Technology is a lifestyle choice – enhance the customer experience

Mark Price, director at CoralTree Systems, highlights the challenges of maintaining excellent customer experience as an increasing number of new technologies change the way in which customers demand interaction with operators.

Whether you’re booking cinema tickets, checking in for a flight, or doing the weekly shop online – technology influences our everyday actions. Gone are the days of complicated devices that frustratingly take ages to do simple tasks. A press of a few buttons, or a couple of finger sweeps, and information is freely available and shared – a whole new customer experience.

Almost anything can be bought and delivered straight to your door, and chores become…‘experiences’. Technology is enhancing the way in which we live our busy lives and most people are embracing it as a lifestyle choice.

For communications businesses there are far more opportunities and ways to sell than ever before. Connecting with the customer is no longer a one-way street. Customers want engagement, and sometimes more – conversation. And that conversation continues out to their friends, family and wider social network. Delivering good customer care has never been so diverse, or important – but how hard is it?

The customer is firmly in the driving seat, demanding the latest technology, lowest price, and multi-channel care. The challenge for operators is to not just meet customer demands, but create new and exciting offers to maintain customer loyalty, as well as deliver outstanding customer service.

An advanced customer management system can help operators build revenue opportunities. By having a single view of the customer, the operator has a complete picture of the individual and can personalise care. Equally, analysis of customer data, such as usage, content consumption, and spend, enables operators to tailor service offerings and promotions. This boosts the pick up rates for operators and enriches the experience for customers.

Multichannel care provides choice to the customer – whether dealing with the organisation via a self-care application, through the website, retail outlet, or telephone, the operator should have the ability to display the same customer information and provide relevant offers. Customers do not want just one preferred way of contacting an organisation. It depends on where they are, what they are doing, and even the mood they are in. But whatever the chosen contact method customers never want to repeat themselves or be given contradictory information by different front line staff – it creates confusion and frustration. Joining up customer data with an advanced CRM is crucial.

Operators should have a single picture of the customer within their CRM from mapping customer behaviour, monitoring each contact point, as well as service quality experience – a wealth of insight to the customer. This is gold dust and can tell you exactly what interests the customer, what is important, and what would persuade them to part with their hard-earned cash. Personalised marketing develops a long-standing, profitable relationship with the customer. They get what they want and, just as importantly, the operator gains high retention figures and healthy growth.

Customers are choosing to use more technology to help ease the burden of everyday life. Operators must be agile to move as quick, supporting customer choice, making life simpler and demonstrating the potential that their services can offer over and above the competition. With an advanced BSS system, this insight and advance capabilities are made possible. Enhance your customer experience and don’t get left behind in the new technology lifestyle.