Communications Case Studies

• Leading Broadband Provider Turns Down The Call Volume And Heats Up Sales With A Customer Friendly Bill From DST Output
• Cellular Company Benefits From DST Output Exact View® Technology
• Telephony Reseller And Service Provider Solves Multiple Challenges With DST Output Customized Solutions
• Telephony Provider Streamlines Statements With DST Output Technology

Leading Broadband Provider Turns Down The Call Volume And Heats Up Sales With A Customer Friendly Bill From DST Output

The Business Challenge

A major Fortune 500 Company and one of the largest broadband providers in the country had a problem on their hands. Call volume spikes attributed to monthly billing cycles were crippling their call center and forcing customers to either abandon their calls or hold for longer periods of time. Customer satisfaction was on the decline and Customer Service Representative (CSR) productivity had plummeted.

The company recognized that meeting the challenge of increasing customer satisfaction would require focusing on some fundamental customer relationship management initiatives. The first investment was to understand their customers' receptivity to the monthly bill with the goal of improving the entire customer experience.

Secondly, the company wanted the bill to address another big picture goal — that of revenue growth and profitability. Like many broadband providers, the company offered subscribers additional services like pay-per-view, premium channels, digital cable and high-speed Internet access. Using the monthly bill to improve communications with its customers about its multiple product lines was seen as key to increasing profitability. The company also wanted to design the bill to speed the receipt of consumer payments.

The Solution

Our first step was to work with the broadband provider to create a customer-focused redesign that would accomplish their goals, namely lowering call volume and increasing revenue. In unaided blind recall studies, subscribers were asked to recall information about their current bills' substance and promotional messages. The study contrasted their existing bill against two new DST Output-designed bills. Created by a team of experts in transactional communications, the new designs bridged the need for an aesthetically pleasing bill with one that could be easily programmed and implemented.

Both newly designed bills significantly outperformed the existing bill for clarity and ease of understanding. The original goal of reducing call center volume was realized. After receipt of the new bill, respondents indicated their need to call the provider's service center for clarifications had dropped from nearly 30 percent under the old bill to less than 2 percent with the new design. The overwhelming majority of customers also indicated they would pay their new bill quickly, with nearly 60 percent indicating the amount due and the due dates were much easier to find.

Knowledge gained from the bill design study was also used to segment customers for continued marketing opportunities. Customer preferences for premium channels and additional services will enable the broadband provider to develop personalized cross-selling strategies aimed at subscriber preferences.

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Cellular Company Benefits From DST Output Exact View® Technology

Not all companies require complete, detailed statements to be sent to customers each month. In the case of a cellular provider, the company asked us to process and send a conveniently sized summary statement to its customers. We provided a solution that sends the summary statement to the customer and another, highly detailed statement, to the company by way of our Exact View® product. The Exact View® statement allows customer service representatives to view both the summary and the detailed statements when a customer calls with a question. In addition, the two Exact View® statements fulfill the legal requirements for archival records. The company saves considerably on paper and postage costs each month.

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Telephony Reseller And Service Provider Solves Multiple Challenges With DST Output Customized Solutions

Most of our customers use a set of services pulled from the larger set of offerings, but one customer uses almost every service and product. The telephony reseller and service provider sends statements to its business accounts (those who resell the company's services) and to consumers who use the services directly. The company transmits data across a single feed that runs through pre-processor software to segregate into three print platforms for business customer statements, consumer statements, and collection letters. In addition, we produce statements on diskette for the company's larger customers and create HTML files for customer service viewing. Despite using a different customer service viewing program, the company does employ our Exact View® system for statement archiving onto CDs. By coming to a single source for all statement needs, the company saves time, money, and coordination headaches.

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Telephony Provider Streamlines Statements With DST Output Technology

Because many of our customers are large, multi-site companies, we are often asked to bring in data from multiple streams and consolidate it into a single statement. One telephony provider requires a statement to include landline service, local long distance, and cellular service on a single statement. The data comes to us from several sites at various times. Before processing, the pre-processor matches the data and verifies it is current before consolidating. If it is not current, we notify the customer, who sends a new data stream. We then combine all data into one statement that is mailed in a single envelope — greatly reducing printing, paper, and postage costs.

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