Channing Rollo
Business Intelligence Manager
ClientLogic
ChannRol@clientlogic.com
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Easy Come, Easy Go: Fortifying Your Customer Service for WLNP
Ring, ring. Your customers are on the line, literally and figuratively. Effective November 24th, a mandate from the FCC to provide customers with wireless local number portability (WLNP) will translate to thousands of customer calls-some calling to join your service and others departing to competitors. Either way, your company must be ready to provide a smooth customer experience or risk fines, lost revenues and negative publicity. Customers see portability as a long-overdue convenience, and woe be unto the carrier who delays, avoids or inhibits service transitions.
But it's not all bad news. With this change comes great opportunity: the WLNP paradigm shift provides wireless companies a chance to dazzle customers and make significant market penetration gains against those providers who deliver a lesser experience. The industry itself may see a dramatic boost in overall wireless adoption as formerly reluctant customers switch from wireline to wireless. In short,
the industry has been presented with an opportunity to revolutionize its customer management amidst dramatic market upheaval.
Meeting the Looming Deadline
Keeping pace with evolving customer expectations while implementing the complex technologies required for WLNP is a daunting challenge. To follow are tips and techniques to address WNLP's hazards:
Hazard: Increased Customer Churn
Many wireless companies fear that WLNP will translate to a dramatic rise in expensive customer churn. An In-Stat/MDR report found that up to 46 percent of U.S. wireless customers indicated interest in switching providers during the first year of portability.
Solution: Loyalty, Up-Sell and Save Programs
As wireless choices proliferate and competition heats up, carrier survival will hinge upon the successful nurturing and retaining of customer relationships. Well-designed loyalty initiatives are sustainable and
progressive in reward-giving and brand-centered. They are also personal and geared toward establishing a genuine dialogue. These elements give the consumer a strong incentive to remain a subscriber, as each interaction is increasingly personal, rich and rewarding.
Inbound sales teams should be prepared to encourage loyalty by up-selling customers to longer-term contracts (i.e., two years as opposed to 12 months) to keep customers in the fold. Carriers should also capitalize upon the opportunity to save customers during the porting process, when possible. After receiving a switch request from a customer's chosen new carrier, win-back teams may be trained to reach out to customers to negotiate final billing terms, determine reasons for dissatisfaction and present attractive promotions for remaining a customer.
Hazard: Losing Market Share
Customer churn may be as much a plus as a minus for carriers, says Forrester
Senior Telecom Analyst Charles Golvin, because nearly every customer who leaves one phone carrier becomes a new customer to another carrier. The question becomes: who can turn churn to their advantage?
Solution: Service Excellence
Service quality will play an important role in determining which companies end up WLNP winners and losers. Take a look at related industries: in a Destination Excellence study of utility companies in deregulating markets, companies that provided significantly better customer service increased their customer base by more than ten percent during the first year of deregulation. By comparison, companies providing inferior service lost a minimum of four percent of their customer base in the first year.
Companies with strong service, reasonable rates and effective marketing will benefit greatly from the impending widespread dance of defection. And as number portability increases overall wireless adoption,
carriers with strong reputations will see significant revenue gains.
Hazard: A Confusing, Disappointing Port Process
A slow or convoluted porting process will disappoint customers and damage customer relationships. There are literally dozens of potential causes for customer "fallout" or delay during porting, but the common denominator is customers often get lost in the shuffle.
Solution: Proactive Customer Shepherding
While no one company can control all aspects of the porting process, a "shepherding" policy to guide and communicate with customers throughout the experience will go a long way toward building bonds with new customers and preserving relationships with departing customers (they may be back before you know it!). Shepherding is a caring, proactive version of "exception management" or "fallout escalation" because it prevents customers from dropping off into the data abyss in the
first place, instead of addressing them after the fact. Proactive e-mail, a self-help Web-site or courtesy calls to communicate status, delays and successes will delight customers.
Hazard: High WLNP Software and Infrastructure Costs
Industry experts estimate that WLNP will cost each carrier $50-100 million the first year, and then $500 million annually to remain in compliance.
Solution: Outsource for Cost-Effective Support
Outsourcing WLNP customer support to an expert service provider eliminates the need for dedicated internal resources and capital expenditures on service, freeing up funds for technology investment. Outsourcing service functions will help you defray additional outlay-outsourced customer management costs 20-30 percent less than in-house care. Furthermore, wireless companies that choose to "go solo" must expend valuable internal resources on support activities such as hiring
and training, which could be better invested in marketing activities to gain share.
Hazard: Acquiring and Supporting Unprofitable Customers
In overseas markets, WLNP often led to brutal price wars and extreme marketing expenditures. Problems arose when customers were playing companies off one another, trading in handsets and capitalizing on one rebate or bonus after another. The danger is clear: don't acquire capricious swing buyers who will constantly jump providers and deliver significant cost to your company.
Solution: Strategic Marketing Services
While brand marketing during the initial months of WLNP will be important, even more essential will be detailed target audience analyses to establish profitable acquisition programs. Marketing efforts should be designed to entice the very best customers, not low-margin buyers prone to disloyalty. This may seem obvious, but many promotions end up
attracting exactly the wrong type of customer.
The End of Business as Usual
Now is the time for wireless companies to embrace and address the elevated expectations of their consumers. Consumer Reports readers rate cell carriers among the lowest for customer satisfaction. Congress is evaluating a "Cell Phone Users' Bill of Rights" to improve the quality of wireless telephone service and promote consumer choice. The profound levels of industry churn coupled with these signs of widespread customer malaise indicate a wholly disappointing customer experience.
It's time to raise the bar for wireless service and achieve an improved level of customer care sophistication. Armed with WLNP, increased buyer power and access to information, customers may eventually switch wireless providers as often as we see with long-distance telecommunications today. Is your company sufficiently differentiated to withstand the heat? Ring, ring. Your
customers are on the line; are you ready to answer?
Channing Rollo is business intelligence manager at ClientLogic, a leading international business process outsourcer in the contact center and fulfillment industry.
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