needs to be accurate. It needs to be on time. It needs to be easy to understand. Some would argue that it even needs to look pretty. But is there a more strategic opportunity related to the monthly bill? For many CSPs, billing enquires account for more than 50% – at some it's as high as 80% – of their customer inquiries. Is this because customers don’t understand their bill? Or that they’re confused by the charges for a recently added service? Or that they’re amazed by how 5MB of data usage translates into cost? It’s all of the above Billing is never viewed as an easy task but regardless of what’s happening behind the scenes, translating the information that appears on a bill into a way that’s meaningful to customers is a must. Rest assured that this doesn’t require an extensive integration project and the consolidation of billing systems; it means pulling all of the data into a single source to deliver an enhanced billing experience. Consolidation of the data is the first step; applying analytics to help customers understand their bill, save them time, and build their trust with their provider is the next step. As a company, if you only have twelve times a year to engage with your customer, you better make it count. Thinking back ten or fifteen years ago, the paper bill was paramount when it came to customer communications. Product teams stood in line to make their case to the marketing team, hoping to earn the marquee placement on the next month’s bill. For those who succeeded, they anxiously awaited to see the uptake rates. For those who didn’t, they waited for the next month to pitch their product as the next big offering. It was a fairly basic decision process – determine which product had the most uptake potential and promote it on the bill – to every customer. Some basic segmentation was put into play but if you and I had the same income, were both careerists, had a good payment history and subscribed to two of the same services, there’s a good chance we received the same communication. So as we look forward to today, has the process really changed? CSPs have all of the data to move beyond
generic product promotions to engage customers in a relevant, more personalised manner. Instead of product teams lining up for marketing to determine the best product to highlight, operators need to shift to a more customer-centric approach and determine the best communication for each customer at the right time. What this means is that for some customers in the right context the best communication may be the new product offer while for others it may be education regarding their existing service or a change in plan recommendation based on usage. The bill is an opportunity to create a relevant dialogue with customers to not only help increase revenues, but also drive long-term loyalty. For example, if a customer who has signed up for a new data plan in the past three months but has shown low usage, the bill can be used to educate them on data services that they will find valuable. Or if a customer is trending to exceed their covered voice services within the next three months, the bill can be utilised to provide them with personalised usage and trending information. In many cases, the bill can be used as a preemptive strike, eliminating the need for customers to call due to bill shock, and potentially churn, because the value they realize doesn’t align with the charges incurred.
As a company, if you only have twelve times a year to engage with your customer, you better make it count
With telecoms products and services becoming a commodity, customer experience has become the key differentiator for many providers. Whether you use online billing or receive a paper bill, are a consumer with one account or an enterprise with a thousand, are a new customer or tenured, you depend on your service provider to provide you with a consistent, accurate view each and every month. Now if your service provider goes one step further and proactively provides relevant and personalised information, the bill can have an even bigger impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Instead of viewing the bill as a necessary evil in terms of volumes handled and accuracy rates achieved, operators need to embrace the bill as a valuable touch point – one with which they can build ongoing trust and value. The author, Cullen Davidson is director of product management at Globys.
VANILLAPLUS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012
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