No help helpdesks send SMEs shopping for new broadband providers: Ipsos MORI survey

A third of SMEs are unhappy with the support they get - or rather don't get - when they contact their broadband provider for help.

That's one of the key findings of a recent survey of the UK broadband marketplace*. Talking to the IT decision-makers of 300+ UK companies, this focused on what drives them to switch providers - and on what actions providers can take to help calm the churn.

The Ipsos MORI study also found that a poor experience when talking to the helpdesk isn't the only turn-off. Fifteen per cent of businesses cited the cost of the call itself as something likely to send them shopping for an alternative supplier.

That search - perhaps surprisingly - could see them picking up the phone, rather than automatically heading for the web browser. Forty per cent of those surveyed said they would go directly to potential broadband providers for a discussion to help them make their choice. And that in turn means there could be big risks for some providers of making the wrong first impression and losing new customers even before they're won.

But tackling the 'no help helpdesk' issue could quickly turn the whole situation round. When asked "What could your current supplier do to avoid you changing to another supplier?" 31% said an improvement in customer service and another 16% said a lower cost for getting in touch.

The answer could be provided by BT Wholesale's Next Generation Contact Centre: a solution that can help you to dramatically improve the customer experience and at the same time assist you to cut your costs.

It's a suite of IP-based, multi-channel contact centre applications that you can simply integrate into your existing call centre infrastructure, either on-demand or as a hosted solution at one of BT's contact centres.

Because it's also available on a 'pay-as-you' go basis, you can gain all the benefits of a best-of-breed customer contact approach but without having to make any significant investment upfront, making it the ideal choice whatever your size, your market or your current helpdesk set-up.

* Broadband Churn in the SME Market: a market survey commissioned by BT Wholesale from Ipsos MORI (September 2008).

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Find out how to strengthen your customer relationships with our Next Generation Contact Centre solution here. Or talk to your BT Wholesale account management team.