Stopping Postpaid Bleeding with Contextual Marketing
Growth in the postpaid subscriber segment is slowing precipitously across the industry. Stifel Nicolaus analysts estimate that prepaid subscribers grew by 14.7 percent year-over-year while postpaid subscribers grew by only 2.9 percent year-over-year (Wirelessweek.com 21 May 2010). Considering the significantly higher revenue generated by postpaid customers (vs. prepaid), this is not exactly exciting news. So, is losing postpaid customers an unstoppable trend, or is there a way to alleviate the pain?
| Leave a Comment March 10th, 2011
AOM – A Practitioner Report
My name is Atzmon Hen-tov and I am the Chief Software Architect at Pontis (www.pontis.com). I would like to share with you my experience with AOM and the business benefits Pontis gains from using AOM.
First, some background about Pontis. Pontis provides Targeted Marketing in the Telecommunications and Cable-TV domains. Targeted Marketing means that end-users get only offers and promotions that are relevant to them and they get them at the right time. For example, just before you load money to your pre-paid phone, we’ll offer you to extend the amount and get a special bonus (e.g., 100 free short messages). We deploy our systems at the customer premises and typically integrate with 10-15 customer systems. Each customer has a distinct set of systems we need to integrate with and a lot of other differences from other customers. Read more
| Leave a Comment February 3rd, 2011
Be Smart with Your Prepay Mart
Two important trends in the telecommunications market cannot be overlooked: the penetration of Smartphone and the fact that prepaid customers outnumbered postpaid customers in 2010. True, these two trends seem completely unrelated. Yet, the combination of both trends may have a significant effect on service providers’ revenues and marketing strategy.
According to Gartner research, by end of 2012 over 75% of enterprise mobile users will have a Smartphone, driven by low service costs (Gartner Hype Cycle for Wireless Devices, Software and Services, 2010). Frost and Sullivan, ICT Practice supports this by claiming that Asia Pacific will be driven by price decline and application richness, with Smartphones expected to be mass marketed by 2015 and account for 60% of mobile sub base in Asia Pacific.
Add to this rapid growth the remarkable pace of technology adoption. Today’s coolest device becomes old fashioned in about six months. This makes the whole “exclusive” positioning of Smartphones very short lived. If iPhones and various Smartphone devices used to be perceived as luxurious items, today this socio-economical-mobile-device segmentation seems irrelevant. Welcome to the prepaid world.
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| Leave a Comment December 8th, 2010
What impact will MVNOs have on developing prepaid markets?
Although MVNOs are perceived as competition, MVNOs actually reduce mobile operators’ operational costs for billing, sales, customer service, and marketing. By providing new applications and tariff plans, MVNOs help mobile operators fight churn and grow ARPU – so that the symbiotic relationship should be perceived as an opportunity rather than a threat. Read more
| Leave a Comment September 27th, 2010
Pontis Named Sample Vendor in 11 Gartner Hype Cycles Read
Pontis has been identified as a Sample Vendor during July and August 2010 in 11 Gartner Hype Cycles. Gartner’s Hype Cycles provide a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities. To read the Hype Cycles please visit: www.gartner.com
| Leave a Comment September 27th, 2010
Pontis Covered at IBC Show Amsterdam
During the months of September, Pontis participated at IBC – the premier annual conference and exhibition for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and media content worldwide. Pontis demoed its solution for TV content providers, enabling to dynamically deliver tailored content offerings to subscribers
| Leave a Comment September 5th, 2010
The Pain in Spain: Fake SIM Activation
Spain has one of the largest mobile markets in Europe, with effective competition from four mobile network operators and a growing number of resellers. The economic crisis, combined with new EU regulations and the fierce competition has driven down the cost of mobile calls by 35% since 2005. As if that’s not enough, the Spanish prepaid mobile market has encountered another challenge which seriously affected ARPU. Fake SIM activations, also known as “revolving doors”, have recently hit Spain, significantly impacting operators’ revenue. Some users activate a new card due to the loss of an old SIM, but others take advantage of an attractive acquisition offer (e.g. free airtime, subsidized handset…). In such a case, the old SIM remains dormant and in due time is considered a churned customer.How can operators handle such a phenomenon? How can they identify and differentiate between the different kinds of SIM activations, and more importantly – how can they be prevented? Read more
| Leave a Comment July 20th, 2010
Case Study: Enriching Marketing Campaigns With Context Pays Off for a Tier 1 European Mobile Operator
Gartner has published a case study* in which they document how the use of real-time, contextual information, targeted highly relevant offers to individual customers, have helped a Tier 1 European provider boost their service revenue from prepaid phones, enhance customer loyalty and reduce churn.
The main findings illustrate how the operator has succeeded to follow and better understand the individual needs of their entire customer base and based on this data offered specific targeted prices and products which were highly relevant to individual subscribers. Due to the real-time execution and automatic fulfillment of these offers allowing quick follow-up, and guaranteeing higher response rates, the operator had succeeded to increase overall revenue per subscriber: “offerings that are personalized to the customer segment and presented when the customer is most receptive generate tangible new revenue.”
In this example, the case study highlights how the operator’s “acceptance of promotional offers rose from 2% – 10%.” It further explores how the operator has managed to create an ongoing dialogue with their customers.
Furthermore, the case study recommends that “vendors should target the marketing team, rather than the IT or business intelligence (BI) teams with their products. Highlight that this type of approach allows marketers to radically change the way in which they create and manage promotions”
In addition it is recommended that: “Communications service providers (CSPs) should select a vendor with a proven track record of successful implementations and comprehensive consulting services — they will need to rely on the vendor’s advice to avoid the most common mistakes when creating this new type of campaign”.*
Gartner, Inc.:. Publication ID Number: G00175497
Gartner research is available at www.gartner.com
| Leave a Comment July 20th, 2010
Russia the Freedom of Choice: Multi SIM Ownership Drives Churn and Decreases ARPU
Russia has the largest mobile market in Central and Eastern Europe and is continuously growing. At the end of May 2009 the total number of subscribers reached 194.7 millions, with customers being wooed by three major service providers (MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon). Competition has further intensified with the growing penetration of multiple SIM ownership. As the majority of handsets are not purchased through the operators but rather from independent stores, Russian mobile operators could not lock handsets to their networks, and consequently customers can benefit from different operators’ SIMs on a daily basis. Read more
| Leave a Comment July 20th, 2010
Pontis recognised as “Cool Vendor” for Context-Aware Computing 2010
Gartner has recognised Pontis as a “Cool Vendor” in their 2010 report, highlighting that, “…context will be a technology that redefines customer experiences and relationships, and, as these Cool Vendors demonstrate, it can deliver value in 2010.”
The report is based on evaluation of vendors that are innovative, impactful and intriguing. The Marketing Delivery Platform™ allows mobile, TV and fixed line operators to target customers with contextual marketing offers.
Real-time contextual marketing andselling, based on a customer’s lifecycle and real-time events, enables operators to push price and product offers at the right time, increasing the response rate by as much as 10%. In today’s fierce competitive markets where power is shifting to the customer, Pontis’ solution helps operators to develop personal relationships with their customers.
Furthermore, the Pontis’ solution allows operators to run hundreds of highly targeted promotional offers simultaneously on a monthly basis, which can be implemented within days, rather than weeks.
Gartner, Inc. Publication ID Number: G00175299
Gartner research is available at www.gartner.com
| Leave a Comment July 20th, 2010
Segmentation vs. Behavioral Life Cycle Management:Getting the most of Your Marketing Efforts
The saturation levels of mobile markets and the low exit barriers for customers have caused many operators to shift the weight of their marketing efforts from new customer acquisition to customer retention. As part of this trend, operators are investing lots of funds on sophisticated customer segmentation solutions. Yet, are these segmentation efforts really delivering the desired results? Are common proactive marketing practices, based on traditional segmentation succeeding to increase customer loyalty and profitability?
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