Page 189 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Management Information Systems

Notes 9.6.3 Four Principles for Building Mobile Customer Relationships

Principle 1: Target your customers to build critical mass: Because of multiple complex products,
targeting customers is no longer as simple as dividing them into high-volume business users
and low-volume prepaid consumers. Instead, mobile operators should begin by learning more
about customers to understand their product awareness and needs and then segment them into
“needs categories”.
The next step is adding attributes, such as age and occupation, and using the resulting customer
profiles to define a customer acquisition strategy for achieving critical mass. During this step,
operators must identify “innovators”, the highly influential people who buy products shortly
after launch, and “talkers”, people who have extensive personal networks of family, friends and
work colleagues. The innovators and the talkers have the ability to win over non-users; they
should be targeted first in any marketing effort (see Figure 9.9).

Figure 9.9: Innovators and Talkers Chain Reaction

Principle 2: Match products to customers: Instead of chasing after the one “perfect” product,
mobile operators should seek the right product for the right customer.
Operators should start by seeding the market with basic products to test readiness for other
products. Next, they should create open technology platforms and set relationship rules for
content and go-to-market partners.
Principle 3: Make acquisition a positive experience: Customer experience can be tested at three
stages: awareness, relevance and purchase.
 The awareness stage requires trust in a brand name associated with mobile data—either
the operator’s or a new brand for a particular offering—and messages targeted to specific
customer segments.
 In the relevance stage, companies must go beyond traditional media and use opinion
leaders and other innovative channels to deliver tailored messages that demonstrate how
the product meets each segment’s needs.

 At the purchase stage, the operators’ main goal must be a smooth interaction that eliminates
last-minute surprises and meets all expectations regarding performance, service, and
payment and usage terms.

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