3 questions to ask to reduce customer churn rates

Consumers are more informed and empowered than ever — from comparing up different data and minutes packages for their phone to easily pulling up a YouTube video to discover the best, most affordable energy companies. 

In this blog, we cover three of the key questions you need to ask to help reduce your churn rates in the utilities or telecoms industries. These questions are three of the eight you should ask to develop a great strategy to reduce your customer churn rates — let’s take a look. 

1.     Do you provide excellent omnichannel customer support?

This is the first question you need to explore when addressing high churn rates. Poor customer support is one of the fastest ways to lose your customers. PWC reports that 1 in 3 customers stopped doing business with a company after a negative customer service experience. 

Customers have high expectations — they expect immediate, supportive responses from your team. They also expect to be able to get support on their favourite channels — from Facebook chat to phone calls. As Forrester notes, a seamless omnichannel experience that is consistent across devices and channels is key to preventing high churn rates. 

2.     Do you monitor for low customer satisfaction and step in before disappointment spirals?

As Reloadly argues, even in prepaid-based markets — churn never just happens suddenly. Before ditching your brand, customers make their way through a ‘dissatisfaction journey’ — this may look like: 

1. Complaining about your company and services more often
2. No longer responding to calls, emails, or messages
3. Using language that shows negative affect (“I’m irritated about...”) 
4. Ignoring discounts, upgrades, or other special offers
5. Making threats to leave
6. Failing to pay bills on time
7. Indicators of price sensitivity

To prevent churn, you need to make note of more frequent occurrences of one or more of the above — across every channel you interact with your customers on. Reps and AI need to be trained to notice and step in when customers feel frustrated, irritated, or let down by you. 

3.     Do customers have all the information they need — when they need it?

As we note above, most modern consumers are digital natives — they look for information on companies and brand recommendations online. Digital natives are autonomous — they like to find information for themselves and trust what they can see and read, rather than what they hear from sales or support reps. 

To empower your customers and keep them happy, make sure they have access to all the information they need. Include clear FAQs on your company, packages, prices, and services. Customers should be able to discover the discounts quickly and easily they’re entitled to, how they can renew their account, and what their packages and your services include. In addition, you should also help them effortlessly track their personal data — from their energy usage to their meter readings. 

In our new paper, we explore eight ways to reduce churn in detail. You’ve read three, to read the other five — download the paper here.