Dialing Up Digital: Retaining a New Generation of Customers

Dialing Up Digital: Retaining
a New Generation of Customers
Our recent survey reveals that despite significant
investments by communications service providers,
Millennials’ satisfaction with pay TV, high-speed
Internet and mobile services has waned.

DIALING UP DIGITAL: RETAINING A NEW GENERATION OF CUSTOMERS 3
Executive Summary
Industry consolidation brought about by mergers, the rise of OTT (over-the-top)
content providers such as Netflix and Amazon, plus the influx of relatively new
service providers like Google represent fundamental changes that threaten the
viability of the communications industry’s current business model.
Increasingly, competitors are attempting to lure customers — especially
Millennials (younger, tech-savvy individuals who represent tomorrow’s market)
away from CSPs. To retain this segment, CSPs must act now to enhance their
current services, better understand younger customers’ needs and make their
digital support channels — mobile apps, mobile Web services and self-service
Web sites alike — easier to use. This is critical, given Millennials’ strong tendency
to change service providers.
The above highlight some of the key insights from our second annual
Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey, conducted in late
2014 among 925 U.S. CSP customers. In addition, the survey revealed some
compelling facts regarding how customers feel about the services CSPs provide:
• Younger customers (under 49 years old) are less satisfied with their current
CSP services — especially so with high-speed Internet (HSI) and mobile —
than older consumers (50 and up).
• Millennials, like their older counterparts, still prefer the phone over lower-
cost digital channels to contact their CSP. When they try the latter, they
often find them inadequate or hard to use.
• All customer age groups reported having privacy concerns with customized
products or services resulting from online searches. These misgivings
lessened somewhat for younger customers, with three out of ten of those
49 and under stating that it is worthwhile to share personal information in
order to receive customized offers. Only 7% of those 65 and older agreed.
• Younger customers (particularly those from 18 to 34 years of age) are far
more apt to “cut the cord” with pay TV services than older customers. We
found that among those who did cancel these services, only 7% plan to
return to pay TV. However, the fact that these younger consumers gave
more reasons for keeping their pay TV services points the way to strategies
for retaining them.
• Younger customers are more likely than older ones to trust providers
to get the technology right for future services, such as connected home,
and to find those services valuable.

4 KEEP CHALLENGING July 2015
How CSPs Must Respond
Our survey results tell us that CSPs should analyze the differences between
younger and older customers, and use that information to retain them and build
their confidence. One method is to capture their personal “Code Halos” — the digital
data that surrounds people, organizations and devices. For example, an individual’s
Code Halo™ can reveal the channels they prefer, the support sites they visit — even
their comments on social media.1
Analyzing these “digital bread crumbs” can help pinpoint a customer’s product pref-
erences and viewing habits, as well as what went right — and wrong — in their inter-
actions with their service provider. CSPs can then use that knowledge to improve
their products and services and make it easier to keep — and even recapture —
younger customers.
Finally, CSPs must ensure that their efforts to personalize solutions and services
not only deliver the expected value, but also provide the levels of security and
privacy these customers demand.
In the following pages, we will detail the findings from our 2014 survey and suggest
actions CSPs can take, based on participants’ responses (see Appendix, page 13, for
more details). This content builds upon the results of our initial survey, conducted in
late 2013, which ranked customers’ satisfaction with CSPs and explained how these
companies can improve efforts to attract and retain them.
Younger Customers are Less Satisfied with CSPs
Our survey found that younger customers “churn” from provider to provider more
often than older consumers, with 46% in the youngest category switching carriers
over the previous two years, compared with 14% in the oldest category. This is a
compelling indicator that younger customers are less brand-loyal than older ones.
The survey also highlighted the need for CSPs to act quickly and aggressively
to leverage customer insights, and use that information to develop a customer-
engagement model that focuses on personalizing and simplifying processes, and
retaining a new generation of customers.
Compared with the results from last year’s survey, Millennials are less happy with
their provider’s high-speed Internet and mobile services; factors that drive satis-
faction across pay TV, HSI and mobile services continue to be timely installation
and repairs, knowledgeable customer support representatives, short wait times on
calls, easy billing, and recharge and account-management options (see Figure 1,
next page).
Young customers also communicate with their CSP more frequently than older
customers, with 32% contacting their CSP once a week or once a month, compared
with 8% in the oldest age group. These younger consumers are also far more
likely to “cut the cord” with their pay TV service, and highly unlikely to return once
they do.
FINDING
#1
An individual’s Code Halo can reveal the channels
they prefer, the support sites they visit — even their
comments on social media.

47%
56%
51%
MOBILE
HIGH-SPEED
INTERNET PAY TV
53%
63%
60%
50%
68%
65%
50%
57%
55%Ages
18-34
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
Percent of customers who
are satisfied with service:
EXIT
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
13%
22%
65%
7%
4%
12%
10%
87%
81%
Percent of customers who
leave service providers:
In less than
6 months
After 2 years
or never
Between 6 months
and 2 years
24%
22%
54%
Ages
18-34
Younger Customers are Less Satisfied with CSPs …
… Which Drives More Churn
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Annual Communications Industry
Customer Experience Survey
Figure 1

I just want to talk to a person
I’ve used the phone and it worked well
Online process is too complicated
I can’t find what I’m looking for
Mobile app process is too complicated
The online price was different than
what I was quoted
I was directed to call by the online process
I tried an online/mobile process but
got an error message
Ages 18-34Ages 65+
0 20 40 60 80
CSPs’ Digital Channels Fall Short —
Even for Younger Customers
Digital channels such as mobile apps or self-service Web sites can improve customer
satisfaction while greatly reducing CSP support costs. However, our survey indicates
that CSPs have yet to deliver the ease of use and robust digital services required to
lure even younger customers away from higher-cost phone support.
The survey also tells us that while younger
customers are more open to using digital support
channels they, just like older consumers, use the
phone most often when they need help. A deeper
dive into the survey data provides useful insights
into the reasons behind their preferences, as well
as potential steps providers can take to move
them to digital support services.
For example, among the top reasons survey
respondents gave for using the phone were “I
just want to talk to a person,” and “phone customer support has historically worked
well.” (See Figure above.) Cited less often were concerns that online channels are
too complex, that the support needed won’t be available, or that advice provided by
the digital channel was to call the CSP.
Why Phone Support Works
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry
Figure 2
FINDING
#2
While younger customers are
more open to using digital
support channels, they, like older
consumers, use the phone most
often when they need help.

These findings indicate that in order to shift younger customers to digital channels,
CSPs must make sure that these channels are easier to use; that they provide the
services customers use most frequently, and that customer and support informa-
tion from back-end systems is integrated in the customer-facing channel. This helps
ensure that customers who want to use a digital channel are not forced back to
the phone.
On the more positive side, the survey shows that the use
of digital sales and support channels increased somewhat
year over year, with the biggest upturns seen in billing/
recharge and order/upgrade services. The survey also
confirmed that browsing for products and services is
the only activity that is preferred over the phone. Older
customers also reported a significant drop-off in digital
use when they switch from browsing to ordering.
The transition from browsing to ordering represents a key
inflection point in the customer journey, and a significant
opportunity for CSPs to boost customer satisfaction rates
and revenues. CSPs can begin by tracking at which points
in the digital sequence customers abandon the ordering
process and call an agent. Using advanced technologies
to monitor and analyze customer transactions in real time,
CSPs can diagnose customer challenges quickly and take
appropriate measures to improve digital conversion rates.
Our survey also revealed that Millennials contact CSPs
much more frequently than older generations — most
often to resolve billing or recharge issues, or to review
their service usage or status (see Figure 3). Their
frequent contact, combined with their strong preference
for non-digital service channels, translates into higher
operating costs for CSPs. By utilizing targeted digital
tools that make it easier to perform routine tasks online,
and educating customers about digital support options,
CSPs can increase adoption rates and significantly reduce
ongoing operating expenditures.
CSPs can use each customer encounter as an opportunity
to deliver excellent service and test customers’ openness
to new services, such as connected home. The fact that
younger customers contact CSPs so often for billing and recharge issues also opens
the door for and cross- or up-selling new or additional services. Again, analytics
can be used to examine and correlate customers’ service-usage patterns, contact
preferences and previous contacts. For example, a customer who uses a lot of data
and cloud-based DVR would likely be more open to a service like connected home.
The figure represents the average contact rate of respondents.
Respondents were asked to detail how often they call their service
providers for reasons such as billing/recharge, technical support
or service disruption, to browse product/service offerings, and to
review their service usage.
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry
Figure 3
Ages
35-49 Ages 50+
Ages
18-34
Once a week
or once a month
Every 2 to 6
months
Once a year
or less
51%
17%
32%
65%
17%
18%
74%
17%
9%
Contact frequency:
Younger Customers Contact CSPs
Far More Often
Our survey shows that the use of digital sales and support
channels increased somewhat year over year, with the
biggest upturns seen in billing/recharge and order/upgrade
services.

FINDING
#3
Younger Customers Are More Interested
in Connected Home
Very interested
Somewhat interested
Not at all interested
19%
38%
43%
65%
9%
26%
39%
49%
12%
31%
42%
27%
Ages
18–34
Ages
35–49
Ages
50–64
Ages
65+
Response base: 925
Source: Cognizant Communications Industry Customer Experience Survey
Figure 4
Despite the best efforts of CSPs, some customers will continue to favor the phone
over digital channels. Rather than attempt to force them from the contact point
they prefer, CSPs can employ analytics to improve customers’ phone experiences
and build their confidence in future offerings. For example, analytics can help CSPs
determine how a customer ranks their service experience, whether in a survey, a
direct complaint, or from analyzing cancellation patterns following various support
interactions. For instance, analytics can be used to steer a customer to a service rep
who is a native English speaker, or who matches the customer’s level of technical
expertise — assuming these preferences have been identified.
CSPs should also equip contact-center agents with the tools and knowledge they
need to serve customers quickly and efficiently. For example, providing agents with
a customer’s subscription history and current diagnostics, as well as recommended
steps for resolving an issue efficiently can not only improve customers’ satisfaction,
but also reduce the cost of serving them.
Younger Customers Are More Open to Connected Home
Services, and Trust CSPs More to Deliver Them
Despite their dissatisfaction with some CSP services and support options, Millennials
are more interested in exploring the potential of services such as connected
home — automated or remote-control management of entertainment, security, and
heating and cooling systems. Also, they are more inclined than older customers to
trust CSPs to deliver these services effectively (see Figure 4, left, and Figure 5,
next page).
Connected home is thus an opportunity,
as long as CSPs can continue to excel in
providing existing services, and build on
that success to convince customers to
try new offerings. Our survey highlights
a potential road forward by showing
the highest interests among younger
customers, who want the ability to:
• Play audio files on any music player in
the home.
• Stream video from smartphones to
other devices.
• Monitor health metrics and send key
performance indicators to doctors/
hospitals.
• Use smartphones as remotes for TV and
other home-entertainment/connected
home devices.
CSPs should consider performing more
in-depth market research on the specific
features customers value most in such
services. They should also investigate com-
plementary, segment-specific partnerships
with other entities — companies that offer
wearable technology, home entertainment
companies, wireless streaming vendors,
or local hospitals or fitness centers, for

example — to bundle specialized software and hardware with wireless services. For
instance, such offerings might help diabetics monitor their food intake, or fitness
enthusiasts keep track of their exercise progress.
Deep Concerns About Personalization
Our survey suggests that personalization — making meaning from customer
interactions and transactions to create service offerings that are customized to
individual wants and needs — is a double-edged sword for younger customers CSPs
seek to retain.
On one hand, these younger customers are more likely to share personal informa-
tion in order to receive customized offers and rewards. However, our survey found
that among all age groups, personalization is more valued if it is used to tailor
services, rather than support unsolicited product offers (see Figure 6, next page).
This tells us that to mollify concerns about personalization, any customization based
on private information must be viewed as providing real value to the customer, not
the other way around. For customers whose bandwidth consumption shows high
levels of OTT (over-the-top) video usage, the CSP can take a proactive approach
and suggest they downgrade to a lower tier of pay TV service, but upgrade to a
faster data package that improves video streaming. While this may cost the CSP
revenue in the short run, it could keep the customer from moving to another data
provider altogether. It could also strengthen the customer’s trust in the CSP enough
for them to consider the company for future wireless or connected home services,
which appeal to younger customers more than traditional pay TV offerings.
FINDING
#4
Carrier will
provide high
level of service.
Ages 18–34
Ages 35-49
Ages 50-64
Ages 65+
Carrier will get
technology right.
Service would
improve their
satisfaction.
If service was
offered, they would
likely subscribe.
Regarding home services,more millennials
are “very confident”that:
40%
37%
33%
24%
38%
33%
27%
16%
38%
31%
15%
7%
6%
36%
30%
16%
Millennials Trust Their Service Providers to Deliver Connected Home Services
Response base: 925
Figure 5

Determining the personalized services and offerings that best suit a customer’s
needs requires an all-inclusive view of their activities and preferences, compiled
from data that previously resided in siloed systems — from customer support, to
billing, to operations.
Strategies for Keeping Younger Pay-TV Customers
For all age ranges, the biggest decline in satisfaction year over year was in pay
TV. It’s no surprise that our survey found that younger customers were turning off
these services more often than older consumers, with 52% of the youngest age
group moving to lower-priced options such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. It is
worth noting that only 7% plan to repurchase pay TV once they cut their ties with
these services.
At the same time, survey results point to possible strategies for retaining or even
regaining younger customers. When asked what might keep them from dropping
pay TV services, these individuals gave more reasons than older survey respon-
dents. This opens an opportunity for CSPs to develop new strategies for keeping
Millennials as pay TV customers.
We found that among all age groups,
personalization is more valued if it
is used to tailor services, rather than
support unsolicited product offers.
Sharing personal information
is worth it to get customized
product offers.
Sharing personal information
is worth it to get tailored
customer service.
I expect providers to tailor
their offerings based on my
current service usage.
30%
26%
15%
7%
30%
27%
16%
7%
39%
31%
27%
28%
Ages
18-34
Ages
35-49
Ages
50-64
Ages
65+
30% and higher agree 16%-29% agree 15% and lower agree
Millennials Are More Open to Personalized Services
FINDING
#5
Response base: 925
Figure 6

While older age groups cited missing programming as the only reason for keeping
pay TV, younger customers had other concerns, including:
• Missing shows.
• Cutting the cord will be too expensive.
• Unsure what equipment and services to use for streaming TV.
• They contacted the provider to cancel but got a better offer that induced them
to stay.
By analyzing individual customer interactions, such as those related to billing and
services, CSPs can understand the priority each customer gives to these concerns
and craft offers designed to recapture and retain them. For example, examining the
viewing habits of younger customers that are prone to cord-cutting can help CSPs
develop specialized content offerings, perhaps around sporting events or other
premium content that appeal to this demographic. CSPs can also analyze streaming
TV offers and social-media commentary about those services to identify vulner-
abilities, such as cost or complexity, and tailor either low-priced or “simple-to-use”
offers to keep younger consumers who might otherwise turn away.
CSPs can also perform Code Halo data analyses to understand customer needs, and
improve business practices around their current pay TV service. In this way, they
can identify the issues each customer cares about most. As our survey shows, these
concerns can include timely installation/repairs, knowledgeable customer support
reps, and short wait times.
Service providers can use information from employees’ Code Halos, such as their
location, work schedules and when they install equipment (by remotely monitoring
equipment on the customer’s premises) to better assess work progress and more
precisely inform customers when a technician will arrive and/or when the problem
will be resolved.
Looking Ahead
As our study reveals, the disconnects among CSP business practices and customer
needs, especially those of Milennials, should serve as an urgent call to action.
When CSPs cannot satisfy young consumers with Internet and mobile phone
services, much less pay TV, they are endangering what should be a natural source
of long-term revenue. When a CSP’s mobile apps and self-service Web sites are
too complex for even today’s younger, tech-savvy consumers, it’s a sign that the
company is not meeting, much less anticipating, the needs of the very customers
they plan to keep for decades.
At the same time, our survey highlights strategies CSPs can use to retain younger
customers, and also potentially cross-sell or up-sell future services like connected
home, to them. The fact that younger consumers have expressed more interest in
these types of services and trust their CSPs to provide them gives CSPs an oppor-
tunity to engage these young people by upgrading current services and correctly
targeting future services for this demographic. By performing more transactions
online, improving the quality of digital transactions like billing inquiries and service
changes, and using analytics for a more informed, more complete view of customers,
CSPs can enrich their relationships with current customers and attract new ones to
accelerate future growth.

Among our recommendations:
• Employ, make meaning from Code Halos. These “digital bread crumbs” left by
individual customers as they navigate products and services can form a clearer
picture of their needs, and allow CSPs to customize offers around them. Use this
data to make every interaction easier, on the customer’s terms. This is particularly
important for younger customers, who will form your future customer base. Code
Halos created by employees or organizational processes can improve customer
communications. For example, one CSP with whom we work is evaluating a
smartphone application that lets customers track the location of a technician en
route to address their issue, and sends them a picture of the tech when they are
about to arrive.
• Overcome customer concerns about personalization. This issue can be
addressed by developing customized services that present a compelling value
proposition. These offerings could include a new service plan for customers
nearing their limits for voice, text or data on their current plan, or lower-priced
plans for those who are not using all the voice and data on their present plan.
These initiatives would impose costs on the CSP in the short run, but increase
long-term loyalty and pave the way for future up-sell or cross-sell opportunities.
• Enhance current phone support offerings, as well as digital channels to
improve customer satisfaction and, where possible, reduce support costs. Again,
tap into customers’, employees’ and systems’ Code Halos to design personalized
services, speed problem resolution and provide more accurate updates.
• Empower call-center agents with the tools and knowledge they need to quickly
assist the customer, since the phone is not going away anytime soon. Agents
should, at the very least, have a “single view of the customer” that allows them
to see all the steps a customer has taken so they don’t have to re-explain their
situation to the agent. These agents should also have the same view of customer
data that can be seen online so they can give customers prompt, accurate and
consistent answers.
• Understand customers’ needs and priorities, using both conventional market
research and analysis of their digital behavior to develop specialized offers that
can help retain and regain pay TV customers.
• Strive for excellence in current services to build customers’ trust, steer them
to new services and cement their overall satisfaction and loyalty.
By performing more transactions online, improving the
quality of digital transactions like billing inquiries and
service changes, and using analytics for a more informed,
more complete view of customers, CSPs can improve their
relationships with current customers, attract new ones,
and accelerate future growth.

Appendix: Survey Methodology and Objectives
For our second annual Communications Service Provider Customer Experience
Study, we conducted a 20-minute online quantitative survey of 925 respondents
in November, 2014. To qualify, respondents had to be 18 years or older, and be a
current subscriber to pay TV/video services, high-speed Internet and/or mobile
services.
Our objectives:
• To understand how satisfied customers (particularly younger customers) are
with CSPs’ products and services.
• To confirm the support channels that various types of customers prefer, and the
reasons behind those preferences.
• To determine the likelihood of customers of various age groups “cutting the
cord” and cancelling their pay TV service, as well as their reasons for doing so.
• To understand the interest levels among customers of various age groups for
newer services, such as “connected home” offerings.
• To verify customers’ attitudes regarding the use of their personal information to
customize products and services for them.
Footnote
1
For more on Code Halos and innovation, read “Code Rules: A Playbook for
Managing at the Crossroads.” Cognizant Technology Solutions, June 2013.
http://www.cognizant.com/Futureofwork/Documents/code-rules.pdf, and the
book, Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are
Changing the Rules of Business, by Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig and Ben Pring.
Published by John Wiley & Sons. April 2014. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
WileyTitle/productCd-1118862074.html.
Note: Code Halo is a trademark of Cognizant Technology Solutions.

About the Authors
Bryan Powell is a Director within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Communication
and Technology Practice. He has over 12 years of experience partnering with and
delivering consulting support for key customer-experience initiatives, including
digital strategy and enablement, channel effectiveness, contact-center management,
customer satisfaction improvements and cross-channel functionality design. Bryan
holds a bachelor’s degree in business computing systems from Bradley University.
He can be reached at Bryan.Powell@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.
com/in/bryanpowell1.
Sara Mihan is a Senior Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s
Communication and Technology Practice. Sara has over 15 years of experience as a
management consultant in the communications industry. She works with clients to
plan, manage and deliver IT software projects, including customer self-service appli-
cations. Sara has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University
of Denver. She can be reached at Sara.Mihan@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://
www.linkedin.com/in/saramihan.

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About Cognizant ComTech
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unit helps CSPs move towards the digital world by combining
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Dialing Up Digital: Retaining a New Generation of Customers

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