Partner Article

Why data management is critical for Telco brands?

In the current booming digital age, telecommunication companies face a number of challenges. The pressures of operating within a highly competitive oligopoly aside, the rapid rate at which technology is developing across the sector, the evolution of services provided by traditional providers - across voice, video and internet - and the greater demand from customers for a “better deal” have all presented new challenges for telecommunication marketers. As a result the necessity to devise innovative ways to deliver the right message to their customers and prospects at the right time in order to stay ahead of their competition, has never been more important.

Telco brands have a difficult brand proposition to communicate to customers. Extended contracts and complex deal bundles mean greater research and understanding are needed before purchase. As a result the gap between the point of decision (POD) and the point of sale (POS) is far greater. Email marketing plays a vital role in breaking down this research phase to purchase gap. You need to make sure that at every stage within the customer journey you remain highly visible, personal and relevant. To do this you not only need data, you also need the right technology to interpret it, in order to gain the necessary insights which will power the most creative and engaging campaigns.

Telco brands that collect data about their customers and their personal preferences can use this information to identify specific segments of their customer base; for instance those who are frequent or infrequent data roamers. This data can then be used to glean greater insight into customer behaviour. In many cases these segments can be broken down further, to determine which products and services should be marketed to which customers - based on their usage - and which will garner the best results for your campaigns. This targeted approach not only streamlines the approach from the telco brand, but also enriches the customer experience and their perception of the brand at the same time.

Getting the results you need ultimately relies on having the right marketing tools to get ahead of your competition and provide your customers and prospects with relevant offers. If you can achieve this you’ll be able to cement long-term customer relationships.

Investment in technology that integrates your various data sets and operational activity is key. At Teradata we work with some of the world’s leading telco brands to help them obtain a single customer view from multiple source systems, to intelligently drive cross-selling and up-selling. According to Saad Muzaffar Waraich, Chief Officer Information Technology at Ufone, whilst the next year will be full of opportunities, “doing more with less and doing it faster than we could yesterday is the order of the day”. This strategic approach is particularly important for customer retention. Retaining customers is equally as important as attracting new ones, so demonstrating that you have a high level of understanding about your customers and prospects’ needs and wants at an individual level is essential. Populating databases and gathering this insight to enable you to deploy more sophisticated campaigns is crucial, so make sure you have the systems in place to analyse and store high volumes of demographical and behavioural data. Not only does this allow you to target customers with highly personalised content, it also equips you with the ability to identify potential segments to target. That may include customers of a certain age who travel regularly looking for a better deal on their internet package through to younger customers keen to maximise their pay-as-you-go tariff.

In addition to thinking more strategically, you also need to react quickly to the actions of your competitors. That may involve counter offers, or adjusting the positioning of your campaign to attract a different audience and gain a competitive edge. To do this you need to think creatively, ask yourself - what will my customers be most responsive to? Whatever you do; whether it’s extending your reach across multi-media messaging channels, greater investment in responsive design or simply changing the content of your messages, make sure that you fully integrate these elements across your campaign. Doing so will enable you to deliver a smooth customer journey.

Once you have acquired these data assets you need to assess whether you have the business capabilities to utilise them effectively. You might have the technology to collate and interpret your customer data and use it to better serve new and existing customers, but are you doing so in the most efficient way possible?

Bouygues Telecom, the leading mobile service provider in France, which covers more than 98% of the French population recognised a need for a marketing resource management system, which would automate a number of key marketing processes and reduce marketing operational costs. Using the new system, team members can create an email campaign in just a few clicks and share the project with the team, with all changes marked and attributed to the team member who made them. This improves efficiency and accountability. Since introducing the new system the company has tripled its email campaign and content production, saved US$1.3 million and avoided US$400,000 in costs for retail catalogue production.

Effective marketing operations are underpinned by effective marketing resource management. You need to make sure that your team, processes and technology support your marketing activities and improve your ability to create and deliver them in a timely manner. Telco brands therefore need to make sure that they assess the needs of their business and customers fully and invest in the right data, campaign and resource management tools to ensure they operate in the most efficient and engaging manner possible.

By Christopher Kollat, Country Manager UK&I, Teradata, Marketing Applications

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Christopher Kollat .