Customer churn is the result of poor customer retention. It’s the name given to when customers abandon your company – that can be either at the end of your contract or any point along the way.
As an industry, telecoms companies have worked hard to ensure that a customer can’t just hop from one supplier to another without giving notice. However, the worst churn is when a customer leaves you and you haven’t been given the chance to save them.
But why should a customer give you that chance, if they feel it’s time to go and feel that they can attain the value they’re seeking through another supplier?
Think how much time and money you’re investing into acquiring new customers, but if you lose one or two a month, all the money is a waste.
In this blog we will cover the three lead causes of churn and tips to help telecoms companies prevent them.
Getting off to a bad start – 23% of Churn
Onboarding. It’s at this stage that your customer really gets a taste of your business and it’s here where you can make the greatest positive impact. Think about it, your customer has just invested in a fantastic new phone system that’s going to be the answer to all their problems and make their business run more effectively, while saving them some money along the way. If the onboarding is a headache, then no matter how good the service is later, this will leave a bad taste.
Here are a few key tips:
– Name your onboarding process and make it mandatory by using a project management tool.
– Keep customers informed – in a world where everything is instant, make sure your customer is kept in the know.
– Simplify tasks with walkthrough guides by creating engaging how-to videos and other content.
Business only – 16% of Churn
It’s important to build a healthy relationship. The key is to make them feel listened to and for them to understand they’re working with a proactive company there not simply ringing up a call centre but a friend who can help them… cheesy, right? And here’s how:
– Conduct quarterly business reviews where required.
– Survey customers (after closing a support ticket is a great opportunity to do this).
– Be proactive: monitor customer interaction and contact them when it drops.
– Build with key contacts. Don’t just rely on a good relationship with what you’d class as the ‘Decision Maker’ – yes, that helps but if their staff think you’re a nightmare to deal with, then the relationship will still turn.
Customer Service – 14% of Churn
Customers are going to have issues – this is telecoms, right? But be sure when they do have an issue, a fix is never far away. Here are a few pointers how:
– Self-service, can you provide the answers before its even reached your support team? Stats show that customers prefer to self-serve now rather than submit a service request.
– An employees-first culture, happy staff will treat customers better.
– KPIs – can you track the response times and satisfaction rating and learn how to improve?
– Common issues? More than twice is a coincidence. What can you put in place to stop that issue from happening again?
Secret Weapon: Reach Out Proactively!
If the only time that a customer hears from you is when you send them an invoice every month, you’re doing it wrong!
Like I said earlier, customers who may be at risk of churning won’t often warn you ahead of time. You need to be proactive and reach out to customers even before you know they need you.
Proactive outreach shows customers that you care about them. It tells them that you’re invested in them getting the most out of your service. The best kind of outreach should also relate directly to the customer’s use of that service. You may, for instance, contact customers who aren’t using a specific service feature, A quick reminder about that feature and its benefits can help customers get more satisfaction from your product.
Here at Candio, we understand the struggle of ‘Customer Care’ calls – they can just be a mundane process of asking if ‘everything is ok’ customers say yes and then call is over. That’s where we come in! We speak to a lot of telecoms partners so we understand that the number one challenge is having new services to talk to customers about, that’s why we’ve created a range of digital services like Web Listings & Website Optimiser that will help your customers in areas that you don’t currently provide and increase the value you provide them, whilst adding to your monthly recurring revenue.
Book some time with Tom to find out more about how Web Listings or Website Optimiser can provide an additional recurring revenue stream for your business.
