Supernova Award Category

The Problem

Due to time or location, it is sometimes inconvenient or impractical for customers to call and speak to one of our representatives to help them through a problem. We needed to create a way to increase customer convenience, to open up new channels for communication and resources that customers could access at any time.

The Solution

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM and its case management system, we ascertained that many problems out customers faced could not be solved in their online account. Indeed, questions or concerns with activating replacement phones, payment arrangement or billing questions, which made up 38% of our support questions alone, could not be answered online. As we do not have customer care representatives available at all times every day of the year, we needed a way for our customers to get the answers they needed when there wasn’t someone around to directly talk to them. We then used Parature, from Microsoft, to expand our customer care offerings on the web. Knowing what the customer FAQ’s were when they called customer service, we began to answer these questions online.

The results

Over the next few months our customer base began to grow, yet there were fewer customer calls coming into our customer care center. This was because our customers could now find the answers to so many of their questions online, rather than having to wait and call us during office hours. This lead to an estimated $160,000/month savings and a 20% reduction in calls to customer care; now more than 10,000 customers utilize our online support portal, half do so from a mobile device.

Metrics

• An estimated $160,000/month savings and a 20% reduction in calls to customer care.
• More than 10,000 customers utilize our online support portal, half do so from a mobile device.
• Postpaid churn of 1.5% was the Company’s lowest quarterly churn since second quarter 2008. That means a lot more customers are staying with us!
• Additionally, we reduced training time for new customer care representatives by 30%

The Technology

We used Microsoft Dynamics CRM analytics and Parature to expand our customer care online.

Disruptive Factor

Our biggest challenge was deciding which questions belonged in the new portal, and how to deal with questions that were not on the list. Once we decided on the listed questions, we created an outlet where people could type in their questions and one of our representatives would get back to them as soon as possible. The impact of our project is that our customers now receive faster and more comprehensive service even when it is after hours at our office. This is game changing because this portal allows people to have instantaneous answers, which is highly valued in our fast paced world. At nTelos we have challenged the status quo by creating a way to help our customers even if no one is at their desk.

What sets us apart from the competition is our determination to see every customers happy and satisfied with our product. We aim to “inspire loyalty by connecting with each customer to deliver the best customer value and best customer experience, and will positively impact the communities we serve, and the lives of our associates.” We must be constantly dedicated to our brand and these ideals, and through this we continue to make proactive and personalized customer care investments.

Shining Moment

The fact that we reduced customer care calls by 20% while simultaneously growing our customer base – at the lowest quarterly churn since 2008! - indicates that we are achieving our mission of delivering the best customer value and the best customer experience.