HYPERCONNECTIVITY, that relentless link between humans and their devices in all digital platforms has caused major shifts in buying behavior and consumer expectations. Enterprises wanting to proactively respond to these expectations require creating highly personalized and seamless experiences–the same one consumers get from digital apps and services, such as online shopping, digital banks, payment apps, OTT platforms.
This was revealed, in a study by Coleman Parkes commissioned by Amdocs. Recently presented to the tech media by Gil Rosen, chief marketing officer at Amdocs, the research indicates that 87 percent of consumers will spend more on their telecom and media products and services if offered advanced personalized experiences. Here lies the convergence for communication services providers (CSPs) to succeed–creating customer experiences that adapt to constantly changing needs.
Gartner Research defines CSPs as companies that “offer a combination of information and media services, content, entertainment and application services over networks, leveraging the network infrastructure as a rich, functional platform.”
“Learning from the highly personalized way digital apps and services respond to and proactively manage their customers becomes not only an edge but also defines CSPs in this category,” Rosen elaborated as he responded to a question the virtual forum. He highlighted the fact that though 65 percent of CMOs of CSPs believe that their customers are “forced into digital communications and personalization,” only 35 percent of customers actually believe that. This gap, according to Rosen may mean that CSPs are losing millions of dollars of upselling opportunities, as well as opportunities to attract millions of new consumers.
This reinforces the survey findings that a lack of senior stakeholder buy-in, resistance to change, and a belief that there is no need to further invest in advanced personalization, are hindering more comprehensive personalization efforts and impeding the overall marketing objective of delivering compelling brand experience across all touchpoints.
Rosen quoted the report saying that CMOs in the Philippines, are being too cautious in leveraging consumer data to enhance their personalized products and service design efforts. Survey results revealed 70 percent (APAC-76 percent) of CMOs assume that consumers feel digital interactions are just a way to get more data about them, however, only 48 percent of consumers are concerned about it.
This gaps keeps CMOs from understanding the real needs of the hyperconnected customer. By judging from their own ability and not leverage the understanding that comes from utilizing the right amount and depth of consumer data may mean an inability to deliver a holistic experience that a digital-age customer wants.
Other findings include consumers in the Philippines (66 percent in APAC) would be happy to share even more personal information for highly personalized experiences. The flips side is that these same customers said that they would be unforgiving about poorly designed personalized experiences. This means, if the experiences do not match consumers’ expectations, they can lead to frustration negatively impacting the brand, and perhaps even lead to attrition.
“Today’s digital consumers keep evolving their benchmark experiences against the best apps and service experiences. All apps are a click away, so consumers do not distinguish between industries- the last best app you used sets your expectation benchmark for the next one,” Rosen pointed out.
For Amdocs, the solution is for CMOs to work towards the unified goal of leveraging data more effectively and holistically for better product and service design, seamlessly collaborating with multiple stakeholders —CIO, CTO, Customer Service, Operations and creating a cross-functional team to quickly deploy, test, and run applications across all customer interfaces with the brand.
“CSPs do not compete within their category; they compete against all apps and amazing experiences being provided every day by new and existing players. Even dating and gaming apps serve as a benchmark as well as the obvious suspects from the online shopping, banks or any other incumbent service providers–it creates the need for service providers to constantly strive to match those experiences,” Rosen adds emphasizing again how the CMOs’ must be more attuned using data-driven analytics to make the correct decisions regarding aligning customer needs with what can be offered.
Rosen also highlights how data privacy is actually not an impediment to customer’s sharing their experiences and information but rather an advantage since data privacy laws clearly define what can and cannot be shared, the level of consent, opting-out, and data management and disposal. It encourages consumers to be more careful whom to trust and pushes companies to instill trust in their customers about how their data will be used. —
“Communication service providers (CSPs) must take advantage of the fact that consumers are willing to share their data to get an advanced personalized experience tailored to their expectations. However, before this happens, they must improve their quality of service and instill trust in their customers about how their data will be used, and break down internal silos between marketing, sales, and customer care,” said Stephen Saw, Director at Coleman Parkes.
Other key findings from the Amdocs survey
- A highly personalized experience, leveraging consumer data, attracts consumers and will make them spend more: 62 percent of Filipino consumers want their CSPs to provide similar experiences to that of online shopping platforms. 87 percent of consumers are likely to spend more if they have a personalized experience that adapts to their changing preferences. 74 percent might switch service providers for such experiences.
- Consumers want data-driven personalized experiences but will only share data with whom they trust: More than 73 percent ( APAC-64 percent ) of Filipino respondents want their service provider to deliver an advanced personalized experience, however, 74 percent of the Filipino respondents want their “‹CSPs to be clearer and more honest with the personal data they are collecting and how they “‹are using it.
- A poorly designed personalized experience may backfire: Though most consumers want a compelling personalized experience, they are unforgiving, if not done right. Almost half (48 percent ) of the respondents think that personalized interactions are just a way to get more data about them. 45 percent are frustrated with chatbots and live chats.
- CMOs recognize the benefits of personalized experiences but are not capitalizing on the opportunity: 91 percent of CMOs recognize”‹ data-driven products and services tailored to individual needs”‹ positively impact”‹ customer retention, yet only 20% of them are delivering holistic personalized experiences. 78% of the CMOs believe CSPs are currently not offering “‹holistic personalized experience across sales, marketing, and customer care”‹.
- Technology and cultural barriers impede CMOs’ ability to design and offer highly personalized and seamless experiences: For most CMOs, money is not an issue, only 40% (APAC-32% ) of CMO respondents in the Philippines mention budget as the main barrier. 77% believe that technology is the main barrier. While a substantial amount of their marketing budget in 2021 will go into marketing technologies, less than 40% of marketers are using their advanced personalization Martech stacks effectively.
