Customer Experience Management - The Telecom Sector Ahead
Abstract
The telecom providers have always followed an improvement trajectory before decade through boost in customer base and also adding considerable numbers on their annual revenue. They've got kept the speed using the competitors and possess unquestionably game with amazing success during the past. But also in the latest times, these are facing having an enormous challenge of adaptation for the matured, highly penetrated markets in conjunction with global recessionary effect. Therefore, a shift in paradigm to evolve their business models to the present scenario is highly required as well as the need for the hour will be the customer experience management to attain a higher retention ratio.
Challenge in modern telecom industry - Customer retention
In the modern day telecom industry that has attained high penetration level, having a customer becomes even costlier. Industry analysis states that only 25% of the acquired customers keep with the business after an year's some time and on an average only 20 -30% with the entire subscriber base is revenue earning/profitable customers. This dugs an in-depth hole in the balance sheet in the telecom companies. Because of the churning aftereffect of absolutely free themes, there is a huge imbalance created in gross additions with the customers and net addition.
Forward path: Method to customer retention - Customer experience management
Therefore, the key challenge for the telecom operators all over the world is managing customer churn. It affects profitability in the company if your customer churns ahead of the company can earn back it it incurred in getting the customer. Therefore, it is extremely important to indentify the profitable customers and retain them.
Retaining the profitable customers includes 2 steps:
1. Identifying the revenue earning customers from your entire customer base
2. Handling the customer experience and customer value for the revenue earning customers
Identifying the Revenue earning customers
The telecom agencies should define their business logic for identification of the revenue earning customers, by way of example: absolutely free themes with usage greater than ARPU are high valued customers, or in case of pre-paid, customers recharging a lot more than INR 250 monthly (In Indian scenario) are thought as revenue earning. With respect to the business rules the entire usage needs to be segmented into revenue earning customers and non-revenue earning customers. Managing customer ARPU Average revenue per customer. Managing customer data in scale of 40 - 50 millions is a challenge. They can do this by making use of various business analysis tools (eg: SAS, SPSS, Teradata, etc.).
Customer experience management
Following the identification in the valued/revenue earning customers, managing those identified group of customers are most important.
Centering on customers rather than products
Within the last years, the telecom companies have dedicated to introduction of new products. They've originated new products/services and after that sought to discover or produce a niche for them. But increased competition one of many existing service providers and lower barrier to entry for new players has ended in the expansion in predatory activities in the telecom industry. Moreover, the price tag on acquisition of customers has grown considerably. Hence, in the current times, there's a gradual transfer of focus from introduction of recent products for acquiring new clients to customers' experience management is observed. Currently, the Telco's have to pay attention to retaining the existing valued customers and targeting more wallet share of each and every customer by making more value and improved customer experience. 
By way of example: In UK, O2 has aligned its functional silos to get its existing customer's perspective to make product decisions and designing promotional offerings. They have focused on retention by placing equal weight for renewals and acquisitions. From this the business has reduced its churn figure to half its existing number.
Nintendo has built an online community for capturing customer insights and will be offering incentives inturn of customer information. From this Nintendo has gained valuable insights into market needs and preferences.
Customer led customization model
It has an underlying assumption how the companies will dictate the future of telecommunication products and services. Though the growing bargaining energy the customers can use, there's a shift in paradigm and also the agencies have to customize their model according to individual customer preferences. Now the business will follow the lead of the customers in designing and promoting services designed to meet specific needs from the customers. Under this circumstance, the agencies need to find out the unique needs of the person customers, then try and develop services which satisfy those multifaceted needs.
With this model, the mass marketing gives approach to the customized survey and also the survival with the providers depends on their ability to meet customer's demand by using an ongoing basis. Quite simply, customers will dictate the service terms they mean to receive.
Developing multiple channels
The service providers need to develop multiple channels for sales and support to boost the customer experience. Helping the footprint with the addition of on retail stores is one of the options that your telecom agencies have practiced since ages. Traditional channels like sales departments also was in focus. Using the boost in competition and economic slowdown, the operators are trying to find economical approaches to serve their customers whilst keeping the service quality intact. Eventually the companies would like to move most of its sales and services online through the web to achieve better economics. Aside from attaining an affordable solution by transferring to web channels, the operators can empower absolutely free themes to complete various activities at the a lot less expensive price compared to the retail channels.
On the internet channels, a person are able to do a host of activities such as:
- Bill viewing and internet based payment
- Online register of the complaint for support
- Altering price plan and subscriptions
- Viewing the merchandise catalogue and purchase products/services online
In addition to the above mentioned activities, the operators may offer promotional services and cross-sell other products online. The operators may have added revenue by ticker management on their own websites and advertisements.
To supply absolutely free themes an even and connected experience, the operators should integrate each of the existing channels. Every time a customer walks-in with a store, the client service representative should be able to retrieve his/her past interactions over-all the channels to serve him/her in the most beneficial way.
The operator should analyze/monitor how the customers begin using these channels. Based on the available data of customers' usage of these channels, the operators can know the preferences of the people customers and mold their offering accordingly. From this the operators can take shape up customer experience by empowering the crooks to perform activities and so enhancing the service value for them.
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