Telecommunications companies (aka “telecoms”) have the most fickle customer relationships of any industry. Fair or not, telecommunications companies are the ones that consumers can’t live with—and most definitely can’t live without.
Consumer ire toward telecoms can largely be attributed to unaligned industry expectations. Today’s consumer holds telecoms to the same standard as other industries, which have much simpler business and delivery models. As a result, other industries such as retail and food service have fewer variables preventing them from providing positive customer experiences.
To gain a better understanding of where the telecom industry stands in terms of customer experience (CX), InMoment’s team of data scientists conducted a study of 11,000+ consumers regarding their experiences with telecom providers.
Here are three major findings from our Customer Experience in the Telecom Industry report:
1. That one-year mark is critical.
As with any consumer/brand connection, there are key benchmarks that make—or break—the relationship. For telecoms, that benchmark is the one-year anniversary when consumers typically recollect their experiences with your brand throughout the year and determine whether or not your organization has done enough to earn brand loyalty.
According to our study, “Satisfaction decreases universally for the first time at the one-year mark, no matter the line of service. The same pattern occurs with a customer’s likelihood to recommend.”
2. Customers are harder to impress the second time around.
There are many reasons customers might switch internet, TV, or mobile phone providers. Whether it was slow internet speed or rude support staff, each poor experience of a switching customer puts pressure on telecoms to provide a comparably better experience. And one thing is clear across all service lines: New customers who switch from other providers bring an expectation of a better experience.
However, our study finds that those customer don’t always find greener grass on the other side of the provider fence.
3. People still like people.
According to the study, “With the exception of landlines, customers across all service lines who’d had a personal interaction with a brand representative reported higher satisfaction levels than those who had not.”
Like most industries, staff engagement is absolutely key in a provider’s ability to positively impact customers. And while chatbots and other automated technologies are a hot topic right now, those solutions should be implemented in very specific scenarios, and always in balance.
Telecom providers who focus attention and resources on empowering humans to resolve customer concerns will fix an obvious but prevalent problem in the overall engagement and satisfaction of their customers.