In this era where "customer-first" and "experience is king" are revered principles, customer satisfaction stands as a critical factor for a company's survival. To this end, telecom operators have long adopted the widely acclaimed Net Promoter Score (NPS) methodology from various industries to gauge overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.
However, traditional NPS management approaches have long suffered from issues such as vague data, small sample sizes, inability to pinpoint root causes, and lack of closed-loop management, imposing significant limitations on operators' efforts to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. Particularly as the telecom industry transitions from an era of customer acquisition to one of customer retention, where customer experience becomes a crucial differentiating factor in the competitive landscape, traditional NPS management methods have struggled to meet the demands of the new era. How can the industry tackle the challenges of traditional NPS management and achieve sustainable business success in the digital services future?
On February 27th, during MWC24 in Barcelona, Huawei hosted the SmartCare® Elite Summit themed around NPS excellence. Telecom operators from around the globe gathered to discuss the technological development directions and best practices in managing customer satisfaction. They also shared innovative approaches to address NPS challenges, outlining a clear path for the industry to continuously deliver exceptional user experiences.
Title: Rethinking Traditional NPS Management in the Era of Telecom Saturation
During the recent keynote speech by Mr. You Jiangtao, President of the Operator Delivery and Service Department at Huawei Global Technical Services, the focus was on the urgent need for a paradigm shift in traditional NPS management in light of the current era of market saturation.
According to GSMA data, the global single mobile user penetration rate reached 68% in 2022, with a projected increase to only 73% by 2030, representing a minimal Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of less than 0.9% over the next five years. This transition signifies a shift from an era of market expansion to one of market saturation in the telecommunications industry. In this new landscape, user experience becomes paramount, requiring operators to enhance their capabilities in managing customer satisfaction to gain sustainable competitive advantages. The Net Promoter Score (NPS), as the most popular metric for gauging customer satisfaction and loyalty, is expected to play an increasingly crucial role for operators.
NPS measures the likelihood of customers recommending a product or service to others through surveys. Despite its simplicity and widespread use, traditional NPS management methods have notable drawbacks. Firstly, they often fail to provide comprehensive, accurate, and real-time insights into customer satisfaction due to limited sampling, randomness, and delayed feedback. Secondly, traditional NPS falls short in identifying the root causes of customer dissatisfaction, hindering timely improvements in customer experience.
To address these challenges, there is a growing reliance on new technologies such as big data and AI to automate the analysis of vast amounts of customer data. This enables operators to proactively identify and resolve customer pain points before they escalate, leading to a more refined and proactive approach to NPS management.
Huawei has established a dedicated team comprising experts in consulting, algorithms, SmartCare platforms, and network optimization to develop data-driven proactive NPS management solutions. By leveraging AI and big data analytics, these solutions enable operators to identify and address network issues in real-time, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.
Looking ahead, Huawei aims to expand and enhance its NPS solutions beyond network optimization to encompass a comprehensive range of scenarios, including product offerings, customer service, and satisfaction management platforms.
Leading operators worldwide have already embarked on a digital transformation journey focused on enhancing the end-to-end customer experience to drive sustained business growth. By leveraging intelligent technologies and data-driven approaches, they aim to predict NPS more accurately and implement proactive customer care strategies, thus gaining a competitive edge in a fiercely competitive environment.
As the industry embraces these transformative trends, collaboration and knowledge sharing between operators and Huawei will be crucial in realizing the vision of delivering exceptional value to customers. With concerted efforts and continuous exploration, the future holds promising success stories, as articulated by Ding Chengyi, President of Network Performance and Converged Data Operations at Huawei Global Technical Services, at the SmartCare Elite Summit.
Mr. Ding Chengyi, President of Network Performance and Converged Data Operations at Huawei's Global Technical Services Department, summarized the following points:
