Frontier Saves Customers 2 Million Calls with New Digital Self-Service Campaign

Can automation actually help customers in a customer support setting? Yes, when implemented thoughtfully, it can empower customers and improve their experience. However, automation solely used to deflect calls for cost reduction without prioritizing customer needs can backfire. Saving money should be a benefit, but not the only factor.

Telecom services provider Frontier recently published the results of its recent self-service initiative and claims that – as a result of the program – it saved its customers a collective 50 years of time on the phone in 2023, or a total of 2 million calls. It accomplished this by improving operations and launching new digital, self-service tools.

But what do the customers think? Obviously, measuring customer satisfaction is critical during an initiative that relies heavily on self-service: if you’re not doing it right, you’re merely chasing customers off the phone and not solving their problems.

Frontier says it managed to expand its customer base while implementing the program, and in the process became the industry leader in fiber broadband customer satisfaction during 2023, as measured by published NPS (Net Promoter Score) data.

To complete the initiative, Frontier states that it tracked why people were calling, then created better, faster ways to get answers and assistance. This meant working across every department in the organization and picking off the issues one by one.

“Nobody wakes up in the morning wanting to call their telecom provider. If you want customers to be happy, it’s important to understand why people are calling,” said Charlon McIntosh, Chief Customer Operations Officer. “Every day, we analyze our customer calls, identify routine issues and eliminate reasons people have to call altogether. Our progress is reflected in last year’s results – calls down by 2 million and huge gains in customer satisfaction. We have carried this momentum into 2024.”