- Telenor’s online customer service receives nearly 120,000 customer queries a year, 99% of which are submitted to its Facebook Page.
- Average online response time was reduced to less than half in four years.
- Call Center operators manage 1,300 calls per month on average. They answer calls in 40 seconds and respond to them in 4 minutes on average.
The mobile operator’s online customer service manages more than 119,000 customer interactions a year. Online customer service staff always keep an eye on online platforms and do their best to respond to customer queries as fast and as efficiently as possible.
Telenor accepts queries via six channels including Facebook, Google Play, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. 99% of the interactions amounting to more than 117,000 are managed through Facebook.
In 2014, when Telenor’s Facebook Page became a key customer service channel, 85% of queries were responded to in 15 minutes. Over the past 4 years, this response time was reduced to less than half. In the first quarter of 2018, average response time was 6.5 minutes while in Q2 it was only 6.1 minutes. This is partly due to the online system implemented in 2016 that can manage incoming and outgoing Facebook and Twitter messages on a single platform.
“While in 2014, colleagues resolved 50 issues on social media channels per day on average, this number has grown sixfold by now. Today, we receive 300 messages to various online platforms per day on average. Interestingly, 83% of Facebook queries arrive in a private message and 17% in comments, while this ratio behaved conversely a few years ago”, said Viktor Szabó, head of Telenor’s online customer service.
Zero-waiting time customer management is supported by a webchat interface implemented in 2017 and managing 200 interactions per day on average. As this service is available both on Android and iOS, most customers access the webchat on their mobile phones.
What are the most common queries?
Based on the composition of queries submitted to Telenor’s online customer service, the most common issues are as follows:
- netshop: queries related to online orders
- administration: administrative issues (e.g. card replacement, SIM card activation or transfer)
- services: orders, modifications, cancellations
- billing: queries related to billing and invoice payment
- tariffs: information requests related to available tariff plans
- queries related to contracts and commitment period
In terms of the part of the day, weekday afternoons and evenings tend to be the busiest with the highest number of private messages. There are less queries during weekends. Interestingly, public holidays don’t have much less queries: 30 to 40% of weekday queries are registered on these days.
Call Center is still popular
The number of phone calls has been declining with the use of online channels becoming more common, but there is still customer demand for phone-based service. A Call Center operator manages 70 to 90 calls per day on average which comes up to 1,250 to 1,350 calls per month but this number may reach 1,550 to 1,800 in peak periods. Last August (the peak period of prepaid registration) one of Telenor’s Call Center operators had nearly 3,000 calls in a month.
Call Center operators answer customer calls in 40 seconds and respond to questions in 4 minutes. Two out of three calls are related to promotions, services and tariffs, while 30% are requests and only 7% are complaints. Most questions are about mobile internet services and billing.
Patience and empathy
The key qualities considered upon selecting customer service staff include communication skills, helpfulness, tolerance for monotony and problem-solving skills. Patience and empathy are also of key importance for daily work at the customer service.
“Newcomers are mentored by top-performing operators to help them acquire the necessary skills and get integrated. We support the part-time employment of young mothers and those who cannot work 8 hours a day because of their ongoing studies”, said Krisztina Borjána Kis, Customer Service Director of Telenor.
Currently, they have three colleagues with disabilities but are looking for ways to provide this opportunity to more people. Telenor wants to increase the ratio of employees with disabilities to at least 5% of its headcount in the future.