Customer experience management refers to the process by which a company tracks, oversees as well as organizes interactions between that organization and an individual customer over the period of the customer lifecycle. The main goal of customer experience management is to optimize customer experiences and to ensure customer loyalty as much as possible (Homburg et al., 2017). This report prepares a customer experience strategy for Vodafone, Australia, that it can use in order to improve the telecom and mobile internet experiences of its customers and retain customer loyalty over a long period of time.
Vodafone Australia, known also as Vodafone Hutchinson Australia, is one of the largest mobile companies in the country, catering to as many as 5.8 million customers. It offers mobile and fixed line services as well as broadband services through the country’s national broadband network. The company is owned partially by the Vodafone Group and partially by Hutchison Telecommunications Australia (Vodafone.com, 2018). When it comes to the services provided by Vodafone Australia, customers get to avail mobile and fixed line services both. The connectivity is known to be excellent for the most part with services seldom ever being disrupted. As far as internet services are concerned, both 2G and 3G internet speeds were made available to customers at some point, operating under a single network. Upon the arrival of 4G internet and the increasing use of 3G and 4G internet speeds only, the company shut down its 2G internet services entirely in the month of June in 2018. Vodafone is a company that is particularly well known for the sponsorship of sporting events in Australia. It has a large and mostly satisfied customer base, with most customers making widespread use of its broadband and mobile internet services (Vodafone.com, 2018).
There are two distinct customer segments that can be identified for a company like Vodafone Australia. One is the segment of customers who make extensive use of fixed line connections and mobile connections. The other is a segment of customers who make primary use of Vodafone internet services, either 3G or 4G. Both the customer segments are substantially large. While customers are usually quite content with the internet and telecom facilities provided by Vodafone Australia, there are times when network connectivity issues are quite persistent, leading to customers becoming frustrated and dissatisfied with Vodafone Australia services. Internet packs are also quite highly priced, and prove to be rather expensive, especially for those who need to make use of the internet on a regular basis.
Vodafone Australia can implement the following customer experience strategy in order to improve upon its existing services, keep its customers happy and retain a loyal customer base over the long term.
One of the best ways by which Vodafone Australia can retain a loyal customer base and keep its customers happy is by offering top up credit at affordable prices. Top up credit is often required every now and then for those who need to be on call continuously for work, and in situations of emergency. While top up credit prices seem cheap at the outset, they are actually not so, particularly if this credit has to be procured on a frequent basis by those making regular calls, for work or for personal reasons. Hence top up credit prices if kept affordable and within the means of the middle income customer can lead to customer satisfaction and establish customer faith in Vodafone mobile services.
Another effective way by which Vodafone Australia can improve the experiences of its customers is to free calling and unlimited mobile internet services for a fixed sum of money. This is an excellent deal that is sure to keep customers happy, as by opting for such a scheme, customers get to make free local calls as many times as they need to in a month, while using unlimited internet everyday at the same time, all in lieu of a fixed sum of money they pay for this service, which in turn remains valid for a period of twenty eight to thirty days.
Instant services for resolving network issues need to be made available for Vodafone Australia customers, for both the mobile and fixed line segment as well as the broadband or internet segment. It is not enough to offer customer care services, that focus only on taking down the customer complaint and notifying customers about when the problem is likely to get resolved. Efforts need to be made on the part of Vodafone Australia to get such technical issues resolved instantly so that customers do not have to waste a minute waiting for its phone or internet connectivity to be repaired, so that they can start communicating with people again.
Vodafone Australia can keep its customers happy and get them to subscribe to Vodafone Australia over the long term by offer unlimited internet for four months at a stretch for a fixed amount of money. While this amount does not have to be too meager, customers should be given the option of paying a fixed sum of money in order to be able to use 3G internet at least for three or four months at a stretch, at 1.4 GB of internet a day. Introducing such a scheme will be of great benefit for customers who do all their professional work online and who have to be connected to the internet at all times of the day in order to interact with their clients. The internet connectivity that is offered as a part of such a scheme should be free from glitches, so that customers do not get frustrated and end up subscribing for top up internet or monthly internet packs instead. By ensuring good internet connectivity, Vodafone Australia can get large numbers of customers to subscribe to this scheme and be loyal users of Vodafone services for the longest time to come.
The customer care services that are offered by Vodafone Australia should be those that are made very easily accessible. Customers should be able to reach out to Vodafone Australia executives over phone or email at any given hour of the day or night in order to get queries replied to and technical issues resolved. Efforts should also be made to resolve phone related issues or issues related to internet connectivity as soon as these are reported.
The CEM strategy mentioned above is certain to be of benefit for Vodafone Australia, as by providing such new and improved services and schemes, the company can succeed in making its customer base happier than what it is at present and expand its customer base like never before.
Conclusion
Customer satisfaction and customer retention are not easy to achieve. Vodafone Australia is one of the most successful and well known mobile companies in Australia with a large customer base of its own. By implementing the CEM strategy mentioned, the company can go a long way in getting more and more people in Australia to subscribe to its services and feel satisfied about availing such services as well.
References and Bibliography
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