Broadband Case Study

Leading Broadband Provider Turns Down The Call Volume And Heats Up Sales With A Customer Friendly Bill From DST Output

The Business Challenge

A major Fortune 500 Company and one of the largest broadband providers in the country had a problem on their hands. Call volume spikes attributed to monthly billing cycles were crippling their call center and forcing customers to either abandon their calls or hold for longer periods of time. Customer satisfaction was on the decline and Customer Service Representative (CSR) productivity had plummeted.

The company recognized that meeting the challenge of increasing customer satisfaction would require focusing on some fundamental customer relationship management initiatives. The first investment was to understand their customers' receptivity to the monthly bill with the goal of improving the entire customer experience.

Secondly, the company wanted the bill to address another big picture goal — that of revenue growth and profitability. Like many broadband providers, the company offered subscribers additional services like pay-per-view, premium channels, digital cable and high-speed Internet access. Using the monthly bill to improve communications with its customers about its multiple product lines was seen as key to increasing profitability. The company also wanted to design the bill to speed the receipt of consumer payments.

The Solution

Our first step was to work with the broadband provider to create a customer-focused redesign that would accomplish their goals, namely lowering call volume and increasing revenue. In unaided blind recall studies, subscribers were asked to recall information about their current bills' substance and promotional messages. The study contrasted their existing bill against two new DST Output-designed bills. Created by a team of experts in transactional communications, the new designs bridged the need for an aesthetically pleasing bill with one that could be easily programmed and implemented.

Both newly designed bills significantly outperformed the existing bill for clarity and ease of understanding. The original goal of reducing call center volume was realized. After receipt of the new bill, respondents indicated their need to call the provider's service center for clarifications had dropped from nearly 30 percent under the old bill to less than 2 percent with the new design. The overwhelming majority of customers also indicated they would pay their new bill quickly, with nearly 60 percent indicating the amount due and the due dates were much easier to find.

Knowledge gained from the bill design study was also used to segment customers for continued marketing opportunities. Customer preferences for premium channels and additional services will enable the broadband provider to develop personalized cross-selling strategies aimed at subscriber preferences.

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