Clients are UPC’s future

Retail

Is a cable firm offering full-scale business care, while also providing TV, internet, telephone and mobile services, UPC Hungary lives or dies by positive customer experience. Anita Carra, chief marketing and content officer of UPC Hungary, talks about how her company succeeds in building a positive image among  its clients. 

Anita Carra, chief marketing and content officer of UPC Hungary.

Achieving a positive customer experience must be very important for a service-heavy firm like UPC. What is UPC’s strategy for dealing with this key challenge? What kind of resources are dedicated to it?

Under UPC’s strategy, delivering a positive and memorable customer experience has been a high priority for us, both in terms of using our products and services and in terms of each and every customer interaction, for years. We took the highest level company commitment to deliver positive experience to our customers. We embraced an NPS (Net Promoter Score) as part of the corporate culture, using it as a mechanism not simply to identify and assist unhappy customers, but as an opportunity to identify root causes of loyalty and satisfaction. We also set up a dedicated department within the marketing team to manage UPC’s customer experience activities. This department is responsible for the entire process of customer experience from strategy and measurement, and to drive actions based on insights. This fully comprehensive approach ensures that customer experience is integrated into our business as a routine activity. But, of course, one small team can’t make a miracle, so it’s crucial that each and every department of the company is motivated to be customer-centric.

What goes into the impression that makes for a positive customer experience?

I believe that deep understanding of our customers’ needs, including knowing their expectations and using continuous tracking, can lead us to perform successfully in the field of customer satisfaction. Stable and reliable products and excellent customer service is essential. The extra mile starts when UPC focuses on providing added value to customers through its innovative solutions to enhance their lives. As examples, I would mention our cutting edge products and services such as Wi-Free, Horizon Go or the recently introduced Replay TV, or the interactive MyUPC surface we created in order to make the most wanted customer service functions easily accessible to our clients.

What are the opportunities for UPC to improve customer experience? How and when do customers interact with UPC, and what can be done to ensure the interactions are positive?

We put enormous effort into improving the interaction between the customers and UPC: We listen to our customers, measure the experience we provide and define actions for improvement. Along with this, key customer journeys were defined and are under continuous improvement based on customer feedback, but customers are also involved in service testing before new service launches to ensure proper service quality. Customers interact with UPC through many different channels, from stores and call centers to online surfaces. Our aim is to deliver a consistent experience through each channel. Wowing customers with future proof innovation is key as well for the perfect experience.

One frequent interaction with customers happens on the phone, when people call UPC for troubleshooting help with their internet, cable connections or mobile and cable phone service – or to ask billing questions or request new services. What can be done to ensure that the customer experience in these kinds of interactions is positive?

Instant availability of customer care agents and first-time resolution are very important to the customers. But beside efficiency, our aim is to improve the empathy in the frontline. That’s why UPC has launched a diagnosis tool for agents to identify realistically, during the contact, if the customer is a detractor/unhappy and try to change his emotions by providing help, solution or compensation. We have implemented this in our incentive scheme to motivate agents to provide a positive experience. Clients should feel that we are there to serve their needs.

Another frequent area of interaction with customers is the website. Can an easy-to-navigate website that solves customers’ problems be as useful as in-person service? How does UPC’s website help?

Online importance is increasing, so Liberty Global (UPC’s mother company) focuses on digital excellence to meet future requirements. In this channel we have a smaller window of time to impress customers, so our intention is to provide a user friendly website where customers can find the relevant information easily and quickly and they can instantly order services in a reliable way. That’s why user experience testing is a very important tool for us to further develop our website and webshop. In the meantime, social media – where an immediate response is expected and appreciated – is getting more accepted and more frequently used by our customers to interact with UPC.

What about your services for businesses? What are the typical services or packages that businesses seek from you?

Our core business product in B2B is definitely the internet service: Fiber Power packages for smaller companies and leased line services for the bigger ones. But the bottom line here is the fact that UPC can provide full service to enterprises, whether they need only a small package or a more complex, tailor-made solution

How can you improve customer satisfaction with services for businesses?

Tailor-made solutions and continuous availability are key factors in B2B customer care. Dedicated account managers serve our business customers, both in professional and “simple” customer care issues. We also provide a dedicated call center for smaller businesses, where our colleagues can assist them on a professional level.

How can dependable service from UPC ensure that its business clients have an easier time giving a positive customer experience to their customers?

We know that the service level of our clients greatly depends on our services: if the internet or phone service shuts down, it can cause a negative experience for their customers. It is our responsibility to provide a reliable service. In most cases UPC becomes visible only when something goes wrong. We strive to solve technical problems as soon as possible, but on the other hand it’s also our mission to go beyond expectations and to attract our customers with those innovations that can make their life easier.

Banking Sector Forint Liquidity up in February Banking

Banking Sector Forint Liquidity up in February

Budapest Residents to Weigh in on Rákosrendező Development P... Issues

Budapest Residents to Weigh in on Rákosrendező Development P...

AutoWallis Becomes Importer of Geely Group’s Commercial EV B... Automotive

AutoWallis Becomes Importer of Geely Group’s Commercial EV B...

These Are the Most Sleep-friendly Hotels in Hungary Hotels

These Are the Most Sleep-friendly Hotels in Hungary

SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL

Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.