Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia has won the award for Best Online Experience at the regional Customer Experience Management in Telecoms Middle East Summit held recently in Dubai. The award, which was open to telecommunications companies from across the region, recognized Virgin Mobile's innovative approach to serving members on social media and through web channels. Saudi Arabia is one of the most connected societies in the world, with very high rates of smartphone use. Virgin Mobile is the next generation mobile service designed by this generation of talented Saudi Arabians, who understood that many members would want to access customer service on their mobiles. Karim Benkirane, CEO of Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia, said: “It's great for the whole Virgin Mobile team to be recognized for the online experience we have created for our members. The young Saudi Arabians working at Virgin Mobile are key in this. They know how they want to engage with a mobile company, and together we have built our company around making that happen.” Mobile access was a key focus in the design of www.virginmobile.sa. Today over 90 per cent of visitors reach the site using their mobiles, and they find a user experience designed for mobiles first. Saudi Arabia also has high rates of social media usage. Virgin Mobile members can contact member service using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They are guaranteed a response within 20 minutes, day or night. Virgin Mobile's social media communities have become some of the fastest growing in Saudi Arabia. Virgin Mobile now has over 330,000 Facebook fans and nearly 130,000 Twitter followers. YouTube use in Saudi Arabia is the highest in the world. Virgin Mobile's member service team have developed a series of “How 2” videos on YouTube, to help members help themselves with common service requests. These videos alone have been viewed over 1 million times in the last 16 months. During the award ceremony in Dubai, the judges recognized Virgin Mobile's “truly customer-centric project”, and for “understanding that mobile and web access should be handled differently.” — SG
