April 24, 2024
Tamir Scheinok

We offer our thoughts about customer experience so you know what our promises are, can hold us to our promises if we ever fall short, and let us know if any changes to our promises are needed. Feel free to share your thoughts with us by commenting below or emailing us at connect@furtherreach.net.

A GREAT PRODUCT

The foundation of good customer experience is exceptional Internet Service. From our start over ten years ago, we have employed tools that carefully measure the quality of our growing network. Every component of the Further Reach network reports the quality of its connectivity several times per minute. When there are issues, the system raises alerts, and the network operations team resolves the problems – almost always before any customer notices. With continual feedback, the network improves over time.

After years of iteration (learning from mistakes), refinement (adjusting to local conditions), and optimization (process innovation), the Further Reach network delivers fast, highly reliable, and rock-solid Internet.

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC SUPPORT

Because our network performs very well, we have exceedingly few support requests related to network issues. Still, customers often need help with varied problems related to their devices or their general use of our Internet service.

Most providers outsource their customer support function or employ automation, such as chatbots. While these methods are relatively inexpensive, customers often find them extremely frustrating.

We have made a significant investment in hiring and training a local team who are not just employees, but also members of the community we serve. Today, we are proud to have a dedicated local team of 15 individuals who are committed to assisting you with anything related to our service. Our core goals in addressing your needs are:

• Being Easy to Reach, Responsive, and Friendly. The team is focused on being readily available by phone, email, text, and Facebook chat. We work hard not to miss calls and to respond quickly to customer needs.
• Being Capable, Competent, and Fast. The customer success and field teams have the training and authority to solve customer problems methodically and quickly.
• Deep Support. While most providers’ support ends at your front door, we provide paid support for your whole network, specialized devices, and varied needs. Our support is available remotely, and if necessary, we can even assist you in person.
• Constant Learning and Improvement. We meet regularly to identify opportunities for improvement and make adjustments to our process. The team values iteration, teamwork, and improvement, not finger-pointing.

You can see our entire team on our website at https://furtherreach.net/. In addition to having the right team, we have invested in a suite of specialized software including Hubspot (CRM), Aircall (phones), Haymarket (SMS/Text), Facebook Messenger, and our own open-source management suite to make it easy for you to get in touch with us and optimize our ability to address your needs.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

Large Internet providers regularly have the lowest customer satisfaction rating among any industry in the US (link below – see the very bottom of this report). This is not a result of incompetence but because the companies are not focused on the users of their service (e.g., what common folk would call customers). The reasons relate to the effective monopoly/duopoly that pervades the US market and the perversion of government funding (see below). https://www.retently.com/blog/good-net-promoter-score/

For Further Reach, customer feedback is our lifeblood. Positive feedback is hugely motivating to our team and inspires them to go above and beyond to ensure our customers are happy. This feedback informs us of what we are doing well so that we can tune our training and process to ensure repeat events.

While constructive or negative comments are hard for us to hear, they provide essential feedback to fix gaps in training or process that allowed the failure to occur. We meet weekly to review events that did not go well. During these sessions, we thoroughly analyze what went wrong, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes to prevent similar issues in the future. This commitment to learning and improvement is a testament to our dedication to providing the best possible service.

In addition to collecting informal feedback, we have an online form that allows customers to provide feedback. We are thrilled that since this form was published in 2022, customers have ranked us 10/10.

A (BUSINESS MODEL WITH) FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER

Another foundation for good customer experience involves how a provider funds building and maintaining a network.

When taking money from private investors or government grants, the demands of the funders are top priorities. Inevitably, the needs of customers and fidelity to a social mission become diluted and are deprioritized.

The amount of money large telecommunication providers spend on lobbying government representatives and the amount the government pays those corporate providers to install networks dwarfs the amount that customers pay the telecommunication providers. This creates a perverse system in which the government is treated as the customer, not the community being served.

At Further Reach, we have gone to great lengths to operate sustainably and purely from monthly service fees without the need for outside money. Sustainability means we are here for the long run, focusing exclusively and relentlessly on building and maintaining a fantastic network, providing exceptional customer support, and furthering our community-centric social mission.

#connectLocal


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