Humanising VIP experience through video

“A picture is worth a thousand words”

We live where we work and we work where we live. Over the last 12 months we’ve all been digitally disrupted. You only have to look at retail. Frequent lockdowns have changed the high street forever with shoppers heading online in their droves. But instead of letting customer experience (CX) take the hit, forward–thinking companies are investing significantly in reshaping customer support and engagement.   

One of our customers is ahead of the curve and doing something pretty special. I was happy to host a recent webinar with Hristo Genchev, Remote Operations Supervisor at Philip Morris Bulgaria to get the full lowdown and lessons learnt.   

Adapting customer service for e-commerce 

Philip Morris is а leading international tobacco company with six of the world’s top 15 brands and products, sold in more than 180 markets, which in the last years is transforming entirely its business with the vision to design a smoke-free future.

The company has become a leader in the transformation for the entire industry. Disrupting its entire business from within, the company is transforming from a traditional tobacco business to a tech-oriented company, investing more than 8 million dollars so far in science and innovations.

The company puts the adult consumers at the heart of all their activities, including their e-commerce strategy.
 

 Making VIP experience more human and efficient 

Naturally, that meant expanding omnichannel capabilities. Powered by Genesys Cloud with SalesForce integration, the new contact centre solution was delivered by Orange Business Services. Although agents have access to inbound, outbound and email for customer care, they mostly use digital channels – like Viber, Facebook and web chat to provide excellent customer care service.

And here’s the clincher: to make their high-level service standout, the company introduced video calls for customer care calls, recreating the face-to-face care experiences that you would normally get in store.

 Personalised through video 

Through the customer service Philip Morris Bulgaria successfully handled the increase in contacts during the lockdowns. Video calls helped relieve pressure of consumers, in particular, by reducing average handle time and increasing first contact resolution. So, there was less need for repeat contacts, case management and follow-ups.

Customers welcomed the changes. Instead of struggling to describe their problems over the phone, they simply showed them in a video to the contact person who was able to provide excellent customer care after that. All in a fraction of the time it would have taken using other channels.

 Bigger impact from digital investment 

The business results make impressive reading, too. KPIs, such as net promoter score, customer satisfaction and customer effort score stabilised and are now rising.  

Returning customers are encouraged to speak with the same advisor, deepening the relationship. 

Pandemic or not, Philip Morris Bulgaria clearly understands that customers want to feel a strong bond with the company and its brands and expect an excellent customer care service. They also expect to be treated differently. In this case, by making remote interactions more human-like. And that’s clearly paying off.

To learn more about creating unified customer engagement, head over to the Genesys and Orange Business Services page.