Customer Service
The right contact channel for every customer
Swisscom has around six million residential customers. They access the hotline daily with 50,000 enquiries. So what are the best channels for dealing with different issues?
Customers contact companies for different reasons. Various surveys confirm that when selecting an appropriate channel, customers have a greater desire to talk to someone personally, either over the phone or in a Shop, the more complex the question. “This holds true for Swisscom too,” says Marc Werner, Head of Sales & Services at Swisscom. “We handle 50,000 enquiries over the phone, 14,370 in our Shops and make 1,124 visits to customers daily.”
Swisscom’s hotline team deals with 50,000 enquiries every day.
Online service channels are becoming more important.
By the same token, digitisation has also changed the way we communicate. Just look around your morning commuter train: time to quickly read mails, book a restaurant for lunch or simply read the newspaper. Nowadays, people’s lives revolve around their smartphone. Surveys say we spend a third of the day on them. So companies need to look up and develop their contact channels accordingly. “Swisscom recently rolled out two new chat functions – SMS Chat and Apple Business Chat for iPhone and iPad users,” says Marc Werner. They are also ideal for sorting out simple matters on the move.
“We handle 50,000 enquiries over the phone, 14,370 in our Shops and make 1,124 visits to customers daily.”
Marc Werner, Head of Sales & Services at Swisscom
Quick and easy solutions available anywhere
Both chat options are ideal for customers who prefer writing to phoning or visiting a Shop. With SMS Chat they send their enquiry via SMS to 888, to be dealt with by a Swisscom customer advisor. The service is in German and French; it will also be available in Italian and English by the end of this year. Enquiries are handled by the Swisscom team from Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm and on Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm. Enquiries arriving later are dealt with on the next working day.
Swisscom Shop teams handle 14,370 customer enquiries daily.
Apple Business Chat works on the same principle and is available during the same hours. It is aimed at Apple iPhone or iPad users (version iOS 11.3 or higher). Users can start a chat by entering www.swisscom.ch/start-abc and clicking the contact button. They then select a subject from a list. Swisscom quickly replies with a text message confirming receipt. From this point on, the chat takes place in the message app and remains visible to the customer. The two SMS Chat functions let customers contact Swisscom when, where and how they like. A record of the chat and thus the solution to the problem is also permanently logged. The customer sets the pace for both chat forms. An employee answers the enquiry and the customer decides whether or when they want to continue the chat.
Swisscom Customer Service employees make 1,124 customer visits daily.
Which channel works best for which issues?
| Shop | Personal advice on products and contracts, SME and service matters, accessory sales |
| Hotline | Personal advice: faults, advice on products, SME and service matters Pesidential customers 0800 800 800 From abroad +41 800 800 800 SME 0800 055 055 From abroad +41 800 055 055 |
| Live Chat | Immediate response to straightforward enquiries about mobile and package products, roaming, bills, Combox, Internet, Swisscom TV and IP telephony |
| SMS-Chat, Apple Business Chat |
Straightforward enquiries about mobile and package products, roaming, bills, Combox, Internet, Swisscom TV and IP telephony SMS-Chat Send a text to 888 Apple Business Chat |
| My SwisscomApp and Customer Center |
Subscription changes, address changes, enquiries about bills, included services (roaming), passwords, WLAN Internet settings, changing the channel order on Swisscom TV etc. |
| Swisscom Community |
Platform for communicating with other Swisscom customers and employees about Swisscom products and services and/or those directly related to them, e.g. TV sets, mobile phones or Xbox. Community Go to Swisscom Community |