It’s not just electricity prices that are soaring – so are customer expectations. In this blog, Laura Broers looks at what’s coming next in omnichannel customer support and explains how CSPs can ready themselves to deliver better support for billing inquiries.
In our recent research into service provider strategies for supporting bill inquiries, CSPs confirmed their commitment to providing a broader range of customer support channels. We discovered that most are now committing resources to improve their digital support channels, with investment flowing away from older channels (such as paper and e-mail) towards newer channels (such as chat, mobile apps, and web apps).
This makes sense, as most service delivery and support transferred to a digital model during the pandemic and customers' expectations soared as they became used to accessing what they wanted online.
Customers are now demanding an ever-wider range of channels such as chat, social media, chatbots, and video calls, which is reflected in the fact that organizations offering eight or more channels have significantly better CX ratings than those offering only four.
CSPs have already responded to the demand to perform more tasks in digital channels. Our research discovered, for example, that 76% of CSPs serving consumers and 60% of CSPs serving businesses are already empowering customers to inquire about their bills through social media.
But simply adding more channels is no longer enough. Today’s customers expect an omnichannel experience with true channel integration, effortless experience, personalization, and proactive rather than reactive support.
Here are three ways Calvi supports the evolution of omnichannel support.
1. DIY is the new normal in customer service
Self-service *is* service. In today’s on-demand world, customers expect to be able to access what they want when they want it – driving expectations of both digitalization and 24x7 support. Research indicates that 7 out of 10 customers want to try and solve their own problems. This expectation is even more pronounced amongst the youngest demographics who want full digital autonomy rather than being forced to talk to support staff.
How Calvi can help
With Calvi Core, you can ensure that the same accurate billing data is available across all your digital support channels – empowering customers to answer more of their own queries. This reduces traffic to human staff, lowers support costs, and keeps customers happier! Delivering a win all around!
2. Bots are getting smarter
Younger customers have no issue talking to bots – six in 10 Millennials and Zoomers say conversational agents are helpful, according to a study by Zendesk, and 4 in 10 would rather talk to a chatbot than a human.
Chatbots are also getting smarter, with CSPs beginning to employ both conversational AI and artificial empathy to engage customers. But, ultimately, chatbots are only as intelligent as the data they have access to. With ready access to customer data, they can personalize effective answers to customers; without it, they’re nothing more than a barrier to resolution.
How Calvi can help
Our Open API means that CSPs can future-proof their digital support strategy because new channels get the same good quality, convergent billing data as traditional channels. In future, when a customer wants to ask a question about their bills, an advanced chatbot or digital assistant will be able to consult this data and answer questions. For example, finding out the balance owed or when a bill needs to be paid will be simple queries to resolve through new voice channels. In future, paying will be as simple as saying to a digital assistant: “pay my bill”. It might even be possible for digital assistants to offer reminders or simple advice, such as that a bill due date is approaching, or how to save money on a future bill by switching package.
3. Responding quickly isn’t enough
Reacting faster to customer inquiries has long been a KPI of support teams, but it’s no longer enough. Proactive customer support is about identifying and resolving customer issues before they become a problem. This means anticipating problems and addressing them before the customer notices. Doing so avoids customer frustration, bill shock, and a considerable amount of cost.
Emphasizing the importance of proactive communication and support, one of Calvi’s CSPs customers found that customers who experience bill shock are 25% more likely to churn, while conversely, Enkata found that proactive support boosts retention rates by 5%. Improving communication of charges can pay dividends by boosting customer satisfaction, avoiding unnecessary queries & complaints, and helping retain more customers.
How Calvi can help
Rather than waiting for customers to complain, the CSP can get ahead of the complaint and advise the customer that charges are increasing before they get out of control, while offering help to mitigate any problem (for example, moving the customer to a more suitable plan). At the very least, systems should flag up to support staff that the overage charge is the likely reason the customer is calling.
Calvi has already seen tremendous success in improving proactive email communication around proration, for example. By improving and implementing a clear overview in the email associated with the bill, a Calvi customer reduced their proration-related calls to care by 25%.
Providing excellent customer support is critical to future success, because there’s a great dividend from getting it right. Billing and charging always has the potential to cause confusion and distress to customers, but focusing on improving support for bill-related inquiries across all channels, can drive real business benefits now and in the future.
To find out more about how Calvi can help empower your omnichannel strategy and deliver world-class support for bill-related inquiries feel free to reach out!
Laura Broers is Calvi’s Marketing and Communications Specialist, joining Calvi after completing a degree in communications. With her passion for improving the billing experience, Laura is great at putting herself in the customers’ shoes to help CSPs think about how they can improve their billing communications.
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