France Héringer-Jallot, Senior VP Quality Customer Experience and Sales at Orange, explains why trust is key to what we do.
“The main criteria for customer satisfaction with a brand is the feeling of trust (Forrester’s Customer Experience Index). I think it comes from what the customer experiences and not from what the brand says. Because trust cannot be decreed, it has to be earned. Our ambition is to be recommended by 9 out of 10 customers by 2025.
To achieve it, we rely on our capacity to provide connectivity that meets their needs and uses, to help them in the moments that matter and to manage their data securely and transparently. This is a key differentiator in an environment of constant technological change, price wars and multi-faceted competition, which is our reality today.
Making our customers’ lives easier
With 55% of all interactions in Europe on digital channels, we want to help our customers do what they want, when they want and autonomously. We aim to reinvent customer relationships by placing data and AI at the centre of our innovation model. This includes the proactive detection of device problems, customised offers and user journeys and even developing chatbots so they can start conversations in a smoother way… from Djingo in France to Max in Poland, nearly 15 million conversations with customers were conducted via Orange chatbots in 2019.
Of course, relationships are still based around people
Transforming our customer experience is everyone’s business at Orange, from members of our Executive Committee to the 75,000 employees working in customer relations in our shops, call centres and online, as well as the service technicians who visit in people’s homes. Our 1,300 Smart Stores are experiential spaces where customers can touch and test our products and get relevant advice for the way they want to use them. Customer advisor training focuses on service and support because it is this human relationship that builds trust. Recognition and feedback programmes enable us to share best practices from our countries across the Group.
Environmental and social responsibility
Trust also forms when a brand’s values align with those of its customers. As more and more customers are looking to companies to drive sustainable development, we have made a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. We’re also trying to help our customers to reduce their own environmental impact by collecting and recycling their old equipment or selling reconditioned devices. This is the start of a long-term strategy to encourage more eco-friendly uses of digital technology."