Three rises to the challenge of higher customer expectations

Three Ireland has been ranked number one for customer service in the latest CX360 customer satisfaction survey of mobile telecommunications providers. Three's head of business service Brenda Jones attributes that success to the strength of the company's business customer service team.

“I am very proud of our staff,” she says. “We wouldn’t get such positive feedback from our customers without our fantastic workforce.”

She says customers’ expectations have risen during the pandemic. “Our customers expect more from us than ever before since the widespread introduction of remote work. Prior to the pandemic, people would have been working in the one building; now they are spread out around the country in their homes and other remote-working locations. Their connectivity is our responsibility, not their IT department’s. And they are feeling more isolated and remote if they don’t have connectivity.”

That has resulted in increased call volumes. “We are not just dealing with a single point of contact in our business customers any longer,” Jones explains. “When people who are remote working have an issue, they call us directly rather than their IT department. Everyone in our customer service team is keenly aware of their needs and works very hard to meet them. We have also invested heavily in our network to meet customers’ connectivity needs.”

And those needs are changing. “Customers no longer want general support,” she points out. “They want a strategic partner who understands the importance of connectivity to them. They want a partner who can add value and help them grow their businesses. They want products and services that will help them grow and compete in the years to come. We work with them as a strategic partner and help them to make the best use of our services.”

Trust

Trust is at the heart of the customer relationship. “Trust is huge for us in Three,” says Jones. “Our customers trust us to know what is good for their business. Particularly smaller businesses without their own IT departments. While price is important to everyone, service and value add are hugely important as well. Products and services like 5G and 3Connect can reduce business costs and improve efficiency over time. 3Connect brings all a business’s telephone systems together on one platform. Rather than having lots of separate mobiles and land lines they can have them all on the one system despite the fact that everyone is working remotely.”

5G connectivity is coming into its own as well. “It has become very important for remote working. 5G offers greater range and faster speeds. That can allow people work from holiday homes in remote areas five days a week, for example. Fixed wireless access points bring the signal from outside and they don’t need a fibre connection.”

Those changing needs and expectations have seen the customer service team move into more of a consultancy role. “Our customers want to speak with service agents who are extremely knowledgeable, have the best training, who are solutions based and can solve their issue the first time they make contact with us,” she says.

“The amount of training that we give to all our agents is key. We also constantly monitor our service quality in order to drive continuous improvement. In the most recent CX360 customer satisfaction survey Three ranked number one in five of the six business areas covered, including customer care, account manager quality and network performance. The reason we are number one for customer care is that we listen to our customers, and we take action on what they tell us. If they praise us, we build on it and if they criticise us, we act on it.”

“We get so much feedback from customers telling us how happy with our staff they are,” she adds. “When a customer calls with an issue, the agent stays with the problem, talks to the customer to understand the problem and solves it for them.”

Ease of contact is another factor in that excellent customer service rating. “Customers can contact us on all channels,” Jones explains. “Some customers don’t want to speak to a person and prefer to interact digitally. Of course, if they are looking for consultancy and advice they do need someone to talk them through it. Our customers can contact us in the way that suits them best, whenever it suits them. We are always available and there are no long waiting times.

“Our omnichannel service means that our service team can see exactly what the customer has done so far regardless of how they have commenced their interaction. Our agents can see the journey and know exactly where to pick it up. Customers don’t have to repeat themselves or go back over ground already covered.”