For the first time, Simpel.nl is considered the best option in the eyes of potential customers, according to the WUA study from April 2018 on online orientation for SIM-only contracts. In this interview we speak with Youri Treur, director E-Commerce & Customer Service at Simpel.nl. About chatbots, marketing automation 2.0, time to market, AI and the human factor, striving for NPS, and working in an interdisciplinary team.
Youri Treur, congratulations on your victory in this WUA study. It's the first time you've come out ahead of the competition, which makes the victory even sweeter in my opinion. How important is it for you to be the best in the digital arena? What role does having a winning mentality play in this?
"We've grown a lot in the past year, and we appear in multiple rankings and lists. The foundation of your study, findability, is what we've focused on over the past year. The current number 1 position in this study confirms for us that we're going in the right direction. We want to be present in the right places when the customer starts their research. So yes, we're proud of this achievement. The entire team has worked very hard on this!"
What is your approach? What's going so well? What can other digital watchdogs learn from your approach?
"In terms of campaigns, Simpel has always been strong. We've grown significantly in number of customers and market share, but our campaign budgets have also grown. We have about 25 to 30 people here. This is a small group compared to our competitors, who often work with more than 100 people. We're very aware of what the customer wants, what drives them, and this gives us a clear picture of who our target audience is. We're good at making the right connection. Additionally, we've been around a bit longer now, so consumers are gaining more confidence in us. That trust and brand recognition are now paying off in a growing customer base and digital success."
How do you differentiate yourself from, say, Simyo, Youfone and Ben?
"First: we bought Simpel back from T-Mobile, and this allowed us to rebuild our entire 'system' from scratch. Over the past two years we've benefited greatly from advanced IT infrastructure. We built that structure from the ground up. It makes it easy for us to be flexible, and ensures we can move quickly. Time to market is our key to success!"
"A second thing that sets us apart is that we're very focused. Everything that's secondary or not directly beneficial, we skip. We look purely at our funnels, and ensure all communication around them is perfected. We don't work on things that 'might have added value' and aren't directly relevant to our business and our customers. So we're successful because we're a direct seller, and we focus completely on that. Well-developed digital channels ensure we can be affordable, and we offer our customers the perfect platforms to do a lot themselves."
From a consumer or customer perspective, there should be no difference between service and sales. Can you at Simpel offer a seamless experience between these two disciplines?
"In 2016 I became responsible for Simpel's service organization. I had a lot of sales and online experience, and personally I'm really a 'tech man'. At that time we were still in development, we had just come through the acquisition, and were rebuilding. Then I got customer service added to my responsibilities and I thought: 'wow, we could do this so differently.'"
What role do customer research and customer focus play in your daily work, and in the teams you're responsible for?
"Every quarter we do tracking research on our brand, and every day we study customer journeys. On every page of our website you can give us feedback, which is very important to us. There's a clear structure in our team regarding monitoring. For example, we have a 'special care' team that looks at our feedback daily and ensures it gets processed.
We also do research based on our own analytics of course. The entire team listens in weekly with the contact center. This isn't planned, we use random conversations. We discuss them, and see what we can learn from them. I have to say: this is the only way to really find out what customers think. In times of panic or crisis we all answer phone calls. Customer service sits in the hearts of our people."
What KPIs do you use in the digital area, what levers do you pull to excel in digital?
"When we talk about KPIs. And I'm leaving our business KPIs out of consideration. Then it's subscription and acquisition costs. We play a lot with pricing, and invest heavily in this. Acquisition costs are strongly correlated with price for us. As they are throughout the entire sector. What's easy for us is that we only sell 1 product: a SIM-only subscription. We're originally a true sales & marketing company, it's in our DNA. The first thing we do every morning is evaluate yesterday. Everyone in the company knows where we stand.
"NPS is incredibly important to us. When that score is high, our 'media drip' can be disconnected. Then you're no longer dependent on running campaigns and low prices, but you simply have an amazing offer that people talk about with each other. That's the ideal!"
What are your digital challenges for 2018?
"My first challenge is: Marketing Automation 2.0. That's about things like the retention process, knowing exactly when each customer is ready to renew their subscription. Presenting the right offer to the right customer at the right moment: that's how you create urgency. Then it's about choosing the right media and ultimately assisting the customer in the best possible way. We're already doing this of course, but we're working toward a 360-degree customer view. We want to be able to help our customers based on many more triggers than the ones we currently use.
"A challenge directly linked to this is about proactively offering service and being able to respond to service questions via AI platforms. The next step is then providing context, and making predictions based on behavior. Making that prediction actionable: that's the big step to take, the barrier to break through.
"Being more proactive in communication, acting on predictions, and executing these automatically: at Simpel we're going to figure out what does and doesn't work for our customers. Of course we have a list of hundreds of things we'd like to test and implement. Google Duplex is a nice example, and if we wanted to use it, we could do so immediately. But we're not yet at the point where we can have a 'free', open conversation with a chatbot. It's going to happen quickly, I think."
What digital innovations are you working on now, and what developments are on the roadmap?
"What I think is really cool: we have a chatbot at Simpel that also works internally. So our employees use it too. It seems logical, but it's actually innovative in our sector. Most contact centers work with extensive wikis. There aren't that many people here, but when something happens, we need to be able to activate many people very quickly. With a chatbot that works well, you can train people very quickly, and fully engage them with the company. In terms of innovation, this is an amazing step. If something works well for the customer, it also works well for our employees ;)"
What is your ultimate goal and dream to achieve in business?
"To take the amazing journey I've had with Simpel once more. Why is it so enjoyable here, why are we successful? It's because of the team. I breathe technology, and want to try everything. I hope I can do this until I'm old. A strong business focus, and being open to change, and working with an amazing team."
