How Operators tackle Customer Loyalty

77% of the world’s population is mobile. More than three out of four people are already signed up with a mobile provider. This leaves little space for mobile operators to grow by acquiring new customers and the market is driven by price competition: The cheaper the better.

Without obvious customer satisfaction issues with low price suppliers, it's very difficult for mobile operators to offer competing products or services at higher prices. Generally, competing on price alone leads to disloyal customers, low margins and many sleepless nights for business managers.

This being said, the Mobile Marketing Association believes that operators in developed countries could run out of profit in the next two to four years if they do not change their business models.

So, now what?

Operators in mature markets are trying to find ways of reducing costs reduce churn and open new revenue channels.

Operators in emerging markets want to improve customer care, up-sell new services and keep customers engaged.

Innovative operators are taking it one step further.  For example, today O2 has more than 25% of their active customers engaging every month through My O2, their self care platform. 

My O2 is a platform for O2 subscribers where they can login to check their bill, update personal details, explore special offers, browse other products/service and interact with a virtual agent.  Along with enhancing an operator’s service offering, there are clear business opportunities encouraging operators to offer this type of customer care tool:

•       Create transparency for users on there voice and data plans

•       Reduce customer care costs

•       Increase adaptation of new services

•       Improve customer satisfaction by providing help anytime, anywhere

•       Increase revenues by enabling customers to easily reconfigure plans or purchases additional services

How do we see it? 

Mere churn prevention is probably the worst option as it is passive. Operators are at a critical point and need to be proactive if they don’t want to disappear.  It should be about delivering services that are satisfying, desirable and engaging.  An offensive value-added services strategy that delivers a compelling customer experience, one that enables operators to boost individual loyalty and the lifetime value of their existing customer base. 

Built on years of experience with 20+ operators across the globe, Golden Gekko’s ‘Self Care’ app is designed around this premise.  An opt-in app that not only reduces customer care costs, increase adaptation and cross-promotes services, but also collects valuable business intelligence that helps operators deliver better products, services and support to their existing client base.

Operators can’t rely on monthly voice or data plans - the end game is customer loyalty because customer loyalty means engaged clients, added spending, more renewals, customer referrals and lower acquisition costs.

Do you know your mobile users?

Men are from Android and women are from Apple? It’s not all that trivial, but when planning a mobile marketing strategy OS penetration is not the only parameter to consider.

iOS users do skew significantly different to Android users, let alone BlackBerry or Mobile Phone users. When focusing on the right target and how to approach the right audience, a mobile marketing strategy is more efficient to follow.

Though, truth be told, the difference in gender is actually one of the least significant discrepancies. iPhone users are 18% more likely to be female while Android users are 10% more likely to be male. So don’t be shocked if you see a hot chick pulling out an Android phone.

Here are some of the major points relevant for mobile marketers:

Money

To get right to the point: iPhone users have more money and like to spend it and not only on their mobiles. iPhone users are 67% more likely to have an annual income of $+200k , while 24% of Android users are likely to have an annual income between $+50k  - $+100k. Apple lovers have a 29% higher balance on their monthly credit card (Pageonce) than Android owners.

Android phones are normally cheaper than iPhones, for which it doesn’t surprise that the Droid crowd is more likely hold their dollars together while iPhoners are 26% more likely to be spenders.

Trend Setter

A surprising 71% of Android users see themselves as followers. Steve Jobs has done a better job as role model, as 27% of iPhone users see themselves as leaders and 50% consider themselves as early adopters.

Interests

iPhone users are  more travelers  as50% are more likely to have visited more than 5 countries, while 71% of Android users are likely to never have traveled outside their native country.

The study conducted by Hutch breaks down the profile of different OS users and even specifies their favourite ice cream flavour, as can be seen in the infographic in their blog.

The point is though that Marketing is all about knowing your target group, where to find them and how to speak to them. Having a clear idea which device they are likely to use can save a lot of money when planning a mobile marketing strategy.

Knowing the triggers of each device user can also help you to design a more customized approach for each platform. For example, an Android user’s attention can be caught with discounts or special offers, while iPhone users are suckers for sleek design and innovation.

After all, mobile is an interactive medium. This means it is not just about emitting a message, it’s about creating a conversation and the best way to start a conversation is getting to know the other person.

Visit Hutch for more information on the survey.

Why media agencies avoid mobile

Action speaks louder than words. Yet nothing but big words have been heard from the heads of WPP, Omnicom, Ogilvy and other leading media agencies extolling the potential of mobile.

Mobile marketing is experiencing healthy growth across Europe and North America. According to researches by IAB and MMA and many more, Ad- spending has increased by 60%- 70% in average.

However, we believe that the major part of these spends can be attributed to mobile and digital agencies that work directly with brands rather than to media planners who manage the majority of the media budget.

The main reasons are:

• Lack of knowledge: Mobile is complex and hard to understand due to multiple OS platforms and channels (SMS/MMS, Apps, Mobile Web, QR codes, etc
• Metrics: Metrics for mobile can be extremely detailed. It's possible to track results from display advertising or messaging to retail activation. Nonetheless, interpreting the data requires some understanding
• Incentives: According to common conventions between brands and agencies, agency fees are based on media spending and not efficiency. This means TV, print and outdoor media are more profitable for agencies

When and how will this change?
Most media agencies have formed specialised teams for mobile. But those teams are small and often overstretched. We believe that it will take another 2-3 years before media agencies start taking mobile seriously. In the meantime they will lose business and the opportunity to learn from smaller more specialised agencies.