Providing fast, reliable internet service is an operational necessity for the broadband industry. What differentiates successful broadband providers is their ability to build relationships with subscribers through strategic communication.
Broadband service providers (BSPs) that learn to harness customer communication tools — particularly those integrated with subscriber management and billing platforms — will improve their customer experience (CX) and earn a competitive advantage.
While standalone communication tools are plentiful, their effectiveness is limited without proper integration into billing and subscriber management platforms. Integrated systems help providers leverage account data, service information, payment history, service orders, and other details to create targeted, relevant communications.
Today’s broadband customer communication strategies should encompass several key categories:
- Account notifications keep customers informed about account changes, support marketing efforts, and help ensure regulatory compliance. These communications are easily targeted, allowing BSPs to reach specific customer segments with the right messages at the right time.
- Service order communications enhance CX throughout the subscriber lifecycle. Rather than relying on manual processes that require staff to remember to send updates, automated order notifications are triggered based on specific milestones in the service delivery process: initial site surveys, construction information, service availability, installation scheduling, and so on.
- Payment notifications impact BSP operations by encouraging timely payments and addressing issues before they escalate. Beyond traditional autopay reminders, sophisticated systems can send payment due notifications to manual payment customers and immediately alert subscribers when automated payments fail.
- Outage notifications provide immense value for BSPs; customers who receive prompt notifications about outages are generally less frustrated than those who discover problems on their own and contact support for information. Effective outage communication systems integrate directly with network monitoring platforms, automatically detecting issues and triggering appropriate notifications.
- Multi-step communication journeys enable providers to design comprehensive onboarding and nurturing experiences for customers, sending communications along the lifecycle of the customer, like welcome materials, satisfaction surveys, educational content, and so on.
When communications are integrated with billing and subscriber management platforms, every customer touchpoint is tracked and stored for future reference. This creates a complete historical record of interactions that is useful both for customer service representatives and certain compliance requirements.
The Future of Broadband Subscriber Communication
Advancements in automation and personalization will be made over the next few years. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies expand, communication systems will become even better at predicting customer needs and delivering the right message at the right time.
BSPs that invest in comprehensive, integrated communication platforms today position themselves well for a long-term competitive advantage. In the broadband industry — where BSPs’ technical service capabilities are simply expected by customers — superior customer communication will be an important differentiator. And, in addition to improving CX, the right communication strategies reduce support call volume, increase on-time payments, and help reduce broadband customer churn.
If you’re a broadband provider and you want to learn more about how you can integrate your customer communications into your billing and subscriber management platform, Innovative Systems is happy to help — click here to learn more.
Robin Pooley, Director of Product Management
Innovative Systems
Robin is the Director of eLation Product Management at Innovative Systems. In over 20 years with Innovative Systems, she has served numerous roles, including leading customer conversions, managing Customer Support, and managing QA. As Product Manager, her focus is driving feature implementation to help customers streamline operations, accelerate customer turn-up, and drive revenue growth. As a lover of all things outdoors, evenings and weekends are spent in her garden, on the lake, or hiking any nearby trail.
