Sometimes telecom operators seem to be suffering from a severe case of, "Do as I say, not as I do." While they are continually providing improved interpersonal communications, the operators themselves aren’t great at making communications with customers more personal. The result of this is an increase in churn because customers are dissatisfied with how the company treats them. The more churn a company has the more likely it is that they will lose the customer before they have earned back what it took to acquire him or her.
Personalizing the customer’s interaction with the company requires a radical change in how telecoms approach customers – and how they let customers approach them. For the most part, companies still keep each customer interaction separate from other ones. As a result, the billing department knows the customer as a record of payments, tech support sees them as a problem that needs solving and marketing sees them only as someone to sell to. No one sees the full picture. As a result, companies miss opportunities to increase customer loyalty.
Automated marketing systems allow companies to break down these silos and integrate all of a customer’s information. The upshot is a much better idea of who the customer is and what they might want. Combining data from call detail records and trouble tickets can mean better product development, prioritized service and thereby improve the customer experience.
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For example, if billing sees that someone periodically exceeds minutes for calling or number of text messages, then marketing can know to offer them a modest upgrade in service. Or if someone else doesn’t actually use their data plan that much, it might be an opportunity to offer a downgrade – giving up some short-term income to increase customer loyalty for a longer-term relationship with overall greater profitability.
While telecoms have invested in some types of CRM, the companies have mainly used it to address a current pain point and not leverage it to improve the overall customer experience. A company might upgrade its contact center performance with new unified agent desktop. While this benefits that business unit, it misses several opportunities. In addition to driving product development, this informational cross-fertilization can improve customer satisfaction by providing a consistent experience at all business touch points.
One of the ways automated marketing does this is by reaching the customer where they are and not just where the company wants them to be. That could be on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, by phone call, through smartphone apps or even interactive TV. Finding out where, when and how customers communicate allows a telecom to personalize the offering and present it where it will have the greatest impact.
That kind of personalization extends to what services are being offered. Telecoms need to shift from a model of a few pre-set service plans to one that lets the customer choose from what they need or want. The easier this is for the customer to do, the more likely it is that he or she will continue to add services after they first sign up.
The greatest mistake a company can make is thinking that users – even users of the same device or service – all want the same thing. Telecoms can get carried away by technology trends and fail to capitalize on certain valuable market segments. Companies like Cricket have found a successful business model in offering phones with fewer options for older customers.
They are still one of the few companies targeting this demographic, one which will continue to grow for years to come. Not only are they selling to a group that values simplicity, it is also a group that is very unlikely to change providers. The opportunity to create this offering was available to any company that looked at customer usage patterns.
While telecom companies have proven more than willing to invest in big technological and infrastructure improvements, many are missing out on making more money with a smaller investment in the right automated marketing system. That system is one that can exploit conventional sales promotions, to generate improved feedback on customers, all while providing enhanced analytics, and better predictive capabilities.