Mobile Operator hallon Simplifies Things for Their Customers — Increases Automatic Payments by 60 Percent

Swedish mobile operator hallon, together with its sister brand Tre, is part of the company Hi3G Access AB. The brand was launched in 2013, and since then it has become known for making things simple. hallon makes it easy to become a customer, by making it easy to both understand and use its service. To further simplify and improve their customer experience, hallon chose Billogram’s platform for invoicing and payments.

Practicing What They Preach – hallon Sought A Simpler Solution for Their Customers

Hallon is a rapidly growing operator that sees a large portion of its sales occur online. As such, there are high requirements providing a strong digital customer experience, and one aspect of that is the payment function. Their reputation increases the need for them to be able to offer customers a digital, seamless and of course, simple solution for invoicing and payments. Hallon recognized the huge potential for improvement and thus initiated a comprehensive evaluation of potential new payment suppliers.

Nathalie Eriksson is Head of Product & Loyalty at hallon. Her team is responsible for product development and loyalty. They manage all types of issues, ranging from pricing, to creating new products and updating the existing ones. Another important focus area is curbing their churn rate and building loyalty. She explains:

– Payment is one of the areas that lies within our realm of responsibility for various services and product functionality. A large portion of our private customers pay through direct debit. Corporate customers, on the other hand, prefer invoices. That is why we first focused on our corporate customers when we initially identified the need to update our solution by offering a digital, simple, and clear invoice. As we progressed with our evaluation of potential suppliers, we discovered the advantages that a new, updated system would offer for private customers as well. For example, when we use telemarketing to sell subscriptions, the telemarketers are prohibited from accepting credit card information over the phone, so these customers will automatically be invoiced. In the end though, it was the overall impression we got of Billogram that decided things.

Painless Implementation and Proactive Follow-Up

There were a variety of interconnected factors that ultimately led hallon to choose Billogram. Billogram was able to create an optimized technical flow via simpler integrations and interfaces, along with solutions for improved communication and expanded opportunities for upselling directly via the invoice. Another contributing factor was the multitude of simple payment methods included in Billogram's offering.

One of the most important objectives and hopes when getting started with Billogram was that it would be implemented in a painless way, so that the business would be burdened as little as possible by it. According to Nathalie Eriksson:

– The roll-out of Billogram went like clockwork. Collaboration and communication were smooth as silk and everything just worked, exactly as it should. We are a relatively small organization and thus expect our partners to help us drive projects forward. We want them to bring any deviations to our attention and push development by proactively making suggestions for improvement, which are things we don’t always have the resources for ourselves. Billogram has definitely delivered in this way. I’m very pleased about what a good match they are for us.

Fewer Customer Service Cases and Reminders with More Customers Opting for Automated Payments

Hallon has not seen an increase in the volume of inquiries to its customer service function following the implementation of Billogram. On the contrary, they have experienced that the number of payment-related customer service cases has decreased. Likewise, the number of late payment reminders they need to send has also steadily decreased, and is currently around at the low 6%. Furthermore, the percentage of direct debit payments has increased by more than 60%. This has resulted in fewer erroneous payments, which Billogram knows from years of experience is something that builds loyalty. Customers who opt for direct debit tend to stay customers longer.

Nathalie Eriksson is very optimistic about hallon’s future together with Billogram, and she summed up her views on the collaboration thus far:

– I feel that the communication between us functions extremely well. The few times something hasn’t gone as planned, they have responded promptly. Billogram has a pragmatic approach on how to handle challenges, with a good balance between planning and follow-up, both short-term and long-term. In summary, I feel that they’ve been extremely receptive to how we’ve wanted our collaboration to work and adapted accordingly. The telecom industry is constantly changing, which is why we need to be able to adjust our plans at the same pace. We are extremely satisfied with the arrangement as it is now and are regularly reviewing new initiatives that we might pursue with Billogram.

Would you like to learn more about how Billogram can boost loyalty among your customers while reducing the amount of customer service issues? Contact us or read more from us here!