The Myth of Digital Transformation in the Global Telecoms Industry

New research reveals that telecom services providers talk about digital transformation and improved customer experience but lag behind in three key areas of customer expectations and their one-size-fits-all strategy is failing consumers

Research from leading omnichannel technology provider Now Interact has found that, despite customers demanding a personalized service online from their telecoms providers, the majority of brands are still adopting a 'one size fits all' strategy. The research analyzed the customer journey and contact channels offered to visitors on the websites of 54 leading telecoms companies across the US and Europe.

"Digital transformation is at the top of the agenda for the telecoms industry, but the reality is that the majority of brands say the right buzzwords but aren't in fact transforming their outward service offering to customers" saidMagnus Astrom, CEO and founder of Now Interact.  "Satisfaction with telcos is consistently low. Ignoring this essential area, primed for change, is standing in the way of the success of any digital transformation project".The research uncovered three key areas where telcos are lagging behind customer expectation:

1. Telcos drive web traffic to the call center. 39% of telcos analyzed display a phone number on their homepage; with a further 20% after one click.  Instead of encouraging visitors to self-serve, or allowing customer data trackers to learn from the customer journey and change the site to better service each visitor, more than half of the telcos researched are displaying their number at such an early stage in the consumer lifecycle that they are just encouraging visitors to pick up the phone to complete their journey. This unnecessarily increases call center costs, and reduces the effectiveness of the webstore.
2. Telcos are ignoring the data at their fingertips. Despite 56% of telcos analyzed displaying a phone number within the order flow, only 6% connect the visitor directly with a call center agent. Half of the telcos researched force visitors on a cross-channel journey to repeat steps already taken, rendering their online journey useless.  
   Telcos aren't taking advantage of the wealth of data regarding the online journey provided by the 18 (average) customer data trackers running on their websites. Instead of using this knowledge to deliver a meaningful experience during a connected call, most telcos simply ignore the data in favor of a "cold" call.
3. Telcos are failing to proactively engage with their online visitors. Budget for digital marketing technology has steadily been on the increase over the past few years for telcos. However, the value of these investments is limited if the tools aren't used in the correct way.

The research found that 78% of all channels offered to website visitors were offered in a reactive way - visitors have to seek out a channel in order to use it. Even though telcos are investing in the latest and greatest technologies such as live chat, they are mainly only making them available in a static way. In some cases, our research uncovered brands which offer a channel that is permanently offline, leading to a disappointing experience to visitors that prefer this channel.

A mere 12% of channels were offered proactively. The telcos with proactive channels have successfully invested in technology that learns from the data collected and tailors the channel offering to visitors on site.