Share
2020 was a landmark year for streaming service providers, with viewership skyrocketing due to the pandemic. Three years later, the Video Streaming market continues to witness promising growth and is expected to reach US$137.70B in 2027. The bad news? With exponential growth comes intense competition and streaming wars that show no signs of abating.
From the battle for audience attention to subscriber fatigue and industry strikes, the road ahead is fraught with challenges for streaming companies. But more importantly, as consumers become more discerning of their dollars amid fears of a global recession, user satisfaction is emerging as a key factor in winning and retaining subscribers. Over 11% of subscribers in a recent survey said they would cancel subscriptions to popular services like Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Peacock over their general dissatisfaction with these providers.
Let’s dig deeper into how responsive customer support driven by tech-huma synergy can help streaming providers turn the tables in their favor.
Tackling the churn conundrum
Most service providers know that content and cost play a major role in acquiring and retaining customers. But with the streaming era ushering in a plethora of choices for consumers, forward-looking providers are waking up to the importance of user care and responsive customer support in tackling churn. An average streaming household in the U.S holds up to five subscriptions but over 66% subscribers report cancelling a subscription in the recent past. Fortunately, service providers have an ace up their sleeve – a treasure trove of customer data.
Using customer segmentation, customer journey mapping, and advanced analytics, streaming companies can better understand customer preferences, behaviors, and patters, to accelerate acquisition and drive higher margins. For streaming companies that incur a marketing spend of nearly $200 annually to acquire a single subscriber, having this information handy can create significant competitive advantage. Besides smarter acquisition, leveraging data insights and user analytics can help prevent subscriber churn by helping brands craft targeted retention strategies and loyalty programs.
Boosting ‘subscriber stickiness’ with responsive customer support
Streamers currently face a double whammy. A growing subscriber base is resulting in an exponential increase in customer service tickets. At the same time, subscribers are demanding smarter, faster, and seamless resolution of their issues. But even more importantly, subscribers know they call the shots. They are not shying away from abandoning a streaming service if they are dissatisfied with the customer support provided. Reacquiring a subscriber is 5X costlier than keeping existing ones, making customer churn a major problem for the industry. Here’s where digital-first solutions can play an integral role in delivering responsive customer support and resolution-centered experiences.
- Access to automated, centralized knowledgebases and Agent AI solutions empower agents with 360-degree insights and Next Best Actions. This, in turn, allows them to provide seamless support over multiple channels, including live chat, email, calls, and social media.
- Advanced analytics – such as interaction and churn analytics – are crucial to identifying call drivers and churn indicators. For instance, a customer that repeatedly calls the contact center to complain of service outages or inferior viewing experience is likely to churn. Proactively making the right content offers and/or discounts to such customers can significantly mitigate churn.
- AI-enabled self-serve platforms can further augment support by tackling straightforward requests such as adding a new device, payments and/or refunds, enabling agents to focus on more high-risk and critical areas.
While digitally influenced customer support is a must-have in the age of automation and AI, streaming companies cannot lose sight of the importance of human touch in building loyalty. Despite the advancements in technology, consumers continue to expect empathetic human support to solve their intricate issues. Striking the right balance between the human element and technological interventions will be crucial to boosting customers’ lifetime value (LTV), generating referrals, and boosting upsell.
Keeping subscribers engaged, delighted, and loyal
With many of the biggest providers stating they won’t be profitable for several years to come, the human-tech synergy in customer support is clearly the best way forward for streaming providers to accelerate time to profitability.
At ResultsCX, we blend technology with skilled agents to achieve a deeper understanding of what customers want, and how to better connect with them, to significantly reduce cancellations and protect revenues. Our analytics-led customer engagement and agent coaching initiatives helped a Media giant boost retention and increase annual revenue by $1.25M – all while reducing the cost per subscriber.
The signals from modern consumers are loud and clear. They want personalization, ease of engagement, and rapid resolution to their problems when interacting with brands. Winning in the streaming era will boil down to giving customers what they want.