Note 58: Customer Inquiry Maintenance

Posted: 19 December 2008

The billing system, the biller's staff and the customer do not exist in isolation from one another. Customers make inquiries on their bill details, the products and services provisioned, and request modifications of their details as their circumstances change. Customers may wish to dispute charges, change their rating / discount plans, or cancel what they currently have connected / provisioned.

Customers who make inquiries and request changes are often viewed as a business cost, but they also present billers with an opportunity. Customers with issues about their service or bill and who receive a positive impression can provide billers with a non-financial point of differentiation based on prompt, accessible and helpful customer service.

Whilst the customer is on the phone, the biller has an opportunity to cross-sell or up-sell additional products and services. The customer's concerns may be due to an inappropriate product selection (that can be changed), or additional products may be needed. The ability of the biller's staff to view the options available, provide details of alternative product and services, and initiate any connections or maintenance required will support a more satisfied customer.

Pre-bill versus post-bill

Along with decisions about 'what' can be inquired upon or maintained, the dimension of 'when' must also be considered. The billing cycle marks a point after which some data may become difficult to modify, or the processes employed for modification may change. Processing performed before the billing cycle can be referred to as 'pre-bill' (prior to billing), with processing performed after the billing cycle has completed referred to as 'post-bill'.

For example, network usage may be adjusted (e.g. due to poor call quality) using pre-bill inquiry and maintenance processes (screens), but once billing has occurred changes might only be possible using the disputes / adjustment process.

Customer Identification

When a customer contacts their biller, and before performing any actions, the biller's staff must positively identify the customer. This identification process supports the requirements of privacy regulations and ensures that changes performed on the customer's account are initiated by authorised representatives. Privacy regulations ensure customers' personal details are not revealed (e.g. a situation involving an abusive family member), and limits access to commercially sensitive information for corporate customers. Authorised representatives may be the other adults in a household, or in a business might include nominated staff members.

The specific details used to identify a customer are likely to differ by jurisdiction (i.e. regulation), industry and by biller. Billers whose customers perform easily remembered (and unique) transactions (e.g. recent calls from Australia to Belgium) may be asked about them during identification. Utility billers measuring (gross) electricity, water or gas consumption will not have this option available.

After a positive customer identification, the biller's staff can be presented with additional details (e.g. market segment, outstanding bills) that better support any subsequent customer discussion. Product offerings inappropriate to the customer's market segment, and sales of additional products to customers with bad credit can be avoided. Details that may be gathered from the billing and other systems include:

Customer address / location: An important detail when validating the customer's identity. This field alone is not enough to identify the customer since it may be publicly available, but for common names such as 'Stephen Jones' it can help focus a discussion on the correct customer.
Date of Birth: A detail for individuals, but not businesses, that further identifies a customer. This data may also be publicly available and hence insufficient in isolation to suitably identify a customer.
Corporate business identifiers: Registration numbers used to ensure that, where companies have similar names, the correct business entity is identified.
Market segment, business unit: The biller may use segmentation to allocate customers to differentiated service groups, possibly using different contact points (e.g. phone numbers, email addresses). High volumes of residential customers with relatively simple needs may be addressed from call centres, whilst large corporate customers may be addressed by specialised teams familiar with the customer's account. If customers contact the biller using the wrong number for their customer segment, the biller's staff can transfer them to the appropriate service group.
Access control: Staff may be restricted to performing update or inquiry actions on specific customers, or customer segments.
Account Notes: Details may be listed against the customer or account to highlight special processing. For example corporate customers may list their account manager's contact details, residential customers bothered by stalkers may outline additional restrictions.
Contact History: Details of recent contacts between the customer and biller may be listed to make staff aware of the customer's recent history, and reduce the details a customer must restate with each call. Contacts can have a broad meaning that includes calls received, email inquiries and any credit management actions taken by the biller (e.g. reminder notices, disconnections). These details can be quickly scanned by the biller's staff during their initial discussions with the customer.
Silent / unlisted phone numbers: The biller's staff may follow additional procedures for customers with unlisted numbers. For example, when changes are made against such phone numbers, it is important to ensure the number's 'silence' is preserved. When contact details are discussed, these numbers may be omitted or restricted in their use.
Details of recent bills and payments: Many inquiries concern recent bills and the payments made against them. For example, customers about to be disconnected may wish to confirm that their payment has been received in time.
Credit Status: Billers may divide their customers by the credit risk they pose. For example, groups such as 'new customer', 'existing customer', VIP, and 'poor credit' may be identified and used to influence the offers made to customers. Customers with outstanding debt may be asked to bring their account up-to-date before additional sales are made.