Customer Experience and Operational Savings Win-Wins in Service Operations: Feedback for Verizon's Customer Support Operations

The internet is filled with abhorrent telecom customer support stories. Among other places, Reddit leaves no telecom unscathed. My recent experience attempting to get a faulty phone fixed with Verizon was not exception.

I have a lot of empathy for the customer support reps on the other end of the line. They're usually taking the brunt of customer frustration at a system that appears to be designed to cut costs by denying customer service.

However, cost savings and customer experience don't necessarily need to be at odds. Several cases in Managing Service Operations at Harvard Business School point to how companies have reduced costs by investing in improved customer experience. For instance, Progressive Insurance used faster claim payouts to reduce claim servicing time and customer lawsuits. Zameer Kassam Jewelry uses highly personalized experiences to delight customers and increase referrals and employee retention - allowing him to produce one of a kind pieces at below other high end, but mass produced jewelry prices.

Zappos is one of the most famous examples where investments in a delightful customer service fueled long time customer retention (and, therefore) more profitable customers.

One quote from the class that has particularly stuck with me is one often attributed to Tony Hsieh or Jeff Bezos:

"Advertising is the price you pay for being unremarkable."

Rather than customer support being a cost center, it can be strategic revenue driver.

In this spirit, when Professor Robert Markey asked us to write a letter to a service organization outlining our recent experience and areas for improvement, I took the opportunity to think through how Verizon might apply a this perspective through a more service-oriented lens: