In our last blog, we explained why ISPs, connected-device manufacturers, app creators, media providers, and other connected-home stakeholders need to understand the Customer Experience (CX) of their users. Now, we want to tell you what to do about CX problems when they occur.
In the good old days, subscribers were quiet until something went wrong. Then, they would pick up the phone and make a complaint to the Customer Care Center. So normal was this process that many telecoms actually modeled CX by the numbers and types of support calls they would receive.
Today, it’s not like that. When subscribers feel frustrated by their internet experience, they don’t bother to call Customer Care, they just “boot their ISP” or stop using the device, app, or service. There is always a competitor available and it’s easy to switch.
If it’s an ISP who has gotten under the subscriber’s skin because of unpredictable, slow, or faulty internet service, churning to an eager competitor is just a phone call away. If a device isn’t behaving, there is always another one to pick up at the store or have shipped by tomorrow. If this media provider’s service isn’t working well, it’s easy to click to another provider for the equivalent service without looking back.
There will be no call to Customer Care to use as an early warning. The user gets fed up and is lost forever. The trick is to know what subscribers and users are experiencing, to be able to detect problems and to address them before frustration sets in. That used to be easier said than done, but now it can be done pretty quickly.
We call it “Proactive Care”.
Proactive Care takes advantage of Veego’s unique ability to combine device type, service category and user behavior not only to detect connectivity problems, but to accurately measure how current network and other conditions are actually impacting each home user. ISPs can recognize “suffering” homes and their causes. Device manufacturers can learn when users reboot or reduce use of their devices. Media providers can know when their service to any home or group of homes is sub-optimal and why.
Once they know all that, they can do something about it, quickly and before the subscriber becomes flustered.
Immediate Proactive Care
Veego provides the ability to recognize and quantify dissatisfaction as it happens.
Our Smart CX solution delivers accurate, near-real-time reports of the health of connected devices and services as well as home Quality of Experience (QoE) scores. At a glance you can see the true CX situation of any session with a device or service exactly as the user is experiencing it. Based on the data collected by Smart CX, Veego can apply three levels of immediate Proactive Care:
(1) Veego’s Smart Care solution can fix many CX problems automatically, even before the user notices. It automatically detects problems with QoE, analyzes the root cause, and applies a remedy. For the user, the device is working well, the service is smooth, the internet is great. No problems.
(2) In cases where it cannot fix the problem by itself, Smart Care can often recommend easy-to-follow remediation steps directly to the user, an effective form of Self-Care. Recommendations can be communicated via smart app, SMS, chat, or phone call.
(3) When technical-support intervention is required, Veego Smart Care analyzes the problem and informs the user at home which Customer Care to contact. No point calling the ISP if the firmware of the smart TV needs an upgrade to perform better. Don’t blame the device if the internet service is having problems. Is the last mile the root cause? How about the media server? Maybe the particular server is not working well and a switch to another one will make everything right again. Veego figures all this out and determines whom to contact.
Long-Term Proactive Care
Proactive Care isn’t just about addressing CX problems as they occur. With the vast volumes of usage, tend, event, and other data collected in the Veego Data Lake, Operations Departments can use Veego Smart Operations to learn a lot about the performance of their devices and services. How are they performing? Who is having problems? What kinds events are occurring to users? And lots more.
With all this information at their fingertips, Operations Departments can isolate and group users by performance (or other factors of interest) and proactively apply solutions. Perhaps an ISP notices slow internet service in a certain region. It can upgrade network equipment that services these homes. Perhaps a smart-device manufacturer notices that homes using its cameras with a certain smart app version are losing service. It can send out a software upgrade to fix the problem.
Marketing Departments can get into the act, too. Proactive Care isn’t only about addressing problems; it anticipates improvements, too. Veego Smart Marketing identifies revenue-generating and other opportunities to enhance user experience. Perhaps an upgraded device or bandwidth package will improve the CX in a particular home or group of homes. Smart Marketing alerts on these opportunities while, at the same time, understanding when it is a fortuitous time to contact subscribers (e.g., not when they are frustrated, but when they are receptive).
Loving the Vendor
With Proactive Care, subscribers and users feel taken care of and protected. They develop a deep loyalty to their vendors. They don’t churn.
Veego empowers our customers with Proactive Care: the ability to recognize subscriber dissatisfaction AND the means to do something about it.