John Ugbe, MD, Multichoice Nigeria

These days, experience is everything when it comes to business. Not necessarily sales, not necessarily product development. We are in the experience economy and customer experience is what sets a business apart at the moment.

 

The 21st century has been termed the “Experience Century” meaning people living in this era optimize shareable experiences over possessions. This is causing a paradigm shift in the way businesses are run because keeping customers happy has replaced sales as the primary goal of a business and a key ROI indicator.

 

According to a recent report from PwC, customer experience is a lead differentiator between companies.

 

Speed, convenience, knowledgeable and actionable insight as well as and friendly service were identified as critical to positive customer experience by close to 80% of polled consumers.

 

Thanks to technology and the internet, there is a seemingly endless list of options available to consumers, and with convenience ranking high as a major driver behind today’s purchasing decisions, organizations have begun to use customer experience as a key competitive edge. Lucky for us, technology is on our side to enhance customer experience and to survive, brands must leverage technological tools and platforms to stay ahead of the curve and transform their operations to cater to the increasingly empowered digital customer.

 

Enter Multichoice Nigeria.

Launched in 1993, MultiChoice Nigeria is one organization that doesn’t shy away from tech and constantly innovating to keep customers satisfied. Recently, the company introduced their WhatsApp self-service for DStv, a smart move on their part as they are leveraging a platform that has already integrated itself into most facets of our everyday life, to provide seamless customer experience.

 

This announcement might seem trifling but when you consider that the company is undeniably the leading entertainment provider in Nigeria, it points to a conscious effort to invest in customer satisfaction.

According to John Ugbe, “MultiChoice is a company that welcomes change both internally and externally and that’s what has kept us in business. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better”

Furthermore, with products like DStv Now; an application that allows you to live stream your bouquet option on DStv, you can catch up and enjoy live TV on the go. The application comes with features like personalised recommendations, download and go i.e a majority of Catch Up content is available to download over Wifi and watch on the go without having to make use of your data, remote setting of recordings with a connected Explora – remotely set recordings from DStv Now.

DStv Catch Up, a decoder-only service where series, movies, sports, and documentaries are “pushed” to PVR-enabled decoders for consumption. DStv also offers a movie rental service called BoxOffice.

So, how is this new WhatsApp feature different from the already existing self-service platforms where DStv subscribers can contact a customer service agent via phone, SMS, email, social media? This new service guarantees minimal wait time and low hassle as it provides an easy to use, convenient way of communicating in format customers are already comfortable with.

Typically, to contact a service agent you need to call, hear an automated voice that asks you to hold until an agent is available before you’re able to speak to one or, if you send a mail, the email is stacked and the customer rep may not see it immediately. It’s the same on social media, there are hundreds of people trying to reach customer support the same time as you, therefore, it might take some time for your issue to get resolved. A WhatsApp self-service is not only available 24 hours a day, but the response is also almost immediate.

Technology is constantly changing the way organizations deliver customer service. For many organizations, technological advances have streamlined processes, increased transparency, and improved communication between the customer and the organizations.

Modern technologies are transforming nearly every facet of the customer experience for business. Many businesses have already benefited from using these technologies, and it is incumbent on the business to improve efficiency, productivity, and growth prospects by continuously evolving, using such modern technologies.

Tomide Adeyeye writes from Lagos