T-Mobile: On a mission to be the first choice for business – and for staying in touch with the loved ones too

Who in T-Mobile is responsible for CX?

We have a dedicated CX team that handles customer information, monitors their needs, and gathers ideas and comments. Then, the team helps turn new information into practical steps. It is also in charge of CX agenda like education, cultural events and connecting the right people. Everything is based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that helps us maintain a unified approach to CX across the entire company.

Still, every employee is responsible for their specific part of CX. And it’s not something that only the front-line staff has to keep in mind – it’s just as, if not more, important for product managers, technology staff, legal department, and everyone else.

When did you start paying more attention to CX?

Customer experience became the focal point of our strategy five years ago. We believed that if we focused on the customers in everything we do, the numbers would follow. The management was really pushing this idea and soon, you could clearly feel and see it in day-to-day operations too.

How do you measure CX?

We started by creating a robust analytical system to understand why customers call us. We then collected their feedback through all available channels. And of course, we also watch and measure the sentiment towards us on social media and how we do compared to competition.

Our entire CX agenda is based on direct customer feedback. We constantly monitor everything, constantly improve what we can – a process that’s supervised by both middle management and the company’s leadership.

What would you like customers to associate with T-Mobile?

We would like them to think of a great telco service provider who looks after them. We’re trying to build a concept of “trust and support”. We are showing our customers that they can trust us and rely on us. That when something goes wrong, we will do everything in our power to fix it and minimize inconvenience as much as possible, or even compensate it.

Our experience clearly shows that consistency is key in telco. It’s all about the day-to-day work. You find a pain point, you fix it, then move on to fix another. And that’s how you gradually make your services and your communication better.

What steps are you taking to strengthen your brand?

There are several categories to that. First, marketing communication. That includes campaigns in the most typical sense, like the quarterly campaigns. Internal communication is also involved, as that’s probably the more important type of communication. And finally, the front-line staff – people in stores, manning the call centres, and other operations teams.

According to the basic brand theory, every contact with a brand affects the customer’s relationship with that brand. A simple smile can change how you perceive the entire T-Mobile brand. So even when you come to us with a problem, you will always leave feeling good.

Our mobile app is also very important. It’s not your typical channel of communication, but it is one of the biggest innovations of the last few years and we know that the effort we invest in it will pay off.

Sponsoring is another important brand-strengthening activity that makes the brand more visible, but also allows us to talk about topics that matter to us. The cross-country skiing race Jizerská 50 is one of the top events that we sponsor and last year, there was a very special project attached to it. Using 5G and artificial intelligence, we collected anonymised data from contestant chips and created and abstract artwork that combines technology, sports, and art. You can watch it here.

You mentioned that a lot of effort goes into the mobile app. Can you be more specific?

We are working to improve the app constantly. There are multiple products and services customers can manage in My T-Mobile app now and of course, app improvements bring better user experience and user interface.

We also use standard communication methods to inform our customers about the benefits of the app and regular campaigns to motivate them to download and use it. Offering free mobile data packages that can only be activated in the app proved to be especially effective.

We’ve also launched a new section in the app called Magenta Moments where customers can benefit from various third-party offers, take part in gamified contests, and enjoy more great things that are coming soon.

Is allowing customers do everything they need online the ultimate goal here?

Customers should be able to use the channel that they prefer. We are working hard to create a simple, streamlined customer journey. So you can start in the app, continue in a store, and then wrap everything up online. All simple, without any confusion. It’s about removing barriers – the transition into the digital world will then happen automatically.

Czech people are great at adopting new technologies and they like trying new things. Take contactless payments, for example. Still, there are some services where even the youngest people need help.

What about your CX data? And what specific steps are you taking to improve CX?

Persistence and focus are key. One does not simply boost CX by resolving one issue or running a single campaign. It’s a long-term, consistent, never-ending work.

We analyse customer feedback thoroughly and respond to complaints immediately. We call customers to try and fix their issue immediately, but also to thank them for their feedback. And if an issue can’t be resolved easily, we forward structured feedback to the HQ. But even then we get back to the customer to let them know that we are working to solve the problem.

We have regular meetings with HQ where we discuss the current CX situation, the numbers, the frequency of outages and how we can minimize them. In the recent months, we shifted our focus from fixing pain points to delivering good news. Special rewards like free data, in-app games or the new Magenta Moments program are just a few examples.

The next goal is to predict customer satisfaction and solve issues before they actually arise. That’s very important, because we only receive feedback from some customers, but we want to take good care of all of them.

There’s also an obvious correlation between NPS and our financial situation – happy customers spend more money and are less likely to leave, the data show that clearly.

What topics come up most often in customer feedback?

The most common “pain points” are prices, product stability, and signal strength. In general, Czech people often comment on prices and think many things expensive, including telco services. But what they often don’t realize is that Czech Republic is among countries with the best coverage in the world, and that obviously costs a lot of money – billions of crowns, to be more precise.

In your opinion, what is the key to successful CX management?

We believe it’s all about mindset and company culture. When your people believe in the importance of customer experience and in their ability to shape it every day, CX management becomes much easier. We succeeded on that front. But cross-department cooperation is extremely important as well. Front-line staff, tech, business, all other departments, we’re on the same boat.

Many people from HQ are in direct contact with customers – that helps us create new products and offers and target them better too.

We’re also working on the language we use when communicating with our customers. We want to be perfectly clear, to make sure customers understand everything from a router manual to a notice written on an invoice. It’s all about details.

Do you use AI? And what about security?

We have lots of internal data, so we use many AI tools like speech to text, text analysis, etc. Just like many other companies, we see the huge potential of AI too, from faster data analysis to a 24/7 customer support.

However, as a company with millions of customers, we absolutely must keep their data safe and make sure the information we give them is correct. So sometimes, it’s better to take it slow but do it right. That’s what we’re working on.

Finally, we have to ask about that huge pink gorilla, the star of your new campaign. What’s the story here? Was AI involved?

No, AI did not create the gorilla. We needed a new campaign to promote T Fiber, our most advanced internet technology, and the best you can get in the market – optic fibre. We wanted something new and unexpected and so, the gorilla was born, representing the power of optic fibre. It’s a very new thing for our brand too. And since gorillas aren’t the friendliest of creatures, we went for a magenta twist. We wanted to make a big splash, and a pink gorilla definitely worked.