Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Customer attraction and retention at less cost is the single largest challenge firms are facing today. There are fewer customers, and many of them have less to spend. At the same time competition for these scarce resources is intense. Customers know this and can therefore afford to be picky and prickly. Their loyalty is only as good as the latest deal and the nicest agent.

The mobile/wireless communications industry is especially feeling the heat of the market. Their services are rapidly becoming commodities, and wireless portability has made it easier for customers to switch suppliers. While a growing number of them are becoming wireless only, the vast majority still regard their cell phones/devices as dispensable nice-to-haves especially in North America with extensive and cheap landlines, which makes loyalty even more problematic.

 

Challenging markets require deploying innovative methods and the enabling tools to succeed in them. One of these is social network analysis (SNA). This is the understanding of informal social networks. These can be a circle of friends, work colleagues, neighbors, or just a bunch of people who regularly hang out at a bar, restaurant, or increasingly online, with some commonality between each member. Almost all of us are members of a social network.

 

Information comes into networks where it is spread and discussed amongst the members. At some point in the discussions the leader analyzes and pronounces their take on the information and, where called for, a recommended action that the groups follow.

 

Social networks have long been the most traditional and effective forms of communication because it is spread and analyzed quickly i.e. word of mouth. The information, analysis, and action is accepted and trusted because of the trust and respect each member has of each other.

 

Viral marketing is a new and is becoming the primary tool to reach into social networks for that reason. It aims to connect to the leaders who would then spread the information to the entire group and suggest purchasing the products/services offered by marketers.

 

Because people are social creatures and are in networks, viral marketing is arguably more effective than traditional mass and targeted marketing. To optimize viral marketing results though requires identifying networks, their members, and their leadership to target campaigns. That demands extensive research into what networks people belong to.

 

Mobile/wireless firms can benefit greatly by SNA and viral marketing and are well-placed by their technology to use them. They can through tracking customers’ calling/contacting patterns have a fair idea of their networks and who may be the leaders. Yet to utilize SNA and successfully launch viral marketing campaigns require both expertise and scarce resources.

 

That’s where Idiro Technologies (www.idiro.com) comes in. It provides SNA solutions for mobile operators, and has recently made it easier to do so with its recently introduced Idiro SNA Plus service. 

 

This new comprehensive service is targeted to mobile/wireless network operators in North America and Europe. It is designed to help them address tangible business challenges such as customer acquisition and retention, new service up/cross-selling, and reduced operating costs. 

 

Idiro SNA Plus goes far beyond providing just SNA technology. The solution gives mobile operators access to several critical services, including ongoing consultation and evaluation of existing viral marketing and churn reduction campaigns, and technical training and support. It also includes admittance to Idiro’s popular “Viral Marketing Workshops,” which gives operators practical instruction in the most effective strategies and techniques regarding the proper usage of data-driven viral marketing.

 

Idiro’s data-driven viral marketing approach first identifies appropriate subscribers to be targeted in order to initiate and maximize viral diffusion. It then offers a hands-on approach to creating and implementing specialized word-of-mouth campaigns, and quantifies the results. Operators are not simply offered a how-to manual and then left hanging but are guided each step of the way.

 

Leveraging Idiro’s leading-edge SNA technology, as well as a long history in serving the sophisticated needs of mobile operators, Idiro SNA Plus is delivered to operators for a fixed monthly fee. This financial structure gives operators a risk-free solution that enables them to enjoy the profound benefits of SNA while preserving capital, allocating IT personnel more efficiently, and improving cash flow.

 

Idiro SNA Plus includes several other product modules that help mobile operators/providers reduce subscriber churn, generate revenue through data-driven viral marketing, and lower operating costs. Among these are:

 

--The Idiro Social Model, which is the analytics engine that powers Idiro’s SNA solutions

--Idiro Retentions: predicts churners and influencers who can impact churn

--Idiro Acquisition: brings the science of SNA to member-get-member campaigns

--Idiro Families: identifies families, households and their leaders

--Idiro Fingerprinting: identifies rotational churners (spinners)

 

“In their ongoing search for an improved bottom line, operators have traditionally relied on inefficient and costly customer marketing initiatives,” says Aidan Connolly, chief executive officer for Idiro. “Data-driven viral marketing can drastically increase take-up rates—up to 400 percent—over traditional marketing campaigns. This works for acquisition, cross- and up-sell, and retention campaigns. Data-driven viral marketing is a really valuable element of Idiro SNA Plus. It is a big driver of both revenue and cost savings for our customers.”