From an NPS measurement to a tool for leadership and development

In the debt collection industry, customer experience has a direct impact on results. Every customer interaction matters, and solution orientation and trust are key elements of success. At Lowell, customer experience has been elevated to a strategic priority, and we have chosen Confidently as our partner to help us achieve our goals.

Our NPS score has shown a steady upward trend for more than two years. This is no coincidence, but rather evidence of systematic work and the strengthening of a customer-centric culture. Together with Confidently, we regularly review key customer experience metrics, track development, and receive valuable improvement suggestions from the perspective of our objectives. This has helped team leaders manage customer experience more effectively and improve results.

Over the past two years, we have also invested heavily in developing our employees' skills. As multi-skilling has increased, solution expertise has strengthened as well. Learning new skills and internal career paths have enhanced the sense of appreciation, and our employee turnover has decreased significantly. Working on delivering customer experience also brings greater depth and a stronger sense of purpose to the job.

Investing in customer experience expertise and solution capability has not come at the expense of efficiency—quite the opposite. All our key metrics and service levels have been excellent and have developed positively. Thanks to a highly skilled workforce, the number of transferred calls has decreased significantly, which in turn has improved both customer experience and efficiency.

Customer service work is often hectic and mentally demanding. That is why competence plays a crucial role. The better our teams master service and solution skills, the more smoothly we can handle peak times, system challenges, and difficult customer interactions. When challenging situations are handled routinely, this results not only in a better customer experience but also in tangible outcomes, such as more efficient recovery of receivables. Competence is therefore reflected both in customer satisfaction and in financial results.

Lotta Joronen works as Customer Service Director at Lowell Suomi Oy and is responsible for the comprehensive development of customer service. Her work focuses on the systematic improvement of customer experience, renewing operating models, and integrating strategic solutions into the everyday operations of customer service.

In social and healthcare services, the use of information from customer feedback is often limited to meeting national obligations, even though customer experience could be harnessed as an effective driver of change. The impact of such change can, at best, be measured even at the national level.

Confidently has been the customer experience partner of the Satakunta Wellbeing Services County since 2025. The wellbeing services county measures NPS score and the national statements defined by THL (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare) in accordance with THL's recommendations. In addition to these, Satakunta has decided to measure customer experience beyond what is recommended, and the region collects open-ended responses from service users, which are analysed on a regular basis. The data collected from customers is used as a tool for operational development and management, from the unit level all the way up to the wellbeing services county leadership and the regional board.

"With our customer volumes, measuring customer experience is such a significant investment that it is not worth doing merely to fulfil an obligation. We make extensive use of the data in organisational development, including change management and the development of a customer-centric culture", says Mari Viljanen-Peuraniemi, Customer Service Manager at the Satakunta Wellbeing Services County.

Creating a customer-centric culture has been a strategic decision in Satakunta, one that requires determined effort from the organisation. As a result of the data collected and its analyses, the Satakunta Wellbeing Services County has already addressed several areas for development.

One of the most essential areas of continuous development is building the competence of staff working at the customer interface. Based on customer experience measurement results, Satakunta has begun organising training in customer interaction, among other initiatives. During the measurement period, the NPS score has risen above 80.

Development projects initiated on the basis of response analyses also include the clarification of complex telephone services and the more effective adoption of digital channels. Improving customer guidance brings savings to social and healthcare services: a clear customer journey and successful interactions where matters are resolved in a single contact save working time and money. In addition, the customer's experience of transactions and communication improves, which in the best case supports the customer's motivation and, through that, the development of treatment outcomes.

Skilled partners are invaluable when developing a new kind of organisational culture and ways of working in the social and healthcare sector. Viljanen-Peuraniemi values the genuine partnership with Confidently, as well as their knowledgeable and professional attitude that drives the organisation forward.

"Confidently is not merely a system vendor to us. In addition to their own expertise, they bring us best practices and perspectives from the business world, where customer-centric culture is generally more advanced than in public organisations", Viljanen-Peuraniemi concludes.

Mari Viljanen-Peuraniemi serves as Customer Service Manager at the Satakunta Wellbeing Services County.