While Filipinos prefer to use digital channels to interact with digital businesses or brands—such as Uber or Grab, they are still not widely using their service providers’ digital channels for customer care or self-care service, according to a study conducted by 451 Research on behalf of Amdocs.
Interestingly 54% of the respondents said that they would be more loyal to their service providers if they are offered the ability to solve any issues they have with billing or services through self-service applications or website in few clicks.
The Amdocs Customer Experience Spotlight 2016 highlights the importance of embracing and anticipating the emerging digital habits of consumers in order to deliver a superior customer experience and offset competition from digital players.
Shifting the balance of power to consumers
The study finds that 61% (60% globally) of Filipinos valued the ability to control and personalize their devices and services.
A little more than half or 52% of Filipino consumers (54% globally) wanted to receive offerings that were specifically relevant to their needs and interests, while 58% (55% globally) would prefer to access self-service using digital platforms to avoid calling customer care. Furthermore, respondents said they would recommend their service provider to friends and family if they could perform a wide range of actions via self-service – specifically, if they could personalize their products and services (52%).
The appetite for digital alternatives is increasing
Filipinos are becoming accustomed to the customer experience delivered by the new digital companies, with 86% (75% globally) of respondents preferring to interact with these companies via digital channels.
Significantly, 86% (73% globally) expressed a willingness to leave their current service provider if they could receive a comparable level of wireless connectivity from digital companies.
A majority or 78% respondents said they would switch if network data quality was acceptable, while 37% (39% globally) would do so if customer service and support were better than that from their current service provider.
Digital immediacy
The survey indicates that digital channels are increasingly becoming the preferred choice for Filipinos consumers to find information about new products or services, as well as to order a new service or product and get the best offer –product and price; however, they still prefer to visit a retail store or call customer care to obtain fast and immediate service.
The survey also indicates that 22% (17% globally) of respondents didn`t believe that digital or self-service channels offered by service providers work well. To improve overall customer satisfaction, customers want service providers to engage with them via their channels of choice – chat using a third-party social network messenger (59 %), the ability to call customer service via mobile video (42 %) and the ability to chat using service providers’ own self-service chat application (44 %).
Embrace digital to remain relevant
Asked what they expected their service provider to improve, more than half of respondents said that they wanted their service provider be more responsive to their interactions, requests and needs.
Respondents also wanted more interactivity and control over their choices, including the ability to build a customized pricing plan to match their needs (67%), change plan components at any time (74%), additional services inn one bundle with a single bill (68%), billing based on usage (68%) and share data usage with family members, whether they are prepaid or postpaid subscribers (68%).
In terms of ideal customer experience, 47% of Filipinos respondents said they wanted their service providers to proactively respond to their needs.
“The Philippines is one of the fastest growing digital economies with huge popularity of social networking sites, app-based taxi services, and innovations in mobile payments, all of which are serving to set a higher benchmark for customer experience,” said Hakon Jacobsen, vice president, digital, APAC at Amdocs. “As a result, to remain relevant in the eyes of customers, improve customer engagement and deliver the types of experiences customers demand in the digital age, service providers must work quickly to make critical adjustments to their digital strategy and transform their business to align with the wider digital shift.”
