Reducing Subscriber Churn: Why Proactive Network Maintenance is Critical for Your Business

According to a recent article by Telecompetitor, 28% of households in the United States are considering switching to a different internet provider in the near future, with nearly half citing poor internet quality as their main reason. Additionally, a whopping 74% of households surveyed report experiencing internet issues. 

For organizations both large and small, these statistics should set off alarm bells and confirm what many internet service providers (ISPs) already know: that internet issues and service interruptions are primary reasons for subscriber churn. But how can these problems be effectively addressed? Sifting through subscriber complaints can only get you so far. As to figuring out who’s suffering in silence, where do you even start?

Adopting proactive workflows - and mindsets

In the majority of cases, ISPs are forced to respond to issues reactively. This approach is ingrained in workflows, systems, and company culture, creating a self-reinforcing cycle. Identifying issues only when they become severe means more time is needed to resolve them, shifting focus away from other problems that are becoming critical and leaving teams with an ever-growing list of fires that need to be put out for subscribers. 

While getting ahead of issues may feel impossible in these scenarios, the cycle of reactivity While getting ahead of issues may feel impossible in these scenarios, the cycle of reactivity has to be broken to ensure that subscribers choose to stay. Emphasizing proactivity through rebuilt workflows and effective tools should be the first step. For example, most work days start by trying to identify network outages or major issues. In addition to this crucial step in your workflow, you also need to identify the “silent sufferers” - subscribers that are dealing with intermittent service issues - since they are the most likely to leave you. One provider we spoke with told us that in many cases, the first time they hear from the subscriber about service issues is when they call to cancel because they have found an alternative provider.

Changing the narrative with proactive network maintenance

So, how can silent sufferers be identified?

The right tools can make all the difference. NOC360, 7Sigma’s network monitoring software, encompasses a suite of proactive tools that provide key insights into emerging and under-the-radar issues in different parts of a network. 

Subscribers experiencing intermittent service issues can easily be identified using this vendor-agnostic platform. For example, the Circuit Stability Report discovers and organizes devices experiencing frequent alarms, signaling performance issues that may otherwise go unnoticed. Meanwhile, the PON Status Report aggregates the most pressing problems at the PON level so teams can identify and resolve them before customers are impacted. This report also includes our proprietary PON Degradation Score, which assigns a rating to a PON’s performance. Similarly, the ONT Status Report includes the ONT Degradation Score, highlighting issues with ONTs and pointing out where teams need to focus their attention to get ahead of intermittent problems before the subscriber even notices. 

Slow speed issues can be pinpointed and addressed with our Port State Audit feature. As the name implies, this tool runs audits to identify port state mismatches throughout a network, so it’s easy for teams to see which subscribers are at risk of falling through the cracks and contributing to future churn. This report also helps identify issues for subscribers, whether they are using their own Wi-Fi devices or equipment provided by the service provider. Other solutions may provide this as part of their ACS (auto-configuration server), but this misses those who are using their own in-home routers.

Circuit Stability Report, PON Status Report, ONT Status Report, and Port State Audit all aggregate and present data in a centralized format, enabling efficient and proactive workflows. With this toolset, teams can plan daily or weekly checks on downward trends in the reports, create tickets based on their findings, take actions to fix individual issues, and then close the tickets and/or resolve the problems - all before subscribers even begin considering a different provider.

Need help identifying your silent sufferers?

Is there a gap in effectively addressing subscriber churn? Do you know who your silent sufferers are? If not, 7Sigma can help you get ahead of these issues - and save yourself the cost of acquiring replacement customers. 

Interested in learning more about NOC360 and its proactive network maintenance toolkit? Schedule a call with the 7Sigma team.