As 2018 begins, telecom customers expect bills and usage information presented in more personalized, visually engaging ways. Over the next 12 months, operators will shift their billing communications to meet these expectations, adopting new technologies — including chatbots — to improve the overall customer experience.
Bill confusion
Despite these advances, billing remains a major pain point. Many customers still find their bills difficult to understand. In a Brite:Bill survey from August 2017, 68% of respondents said their bills are hard to interpret. As operators expand digital services, these shortcomings in bill design and billing processes become more evident, undermining the customer experience.
Billing problems will continue to drive enquiries, complaints and churn. Our research shows that 30% of customer complaints relate to billing, while 15% concern contract issues. Supporting these enquiries requires significant service resources and creates a considerable financial burden for Communication Service Providers (CSPs). In the UK alone, the Ombudsman estimates operators lose £2.9 billion each year as customers reduce usage or switch to competitors because of poor billing and service.
In the past two years, 29% of customers have contacted their provider to complain or ask about a bill, and many are prepared to switch providers over billing issues: 16% of survey respondents said they had changed operator because of billing problems. This presents a major opportunity for operators to improve retention, since the cost to acquire a new customer is high — over US$300 on average in the US — and churn is costly. For example, Verizon Wireless reported a monthly churn rate of 1.19% in Q2 2017 (equivalent to roughly 14.3% annually). Based on reported ARPU, churn is costing the top four US carriers (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile) tens of millions of dollars per month per carrier.
The Brite:Bill study also found that 44% of customers who left a provider had experienced billing problems. Improving bill clarity and handling bill-related enquiries can therefore significantly lower churn; even a small reduction in churn can have a major positive impact on profitability.
Bill shock
Bill shock remains another significant issue. Although EU regulations now cap many international roaming charges, customers can still face unexpectedly high bills for services, especially when usage patterns change or supplementary services are applied. In our survey, 24% of customers reported they had experienced bill shock.
CSPs that can anticipate situations likely to cause bill shock and proactively notify customers can reduce the financial and reputational costs associated with these events. Timely alerts, usage thresholds, and clearer pre- and post-usage communication help customers avoid surprises and decrease the number of bill-related disputes.
Looking ahead, new technologies will change how customers interact with bills and support channels. Chatbots are beginning to enter the market, and customer attitudes are generally positive: 39% of respondents said they would like access to a chatbot for bill enquiries, and nearly a third (29%) considered chatbots a viable alternative to traditional customer care lines. Operators should explore chatbot solutions to handle routine billing questions, provide real-time usage insights, and free human agents to resolve more complex issues. When properly implemented, chatbots can make billing communications faster, more consistent and more useful for customers.
To succeed in 2018, operators must redesign billing communications with customer-centric clarity, invest in proactive notifications to prevent bill shock, and adopt emerging technologies to streamline interactions. These steps will reduce complaints, lower churn and improve customer satisfaction while protecting revenue.
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