For Our Customers

For Our Customers For Our Customers

Staying customer-focused

SoftBank strives to provide services and build a network environment that satisfies our customers.

We want to bring customers joy and deliver wonder and excitement.

We strive to provide services that can be used easily and with peace of mind.

Developing crew members
with high awareness
and skills

Best Customer Service Contest

We devote time and effort to training sales staff (“crew”) to be highly skilled and aware of customer needs so that customer visits to SoftBank and Y! Mobile shops are as pleasant as possible.

We share SoftBank's aspirations, teach customer service etiquette and product knowledge, and provide all crew members with group training, e-learning, video content and other tools appropriate to their level, purpose and role. Each crew member's skill acquisition status is tracked to manage their individual education.

We have also introduced in-store “live” training enabling learning equivalent to group training from stores, aiming to create new learning opportunities for crew members. By conducting this training in a timely manner in line with the release of new models and services, we can directly share sales tactics and other noteworthy points for customer communication with crews nationwide.

The knowledge and customer service skills gained through daily work and training are evaluated in “qualification examinations”, and certified crew members wear a badge that represents their certification. In addition, the “Customer Service No. 1 Grand Prix” is held for crew members who serve customers at SoftBank and Y!mobile stores, as well as mass retailers nationwide, to select and award the best customer service crew members. The event is broadcasted nationwide for dealers to view via video. This provides a great opportunity for each store to learn from better examples of customer service and to improve their customer service.

Utilizing crew awareness
and customer feedback
for further improvement

Contact centers

In order to gather customer opinions and requests, we conduct satisfaction surveys by sending questionnaires to customers who visit our stores or contact our customer support center. We analyze the NPS (Net Promoter Score)*1 based on the results of the questionnaires regarding the evaluation of crews and operators. Customer opinions and comments collected through the survey are used to report issues and countermeasures to field managers and executives in charge as well as at management meetings.

Crew members themselves can also check the results of the questionnaire through a dedicated system, and by understanding its contents, they can implement efficient improvement activities. In addition, improvements and issues that crew members have noticed in their interactions with customers are also collected in the form of crew questionnaires.
Furthermore, in order to improve the skills of operators and service quality, the customer support center records each individual response and uses it not only as feedback to operators, but also for internal training sessions.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Y-Mobile received the highest score in the past six years in the 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Japan Productivity Center*2. In addition, “LINEMO,” which was surveyed for the first time this year, won the No.1 position in customer satisfaction.
To maintain these evaluations, we aim to achieve a target score of 63.0 points or higher each year.

FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023
Y-Mobile 68.1 64.2 66.6 68.8 65.8 70.7 67.5
LINEMO 74.2 75.0
[Notes]
  1. *1
    Net Promoter Score: A metric for assessing customer loyalty
  2. *2
    According to JCSI (Japanese Customer Satisfaction Index) survey. Total number of respondents: 24,755 (Internet survey); Survey period: July 7 - August 1, 2022

Diversifying Contact Points
for Inquiries

In addition to expanding and diversifying our contact points for inquiries to make it easier for various customers to use cell phone functions and services, we are also promptly making improvements based on diverse customer feedback received via telephone and X (formerly Twitter).

Support

X (formerly Twitter) (in Japanese)

Providing a reliable
telecommunications network

Network operation centers

A reliable network forms the core of all telecommunication services, and to ensure stability SoftBank has engineers stationed at network centers across the country at all times. Expert engineers conduct maintenance of mobile network base stations and network center telecommunication equipment, monitoring the operations of our telecommunications network and radio base stations at network operation centers around the clock, 365 days a year.

A Maintenance Professional Contest is held every year, providing a forum for exchanging ideas on operational improvement devised at network centers and network operation centers across the nation, with a view to leveraging accumulated expertise to ensure stable operation of our telecommunications network.

In constructing systems and pursuing continuous business improvement for maintaining and improving our service quality, we have acquired certifications for such international standards as Integrated Management System, Quality Management System and IT Service Management System.

Research and development of new technologies

Research and development of new technologies

To enhance network reliability for all customers, SoftBank provides high-speed network services that use a wide range of frequency bands and is fully engaged in enhancing signals, using big data to improve quality and respond to events that attract large numbers of people. The company is also actively researching and developing new technologies to achieve even higher speeds.

Networks

Technology Strategies