Rising competition in the market means that telecom operators have to work increasingly hard to gain market share. To stay competitive, many telcos are moving beyond the traditional means of delivering their product offerings and managing the distribution chain. As a result, in an effort to boost their sales and increase revenues, sales promotions and campaign management have become an essential part of the promotional mix used by telcos.
Even though a well-executed and targeted promotional campaign can result in a short-term increase in sales and service usage, the bigger question remains if it is a sustainable strategy. The increasing customer churn rates and the subsequent decline in revenue is a much larger and critical concern for telecom operators. Hence, it is imperative for them to develop sustainable strategies that not only help telcos in achieving their targets but also yield efficient results in the long term.
Challenges
Despite the apparent increase in short-term sales; tracking the effects of sales promotions, in the long run, can be tricky. Research carried out in Nigeria to study the behavior of subscribers in response to promotional campaigns, revealed that very few customers increased the long-term consumption of services offered by telcos even though they were being offered sales promotions.
Considering that the distribution chain of telcos is mapped across many different regions, reaching out to them and educating them on the new campaigns can be ineffective and time-consuming if the process is carried out manually. Without a digital platform, it can be difficult for telecom operators to track the performance of the campaigns in real-time and take measures accordingly. It is imperative to measure the ROI and the growth in sales in correspondence to the campaign to gauge the impact. However, without the right tools at hand, tracking and measuring the performance and impact of promotional campaigns can be taxing.
Why are campaign management systems business-critical?
The reach and impact of the campaign management system (CMS) are unprecedented, predominantly because it is a fast, reliable, and cost-effective means of managing promotional campaigns. Campaign management systems enable telecom operators to set predefined incentives which increases the transaction volume for distributors and resellers. Consequently, with this at hand, the telcos are better equipped to deal with and combat challenges like high customer churn and stagnating revenue.
One of the major differentiating factors in CMS which sets telcos apart from their competitors is the ability to set the promotion criteria for different resellers. Through this, they can increase the motivation of resellers to generate more sales and improve loyalty. In addition to that, resellers and distributors can benefit from intelligent alerts about their sales performance which also serves as a reminder to keep the momentum going. The advanced reporting feature can also facilitate telecom operators to capture insights from ongoing campaigns and extract sales and promotion trends for strategic action.
Sustainable growth with sales promotions and campaigns
Over the past years, digital technology has caused a significant change in customer behavior. The rising competition accelerated by the digital transformation of service delivery has increased customer churn as subscribers are always on the lookout for better deals and promotions. Owing to this, an integrated marketing solution to boost sales and improve customer loyalty has become an indispensable tool for telecom operators. Strategies like segmented marketing and targeted campaigns with short iterations are being employed by companies to get measurable results and actionable insights. This is why more telecom companies are moving towards CMS platforms to not only keep pace with industry trends but also yield effective results through increased visibility and control of the entire distribution chain.
From an operational standpoint, CMS provides an all-in-one platform for telcos to create, monitor, and manage their campaigns for all resellers and distributors. With cost-effectiveness and flexibility as its strong suits, this dynamic solution enables telecom operators to create different campaigns for various promotional purposes for different resellers. Through this, they are able to take strategic action and meet the requirements of resellers according to regional market conditions. For the purpose of incentive management, telcos can also distribute bonuses based on the performance of resellers in real-time to motivate them to achieve higher sales targets. Subsequently, this can lead to an immediate spike in sales and revenue in the short term as well.
Solutions
To derive maximum and long-lasting value out of sales promotions and campaigns, telcos need to make use of intelligent campaigns that target the right customer segment with the right incentive. Smart promotion campaign management can help telecom operators retain customers in the long run and harness the power of digital platforms to leverage sustainable revenue growth.
In the fast-moving and evolving telecom industry, intelligent and digitized campaigns for the distribution chain can help operators to overcome challenges like market maturity and high customer churn.
Head over to our guide to learn more about optimizing revenue growth in the telecom industry given the macroeconomic and structural challenges that are unique to this sector.
