Sergio Alvarez is a performance marketing expert, digital attribution leader and CEO and founder of Ai Media Group.
Marketing in the telecommunications industry should be relatively easy, from my perspective. The nature of the space, after all, lends itself to a deeper collection of customer data than many others. But there’s a fine line between harnessing this data successfully to create a targeted marketing strategy that works and casting in all directions, hoping one of the nets will come back with a haul. As the founder of a marketing attribution platform, I believe holistic attribution can provide the clarity you need to navigate this line.
Telecoms: A Data Goldmine
Doing business in the telecommunications industry provides you with pieces of data on customers that are not always readily available in other industries. For example, geographical data, which is often something customers need to provide during the telecom sales process, can be extremely helpful in marketing in this space.
With this wealth and variety of data available, it can be easy for telecom marketers to assume their job is done for them, and it’s not uncommon to see poorly strategized marketing plans despite the immense amount of information available. A common reason behind this is a skewed view of the data due to unreliable attribution methods.
Segmenting The Data
A key to using data effectively for telecommunications marketing is ensuring the approach to existing customers is segmented from the way new customers are targeted. Each of these groups requires different incentives in order to complete their customer journey, and a one-size-fits-all approach will be fruitless.
A new customer might not be ready to purchase just yet, while an existing customer might be on the verge of an upgrade or looking to purchase an additional service. Those two journeys are very different and require diverse approaches. For example, you could entice new customers with a 25% discount on their first purchase while rewarding existing customers with an exclusive loyalty program.
At the same time, the data you’ve gathered can be used to create a personalized campaign to target new customers based on what you’ve learned from the funnel progression of your existing customers.
A Uniquely Competitive Industry
The telecommunications space is uniquely competitive, and this will undoubtedly influence marketing campaigns. Companies in this industry have the capability to access the same amount of data about the market and potential customers. One of the main factors that set you apart from your competitors is how you track and use the data available to you.
Another unique challenge in the telecoms industry is infrastructure. Those who are able to build and offer the required products first and best will probably continue to lead the pack. How you leverage your data can help you determine which products your customers want next, and, if you are gathering and collating this information correctly, you have the opportunity to always be one step ahead of your competitors in this regard.
Upsells are another aspect of the telecoms market that should never be ignored. With a view into a customer’s entire range of interest—if you’ve been managing that data correctly—you have the opportunity to sell customers a bundle they might have been looking at by including a small discount or added feature.
Getting Started With Holistic Attribution
In the telecoms industry, opportunities can be harnessed and challenges overcome through holistic attribution. Data is just data until it is viewed through the correct lens.
To start with a holistic attribution approach in the telecom industry, companies should first map out the customer journey across all touchpoints. This involves identifying the various stages customers go through, such as researching products, comparing plans and signing up for services. Companies can then collect data on customer behavior at each stage and across all touchpoints to gain insights into the overall customer experience.
Once the customer journey is mapped out, telecom companies should establish a common language for measuring attribution across the organization. This involves defining key metrics that align with business objectives, such as customer acquisition, retention and lifetime value. It’s important to ensure all teams and stakeholders use the same metrics to avoid silos and ensure everyone is working toward the same goals.
One common misstep that telecom companies might make is relying too heavily on last-click attribution models, which measure the last touchpoint a customer interacts with before buying. This approach fails to account for the impact of other touchpoints on the customer journey. For instance, a customer might have seen a TV ad, received an email promotion and then Googled the brand before finally converting. Suppose you only attribute the conversion to the last touchpoint (such as the Google search). In that case, you might miss key insights into the impact of the other touchpoints (like the TV ad and email promotion) on the customer’s decision to convert.
To avoid these missteps, telecom companies should take a more comprehensive approach that accounts for all touchpoints along the customer journey and considers the impact of each touchpoint on the customer’s overall experience. This might involve implementing more sophisticated attribution models that give appropriate credit to each touchpoint, regardless of where it falls along the customer journey.
The Takeaway
By measuring and assessing the data from different channels in isolation, you will undoubtedly come to the wrong conclusions about where your sales are really coming from. As a result, you might pull the wrong levers in your marketing budget and then be wholly confused when it all comes crashing down. Relying only on the analytics provided by each individual marketing channel or campaign will tell you only part of the story.
Marketers in the telecommunications industry have a unique advantage in the mass of detailed data available to them simply as a result of the information they request from customers in the sales process. Really, though, this advantage means nothing if it is not played correctly. Viewing data as a big picture rather than the sum of its parts is the key to harnessing the unique opportunities and interesting challenges that present themselves in this competitive space.
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