Summary

Customer experience is key for telcos’ retail strategies.
Our study highlights the challenges and opportunities enabled by new technologies and marketing techniques.

The report compares the telecom sector with others -especially OTT- regarding customer loyalty, and then focus on sales channels -both digital and physical stores. Furthermore the opportunities emerging from big data and analytics will be analyzed, as well as other innovations as chatbots and blockchain technology.

Finally, the report presents key metrics -internal and external- for customer experience measurement, highlighting thereby the increasingly customer-centric marketing strategies.

Table of contents

1. Executive Summary
1.1. Challenges and opportunities of customer experience
1.1.1. The need to implement big data tools
1.1.2. A change in corporate culture to a customer-centric approach
1.1.3. A trend towards automation, but maintaining human contact
1.2. New untapped opportunities

2. Methodology & definitions

3. The challenges of customer experience
3.1. Customer experience, both a technical and relationship-based
3.2. The telecom sector has fallen behind its counterparts in other sectors generally, but particularly OTT players
3.3. A key component of customer loyalty
3.4. A strategic focus on communication

4. Digitisation of relationship channels
4.1. From store to smart shop
4.1.1. The physical distribution network is being strengthened despite the surge in e-commerce
4.1.2. A model inspired by Apple’s smart stores with a priority for user experience
4.1.3. A modern, inviting store space
4.1.4. Teams with a focus on personalised advice
4.1.5. Developing in line with the digital world
4.1.6. Specialised stores and extending the range beyond telecoms
4.2. Call centres move upmarket
4.3. Websites: telcos promote self-service, but maintain the human aspect
4.3.1. A self-service approach
4.3.2. Maintaining the human aspect with instant messaging
4.4. Mobile still little used in CEM, a future challenge
4.5. The growing importance of social media in customer relations
4.6. Conclusion
4.6.1. Greater automation while preserving the human element
4.6.2. Omnichannel strategy: high awareness but more restricted use

5. Opportunities associated with big data and analytics
5.1. The use of big data in customer experience
5.1.1. Consolidating and analysing data
5.1.2. Incorporating third-party data
5.1.3. Real-time incorporation of data
5.2. Opportunities for customer experience
5.2.1. Challenge of personalising offers
5.2.2. Contextual offers
5.2.3. Opportunity to monetise customer experience data
5.2.4. The use of analytics to improve network performance
5.3. Other innovations in customer experience management
5.3.1. Chatbots
5.3.2. Blockchain

6. Customer experience and management
6.1. Indicators of customer experience
6.1.1. External indicators
6.1.2. Internal indicators
6.1.3. Qualitative indicators: customer knowledge is the key to success
6.2. A change in corporate culture towards a more customer-centric approach

List of tables and figures

List of tables and figures

Tables
Table 1: Operators’ main mobile payment services
Table 2: Examples of sites devoted to Free users
Table 3: Type of contact based on the reason for calling Sky Italia
Table 4: Combining customer research and purchasing for mobile
Table 5: Definitions
Table 6: Items used by the ASCI for telecoms and content

Figures
Figure 1: Sector offering the best customer service according to consumers
Figure 2: Net Promoter Scores of the top digital players in the United States
Figure 3: Comparison of Net Promoter Scores for Netflix, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, 2013-2015
Figure 4: Net Promoter Score of mobile operators by country
Figure 5: Change in churn and ARPU in relation to NPS, at Sunrise
Figure 6: Comparison of Vodacom’s Net Promoter Score
Figure 7: Reference to Vodafone’s NPS in the annual report
Figure 8: Changes in the number of point of sale of several operators between 2013 and 2015
Figure 9: Orange store in Poland
Figure 10: T-Mobile’s 4010 store
Figure 11: O2 Guru
Figure 12: O2’s Houdini application
Figure 13: Home space in an AT&T store
Figure 14: Fitness section in Verizon Wireless’ “Destination Store”
Figure 15: Orange’s Mood store
Figure 16: Change in call centre agents’ time per channel
Figure 17: An illustration of the versatility of Bouygues Telecom call centre agents
Figure 18: Verizon’s tree-view support for devices
Figure 19: Verizon’s automated chat window
Figure 20: Excerpt of Netflix customer service live chat
Figure 21: Example of video chat on the “Face to Free” platform
Figure 22: “O2 Guru TV” channel on YouTube
Figure 23: Functionalities of the myAT&T customer service mobile app
Figure 24: Orange’s MonRéseau mobile app screenshots
Figure 25: Verizon’s mobile security solution
Figure 26: Use of QR code or single-use passwords in Verizon’s Universal ID management app
Figure 27: “Telekom Hilft” home screen
Figure 28: Excerpt from Verizon’s Facebook page
Figure 29: Perceived benefits of social media
Figure 30: Customer identification on social media
Figure 31: Method for storing customer interactions on social media
Figure 32: Excerpt from a chat on an Orange forum
Figure 33: Giffgaff community
Figure 34: Integration of innovative technologies in customer relationship channels
Figure 35: Obstacles to improving customer experience
Figure 36: Multiple sources of data from the digital customer lifecycle
Figure 37: Unification of customer data
Figure 38: Example of a persona template
Figure 39: mAnalytics Vodafone
Figure 40: Netflix advert highlighting its personalised service
Figure 41: “Go faster” button in 2010
Figure 42: Verizon’s “supercookie” tracking
Figure 43: Screenshot of Morrisons catchment area on the Smart Steps interactive platform
Figure 44: Examples of conversations with Digibank’s chatbot
Figure 45: Net Promoter Score
Figure 46: Etisalat’s vision of customer experience
Figure 47: ACSI Score in the United States in 2015
Figure 48: Structure of bonuses for BT managers
Figure 49: Example of employee performance management
Figure 50: Organisational comparison between the Holacracy and the traditional hierarchy model

Geographic area

Europe World

Players

  • AT&T
  • Bouygues Telecom
  • Deutsche Telekom
  • Free
  • Giffgaff
  • Movistar
  • Netflix
  • O2
  • Orange
  • SkyItalia
  • Telefónica
  • T-Mobile
  • Verizon
  • Vodafone

Slideshow

The challenges of CEM (Customer Experience Management)
• An essential issue for operators
• Implementation of big data tools
• But analytics offer many opportunities
• A change in corporate culture to a customer-centric approach
• Self-service vs. human approach
• Stores moving more upmarket allowing customers to experiment

New untapped opportunities
• The channels of communication are enhanced by innovative technologies, with a focus on personalised solutions

Other details

  • Reference: M16539MRA
  • Delivery: on the DigiWorld Interactive platform
  • Languages available: French, English
  • Tags: analytics, automation, big data, big data tools, blockchain, call centres, CEM, chatbots, contextual offers, customer data, Customer experience, customer experience management, customer information, customer loyalty, customer relations, customer-centric approach, data monetisation, E-Commerce, geolocation, human contact, instant messaging, network usage, omnichannel strategy, OTT players, personalised advice, personalised offers, physical distribution, relationship channels, self-service approach, smart shop, smart stores, Social media, specialised stores, store space, subscription data, Telcos, user experience, virtual agents, website

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