At a Glance
Telecom customers are ready for customer self-service. In fact, for a growing number
of Internet-savvy consumers, self-service capabilities are a key to improving
customer satisfaction, not a deterrent to satisfaction and company loyalty.
Making the Move to Self-Service: Key Success Factors
Return on Investment
Helping You Make the Most of Self Service Posted: July 21, 2003
Consider this: The cost of a customer transaction using a customer service
representative is typically between $20 and $30; but when a customer performs
the same transaction online, the cost is just 5 to 10 cents. The benefits of
customer self-service are enormous, yet the penetration of self-service
functionality in the telecommunications industry is only between 3 and 5
percent.
How does one explain low market penetration for a capability with such an
enormous potential for cost savings? If you are among those who feel that
customers aren’t ready for self-service, we beg to differ. A recent customer
self-service survey co-sponsored by Accenture, as well as the self-service
experiences of a number of our clients, suggest that a large segment of a
telecom customers are indeed ready for self-service. In fact, for a growing
number of Internet-savvy consumers, self-service capabilities are a key to
improving customer satisfaction, not a deterrent to
satisfaction and company loyalty.
For example, Telenor, the leading carrier in Norway, worked with Accenture
to rapidly develop a cost-efficient self-service channel on the Web. The
solution, which the
company calls “eChannel,” is fully automated, and hooks into Telenor’s legacy
systems. Customers can perform a wide variety of transactions including
ordering products and services, making payments, making changes to a
subscription, and finding information and advice. Customer resistance? Not much
in evidence.
In fact, eChannel handles more traffic than Telenor’s call center. Driven
by a strong business case, eChannel has returned impressive results, especially
for a project delivered in only three months’ time.
Making the Move to Self-Service: Key Success Factors
Based on the Accenture customer self-service study, and on experiences like
Telenor’s, here are some key success factors to bear in mind as you explore
your options for customer self-service:
- One size does not fit all. Migrating
customers to self-service will involve different strategies for different kinds
of customers. Customers who are comfortable online need one approach; those
resistant to computers and to Internet use need another. US statistics continue
to point to a steady 40 percent of adults who are not connected to the
Internet. Accenture believes that these “offline” customers should be targeted
for migration to other forms of self-service such as automated telephone
support.
- Focus first on the non-valued added
activities. A migration strategy should initially focus on
activities where a live representative adds little value, such as bill paying
or finding information. But more complex transactions will certainly follow. At
Telenor, for example, the company originally felt that DSL sales were too
complex for a self-service channel. But the company now sees 10 to 20 percent
of total ADSL sales coming through eChannel.
- Stress completeness of the transaction.
Telenor has also found that part of its success stems from customers being able to complete an entire transaction through the customer self-service functionality. If a
representative has to plug gaps, you haven’t succeeded.
- Carrots work better than sticks.
Especially during the transitional period when companies are working to
encourage customers to use self-service functionality, they should offer
financial incentives to encourage the use of self-service channels.
- Customer insight is a vital part of developing and
operating a successful self-service project. One size does not fit
all. Ideally, companies should have the data warehousing and data analytics
that give them the means to understand their customers well enough to provide
differentiated services and offers tailored to their needs and
interests.
- Determining your success depends on using the right
measures. Measuring success of self-service has been a challenge for
telecommunications companies in particular. The Accenture survey makes the
reason for this clearer: Consumers feel they have less need to interact
regularly with a telecom compared with their banks or credit card companies.
The lesson for telecom companies: Don’t try to measure success based on the old
eCommerce statistics like page hits or return visits to the website. Instead,
focus on things like the number of transactions moved from higher-cost call
center representatives to low-cost self-service.
Return on Investment
Telenor benefits from a customer base that is ahead of the curve in
technology adoption. Yet the company’s return on investment—100 percent above
their business case—suggests the enormous potential of self-service. And the
icing on the cake: The company has found customer loyalty to be increasing,
thanks to self-service. For example, 45 percent of the users of eChannel
recommend the portal to other customers.
Accenture believes that the technological infrastructure for customer
self-service is now not only robust enough for self-service functionality, but
also at price points that make it increasingly attractive to telecommunications
companies. Customers are ready; are you?
Helping You Make the Most of
Self-Service
Accenture can help you make the most of customer self-service. By
leveraging our own resources and the resources of our alliance partners, we can
help you determine the best route to a robust customer self-service capability,
and work with you to build that capability. To learn more about our how
Accenture could help or to receive a copy of the customer self-service study
mentioned above, please
contact us.
About the authors: Stuart R. Taylor is an associate
partner in Accenture's Communications & High Tech group. He is based in
Boston. Jorgen Ramstad is an Oslo, Norway-based senior manager in Accenture's
Communications & High Tech group.
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