Broadband Outage Management: Best Practices to Reduce Call Volume & Customer Frustration

Broadband network outages are inevitable, it’s how you deal with them that defines the customer experience. Proactive and transparent subscriber communication is part of the winning approach. The ability to deliver targeted notifications, timely updates, and a final service restoration message enhances customer experience and builds trust through transparency. 

Broadband connectivity is a critical element of our daily routines, from remote work and online education to essential services and entertainment. Subscribers often take this seamless connectivity for granted—until a network outage disrupts their day. For broadband service providers (BSPs), effectively managing and communicating during these outages is crucial to maintaining customer trust and satisfaction.

Network Challenges Facing Broadband Service Providers

Broadband networks are highly technical assets subject to a variety of factors—both internal and external—that drive performance and availability. Broadband networks, like all infrastructure projects in America, range from brand new to aging with lots of required upkeep.

Greater infrastructure resilience won’t happen overnight. In the meantime, aerial, underground, and wireless networks will continue to be subject to weather interference, traffic accidents, construction, and even foliage.

The Power of Proactive Outage Communications

Service restoration can take minutes, hours, or days. It’s not about how quickly the service is restored, however, it’s how well BSPs communicate with customers before, during, and after an outage event that defines their experience and leaves a lasting impression. Before the clouds roll in, broadband providers can proactively communicate the potential for service interruptions to customers across all channels—text, email, IVR, and social media. 

The electric power utility industry sends these notifications and has conditioned customers to expect them, benefiting the subscribers and utility companies. According to a J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Study, personalization and proactive outreach make a difference. Among the 29% of customers who did receive outage-related updates from their utilities, overall satisfaction was 62 points higher than among those who did not. 

Leveraging SMS for Effective Communication

According to SMS Comparison, 98% of all text messages are read and 95% of text messages are read within three minutes, making it an ideal channel for communicating time-sensitive information. Chartwell research confirms that text messages stand out as the preferred channel to receive outage information.

Operators fearful of declaring outages when customers may not know their service is affected should be aware of the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout.  The authors define the “Law of Candor” or “when you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.” Being transparent about a service interruption can build empathy, understanding, and trust. Those attributes lead to improved customer satisfaction and stronger loyalty.

GOCare: Enhancing Subscriber Communication

At GOCare, we understand the critical importance of effective communication during network interruptions. Our Digital Experience Platform (DXP) empowers BSPs to proactively engage with subscribers through their preferred digital channels, including SMS, email, web chat, and social media. By integrating seamlessly with existing systems, GOCare enables automated, real-time notifications about outages, maintenance, and service restorations, ensuring subscribers are always informed.

For instance, GOCare’s DXP service allows BSPs to send automated text and email messages proactively, reducing the need for a call: outage notifications, tech-on-the-way, payment due dates/postings, balances, etc. Subscribers can also text the BSP’s toll-free service number with keyword or free-form inquiries to get information, including outage status. 

OutageIQ, our broadband events intelligence and network outage solution, accommodates both process-driven and fully automated approaches, tailoring the solution to the preferences and capabilities of our BSP customers.

Even if subscribers haven’t opted into SMS or email communications, our platform reduces call volume by deflecting calls. Advanced Call Routing (ACR) identifies callers and, through our integrations, checks their network status. If an outage impacts the caller, they hear a notification confirming the BSP is aware of the issue, giving them the option to hang up without speaking to an agent. This minimizes call queues and frees up staff time.

Best Practices for Communicating During Broadband Outages

Here’s a brief checklist with our recommendations:

1. Send Timely and Transparent Updates: Inform subscribers as soon as an outage is detected, providing clear details about the issue, affected areas, and estimated resolution times.
2. Be Targeted: Instead of broadcasting outage status to the general public, send messages to the impacted subscribers.
3. Utilize Multiple Channels: Reach subscribers through various platforms—SMS, email, social media, and web notifications—to ensure the message is received promptly. Voice intercepts and automated recordings supplement the above digital channels.
4. Embrace Empathetic Messaging: Acknowledge the inconvenience caused, express understanding, and assure subscribers that resolving the issue is a top priority.
5. Provide Regular Progress Reports: Even if there’s no new information, regular updates reassure subscribers that the situation is being actively managed.
6. Offer Self-Service Options: Direct subscribers to online resources or automated systems where they can get real-time updates or report issues without waiting for customer service representatives. Two-way SMS chat is one of those options.
7. Gather Feedback Post-Outage: After service restoration, solicit subscriber feedback to understand their experience and identify areas for improvement in future communications.

By implementing these best practices and leveraging GOCare’s comprehensive communication solutions, BSPs can turn the challenge of network outages into opportunities to strengthen subscriber relationships and enhance overall satisfaction.

Want to learn more about GOCare and our outage management solution?