report troubles and be provided follow-up information, both on the web as well as via mobile SMS. Some have even tried Twitter, with some success.
Smart CSPs also use their self-portals for marketing and branding purposes. AT&T’s first-generation portal excluded a lot of AT&T branding and self-promotion. Turns out that SMBs expected to come to the AT&T site to learn about AT&T, not just get SMB-relevant business information and watch webinars about modern business challenges. These SMB portals provide ample opportunity for CSP branding which seems to attract, not repel SMBs.
|
|
easy to use, intuitive user interface, pleasant to look at or listen to, able to work with the browser that a consumer uses, available any time without broken links or stale information, etc. But beyond those, there are some specific things that relate to SMBs and to the telecommunications market:
-
A reason for the customer to bother to learn the self-service tools. SMB owners and employees are busy and each must fulfill many roles. The CSP has to give them a reason to spend the time to learn how to use the self-service system. One large CSP tried charging customers a per-use fee to talk to a Customer Service Representative. It was a public
article page |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4
|
|
