Marketing campaigns are won and lost on the accessibility and quality of companies’ data about their customers – and how smartly they use it. Across every industry, this makes customers’ data a hugely valuable asset and means of gaining competitive advantage. No sector holds more data about their customers than telcos.
In the spring of 2022, we conducted two surveys. One targeted at consumers, which explored how they feel about their data being used to make marketing, offers and services more relevant and personal to them, and if operators are meeting their expectations.
The second survey probed operators about their attitudes towards using customers’ data for these purposes, how they are using it, and why they make those choices. The results highlighted that they are far from making the most of their data assets. For example, we found that less than a third of operator respondents are using weblogs from within their network data to improve customer experience and marketing to them, although this fabulously rich source of insights is unique to them.
We dug down further to extract some fascinating, more granular understanding of operators’ attitudes and concerns, which often differed radically from those of our consumer respondents. In short, we discovered that operators are leaving millions on the table and failing to meet their customers’ expectations.
Personalization is a must-have for any telco in today’s hyper-competitive environment. Being able to stand out from the noise and deliver relevant, timely messages to the right customers is essential in securing a return on investment and keeping satisfaction high.
Telco customers reward true personalization with high ROI. At the same time, they demand a brand experience that protects their privacy. A dataset that could solve both of those issues, when used correctly, is weblogs. An incredibly underutilized asset that all telcos possess. However, concerns about privacy, scalability challenges, and fears of potential misuse have created significant hesitation.
The current situation with millions of people confined to home and eschewing physical meetings has highlighted the way that social media has captured our imagination.
Over the last 20 years, there’s no piece of technology that has revolutionised the way we live and work more than the mobile phone. It has transformed from a clunky curiosity to a powerful pocket computer that is all things to all people.