Delivering a 360-degree CX Strategy to Drive Customer Loyalty and Revenue Growth

Optimum is now the fourth-largest cable provider and one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.6 million residential and business customers across 21 states.

Briefly describe the nominated organization: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

HISTORY

Altice purchased Suddenlink Communications (2015) and then Cablevision (2016) to form Altice USA (now operating as 'Optimum'). Optimum is the fourth-largest cable provider and one of the largest broadband and video services providers in the US, with c.4.6M customers.

PAST PERFORMANCE

The structural changes (2015-2022) coincided with falling customer spend and several years of underinvestment into Optimum's network and CX journey. The result? A seriously underperforming care operation that heralded deeper problems:

• Transactional Net Promoter Score (tNPS) in 2022 was just +14.2 (scale:-100 to +100).
• Call-resolution rates were low and poor self-service options were driving monthly call volumes of 1.4m.
• Subscribers were declining and annual churn was c.21%.
• 10% of customers were unprofitable and sales occurred on <1% of calls.
• Revenue erosion was unsustainable, at >$120m/year.

This is the story of how Optimum delivered a multi-year customer satisfaction strategy (Appendix-3&4) of extraordinary scale and impact. By thoroughly overhauling each touchpoint in its customer ecosystem, tNPS has rocketed +31pts. This uplift earned Optimum the right to ask customers for more business, resulting in 219,000 new sales.

Outline the organization's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Optimum's customer satisfaction strategy (Appendix-3) has delivered major achievements:

DIGITAL & SELF-SERVE GROWTH

Proactive comms and enhanced digital self-serve channels are empowering customers, minimizing their need to call. This has led to:

• Total digital interactions increasing 38.5%, from 117.7m (2022) to 163.1m (YTD).
• Proportion of customers 'self-serving' (SMS, Chat and App) increasing from 52.9% (2023) to 70.4% (YTD).
• SMS volumes increasing 271%.
• Customers enrolling to receive SMS rising from 42% (2022) to 85% (YTD).
• Total inbound calls down 28.8% from 16.7m (2022) to 12.5m (YTD). Appendix-9

CONTACT CENTRE TRANSFORMATION

Optimum's contact center performance has improved dramatically, with:

• First-contact resolution up 2.4% between 2022 and 2025 (YTD).
• Repeat rates (RR) down for 24h, 7-day, and 30-day periods.
• Repeat-call volumes down 17% vs. 2022.
• Contact rate down 3.8%, from 28.7% (2022) to 24.9% (YTD). Appendix-6&7

LANDMARK CX IMPROVEMENT

Optimum has delivered a landmark +31pt increase in tNPS, from 14.2 in 2022 to 45.1 (2025 average) and was rated 'most-improved telco' by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

INCREASED LOYALTY & SPEND

Improved CX has translated into increased customer loyalty. E.g.:

• 15% drop in customer churn (net disconnects) vs. 2022.
• 406.3% increase in sales by care agents vs 2022:
  • Mobile sales up 1,066%, 12,000 to 140,000 (YTD).
  • Fiber upsells up 223.8%, 42,000 to 136,000 (YTD).

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

SIGNIFICANCE TO CARE AGENTS

Care agents feel they are now delivering a better service.

"It was 50-50 whether we'd resolve a customer issue. The likelihood was the customer would call back and we'd get caught in a loop. Fast-forward to today, and we feel confident that an agent can resolve first time. The result is that agents feel more useful and this has seen employee attrition improve." (Yasmin Salcedo, Care Center Manager)

These changes are evidenced by:

• 76% of employees say they're proud to work for Optimum (vs. 71% in 2023).
• 77%... say they now have access to the resources they need to do their job (vs. 68% in 2022).
• Care agent attrition reducing from 10% (2022) to 9% (2025).

TO CUSTOMERS

Optimum's strategy has seen inbound call volumes fall dramatically. These customer quotes show why this matters:

• 2022: "I wasted 30 minutes on the phone, was told I would get a call back, and never did. Your support is a joke and one of the worst companies I've dealt with."
• 2024: "[Agent] was exceptionally supportive. I think other companies have much to learn from Optimum when it comes to customer service."

In fact, the introduction of new comms platforms have led to an 11% reduction in customers entering collections (vs. 2023) and a >50% reduction in non-payment churn for mobile services (vs. 2024)

TO THE BUSINESS

• 15% reduction in customer churn (net disconnects) vs. 2022.
• Total savings of $59m and net savings of $37m. Appendix-9

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

See attached supporting document.

• Appendix-1: About Optimum
• Appendix-2: The before situation
• Appendix-3: Vision and strategy
• Appendix-4: Planning
• Appendix-5: Implementation timeline
• Appendix-6: Operational transformation
• Appendix-7: Technology transformation
• Appendix-8: Sales transformation
• Appendix-9: Impacts