Dive Brief:
- Verizon highlighted customer experience as one of the essential pillars to reduce customer turnover and maintain revenue growth, executives said on a Q3 2024 earnings call Tuesday. Wireless service revenue rose 2.7% year over year in the third quarter.
- The wireless carrier seeks to boost retention through the use of AI in stores and call centers, customer choice through its myPlan offering and special offers from the Verizon Access loyalty program, according to Sowmyanarayan Sampath, EVP and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group.
- “There is nothing structurally that prevents Verizon from being an industry leader in retention and lower churn,” Sampath said during the call. “We've been in that position before. We know how it feels. And more importantly, we know how we get there.”
Dive Insight:
Verizon is tackling CX on multiple fronts, from speed of service to associate knowledge, to build loyalty with its customer base.
Fast service elevated NPS and reduced churn for fixed wireless access customers, according to Sampath. The wireless service option uses radio waves, rather than a physical wire, for internet connectivity, which along with efficient in-store experiences, helps customers get connected quickly.
“You could go to a store in five minutes, buy it, and in 10 minutes after that, you could be in your apartment connected with the 5G Verizon FWA product,” Sampath said.
Customers signing up for Verizon’s Fios service can’t get online as quickly, but the sign-up experience still stands out due to white-glove service, according to Sampath. The end result is high NPS and customer satisfaction.
AI is continuing to drive efficiency for customer service and personalization efforts, according to Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg.
In May, the company announced it was equipping in-store associates with mobile generative AI tools. The personal AI assistant helps employees find answers for customer inquiries with a 95% success rate, and the personal shopper feature cuts transaction times by two to four minutes on average, Verizon said.
The company also uses AI to analyze the actions customers take online and provide them with individualized experiences, according to Brian Higgins, chief customer experience officer at Verizon. Customers can see personalized suggestions no matter where they shop with the company, whether in-store or online.
“We leverage all those insights we have to then tailor everything directly to your needs,” Higgins said in a June interview with CX Dive.
