Snap question for CEOs and decision-makers: What is the lifetime value of your average customer? Do you have this figure at your fingertips, in Rands and cents? If you don’t, you’re probably not able to grasp the real cost of a lost opportunity if a customer’s call or request does not get the attention and service it requires.

Failing to understand the real value of a lifetime customer is like not understanding your company’s cash flow and annual expenses. These numbers add up over time, and one lost customer (due to poor customer service or a missed call) can equate to many thousands – or millions – of Rands in lost revenue over several years.

And let’s face it, few companies can afford to shed revenue (and customers) in such a difficult economic environment.

Understand the real lifetime value of a customer

Let’s look at the example of a telecoms service provider. They would likely use Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) as their key metric in calculating opportunity costs and losses. If one user has a subscription service at R300 per month, then 50 of that same ‘category’ of users would be earning the company R15 000 a month and R180 000 per annum. Over five years, the earnings from just 50 users almost equate to close to R1 million.

Now, what happens if that telecoms provider is missing calls from 10 of those customers and failing to provide resolutions to their queries? These users will simply move over to another provider – removing the potential lifetime value and creating churn for the original service provider (a double blow!). Not only will the original service provider not receive the annual revenue/ARPU from the lost customer, but it will likely not be recouping the costs of acquiring this user in the first place! 

The point of this example: understand the real lifetime value of a customer and you’ll know the true cost of a lost opportunity.

Supporting every touchpoint with world-class technology

Once you have armed yourself with this information, you will be more determined and specific about ensuring that every customer touchpoint is well supported by world-class technology and professional service. In an age in which there are multiple competitors across every sector and industry, there is simply no room for dismal customer service and the inability to achieve First Call Resolution (FCR).

Add the challenges of remote working and load shedding into the mix, and Providing seamless and friction-free customer service – whereby no opportunities are lost – is a tough task with challenges of COVID-19 and load shedding in the mix. But if you fail to invest in generators and back-up power for key staff members (along with mobile devices and data/access to connectivity), then you’re putting your business on an accelerated path to failure. On the other hand, by making sure that the business is always ‘online’ and customers always have multiple points of contact, it will likely recoup the investments made into back-up power and connectivity in several months.

Connectivity: the lifeblood of a successful business

Today, with a shift to remote working models, we can now see that connectivity – and seamless customer touchpoints – will be the lifeblood for successful businesses. Companies that are already making full use of cloud environments and key tools such as cloud telephony and unified communications are way ahead of the game. These tools are designed to enable swift and engaging customer service (and eliminate the possibility of any lost opportunities!).

With our Telviva One platform, users can

• Make and receive calls (using the softphone app/Cloud telephony) from their desktop
• View events and meetings
• Gain access to contacts and call histories
• View key business metrics, all from one place – without having to leave the platform and manage the complexity of having various tools.

Make every conversation a high-quality conversation

This is unified communications in action, and with this type of platform, you can then ensure that every interaction (with a customer, client, staff member, provider or any stakeholder) is of the highest quality. No time is wasted gathering information, because the key information and metrics are all there at your fingertips.

In a world in which you may only get one chance to retain a lifetime customer, wouldn’t you want to have the best possible tools and information at hand?

Read more how you can leverage the best of voice, video and chat on one intelligent platform with Telviva One.

Sourced from: Telviva. View the original article here.