Openreach customer driven website app slashes missed appointments by 30 per cent
Openreach's new online self-service platform that puts customers in charge of their engineer visits has reduced missed appointments by 30 per cent - saving thousands of hours in wasted engineer visits, and boosted numbers installing a full fibre service.
Change My Appointment – launched in April, lets customers connect with Openreach’s to book or change engineer appointments through a live interactive calendar, allowing bookings up to three months in advance and cancellation up to a day before.
Previously, customers could only amend appointments via a text service with limited date options. They would text a preferred date then have to wait for a confirmation text from Openreach; due to the delay in some cases the requested date wasn’t available. Research data showed frustration with the process led many to miss appointments, avoid rescheduling, or cancel their orders entirely.
Openreach’s new online self-service platform for booking engineer visits is the key innovation in a customer experience programme which has boosted full fibre sign-ups by reducing missed appointments, as more than half of those who miss appointments go on to cancel their orders. This reduction has led to an estimated 20,000 customers getting connected to full fibre since the program launched.
Numbers of cancelled journeys – where an Openreach engineer arrives at a customer property, but is unable to gain access – has also dropped by 45 per cent, helping to reduce costs and the business’ carbon footprint.
Prior to the introduction of the platform, customers had to call their provider to change appointments, which was time-consuming for both sides. The new platform puts the customer in control - reducing effort for them, and saving the time customer service teams spend dealing with appointment amendments.
Built in collaboration with Adobe Experience Manager sites and AI driven customer service platform ContactEngine – Change My Appointment sits alongside a host of other customer experience innovations– including a conversational AI solution that interprets customer responses and take appropriate actions, such as confirming appointments, making the user experience quicker, smoother and more customer friendly.
Other features include a text linking to a fibre installation ‘checklist’ – sent to customers seven days before their confirmed appointment – which includes a pre-installation video to help the customer to prepare. On the day, the end customer can reply to a text prompt for information for their engineer, such as where they can park their van, which is sent direct to them.
The platform took around a year to develop and build – with Openreach working closely in collaboration with its Communication Provider (CP) customers to incorporate their ideas, feedback and objectives to improve the end customer experience.
Chris Herbert, Director of Customer Service at Openreach, said: “Increasing customer success on the day is far from easy and a challenge that Openreach has wrestled with for years, so it's fantastic to see the difference our new customer service innovation now making.
“It’s the first time Openreach has designed a system like this for end customers and, initially, there was some scepticism from our CP partners about a network wholesaler having this level of interaction with their own customers – but we’ve worked hard to win their trust and the success of this platform is testament to that.”
Kevin Sampson, Head of Customer Excellence for Openreach’s CP partner Zen Internet, said: “Providing the customer with the ability to amend their own appointment has seen a reduction in contact in to our team to make these changes, which creates capacity in our workforce to allow for us to focus on jeopardy management and proactive customer service, and of course creates a smoother experience for the customer who can make this change in just a few clicks, saving time and effort.
“The communications are great, and the functionality is clean and easy to use. The introduction of this capability has brought benefit all round. We welcomed this change and appreciate the collaboration from Openreach on driving this significant CX enhancement.”
David Robe, Operations and Supplier Manager for Openreach CP customer TalkTalk, added: “This was a clear example of how well Openreach work with their customers. For me, it was great to have such a collaborative approach and that clearly our collective voices were heard.”
