Customer needs are evolving. Many customers are prioritising enhanced communications, speed and transparency with services. In response, the cloud-based telecom provider market is rapidly advancing to keep up with these changing preferences. As telecom services become increasingly important to maintain collaboration within enterprises, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) must be strategic to ensure their customers get the most value from their telecom investments.
Despite the investments to keep up with transforming customer preferences, maintaining customer loyalty hasn’t always been easy. In fact, customer loyalty has been on the decline – with McKinsey reporting that 75% of consumers have altered their brand preferences in the last year. As a result of these shifts, CSPs in the telecom industry must work harder than ever at customer retention, which can prove challenging in the saturated cloud provider market.
There are many unique and situational reasons a company might choose to leave their CSP. Knowing common reasons that motivate companies to look for a new provider can help CSPs ensure they are doing everything in their power to retain their customers and deliver services that are most important to them. Outlined below are three reasons businesses might choose to part ways with their providers, as well as tips for how CSPs can avoid obstacles and boost customer retention.
Unsatisfactory Customer Service
Enterprises are expecting more from their CSPs. They want providers to have a strong reputation of quality customer support before entering into service agreements with them. As such, it’s vital for carriers and CSPs to deliver tools that power reliable and extensive customer service. Unfortunately, poor customer service is a common reason businesses separate from their CSPs. This is concerning when, according to Gartner, more than 80 percent of companies say they anticipate competing for business solely on customer experience in the near future.
To avoid losing customers to competitors, CSPs should prioritise customer service. One area that can enhance the level of service provided overall is transparency and consistency. For example, when a customer contacts a support team for help resolving an issue, CSPs should ensure they provide clear communications to customers every step of the way. This level of transparency will ensure the customer knows the status of the issue and when it will be fixed. To achieve consistency, it’s important CSPs have a record of all previous interactions with a customer. Having a record means that CSPs track relevant context from past interactions, which can help inform how they manage the customer and how the customer perceives the quality of support. Other best practices in customer care include soliciting customer feedback throughout the product development process and notifying customers about their current service status. If customers know they can depend on their CSP for transparent, consistent and quality service, they will be more likely to stay with that provider.
Service Needs and Budget Conflicts
As customers’ demands change, so do the requirements of businesses. For example, a virtual, omni-channel approach is increasingly important for customers so they can stay up to date on new technologies and remain connected with fellow teams and clients. CSPs can expand their offerings by including telecom tools that facilitate collaboration and real-time interaction (i.e., video and messaging capabilities) their customers are seeking. One way to accomplish this is by partnering with a software-centric carrier to leverage telecom APIs. APIs are the gateway for CSPs to provide reliable, flexible and scalable voice and messaging solutions for their customers.
Another common occurrence that can lead to unsatisfied customers is when businesses find that they are not utilising all the services they are paying for – or they find tools that better fit their needs at a lower cost from a different provider. As a result, businesses might decide the cost of the provider is too high for the services they’re using and choose to look for a new CSP.
Pricing transparency from the CSP is a simple way to overcome this stumbling block and retain their customers. As a best practice, customers must do their due diligence to map out the tools they need and the budget they have available before they research and select a provider. Once negotiations begin, CSPs should critically assess the customers’ needs to confirm they are the right fit as a provider and be transparent about how equipped they are to deliver on customer requests. These best practices will enhance clarity between businesses and providers and start the relationship off on the right foot, lessening the likelihood of a separation later down the road.
