Social Effects on Customer Retention at a Mobile Operator
Researchers recognize the role that social interaction has in the adoption of new products or services: word-of-mouth interactions can lessen the risk and uncertainty associated with new products. But what about quitting behavior? If social connections can induce a person to adopt a product or service, can they also lead a person to abandon a product or service? Until recently, it has been difficult to study this question because of the extensive data needed to do so, but in the past few years, researchers have used telecommunications databases to explore social network behavior. In the current research, Irit Nitzan and Barak Libai of Tel Aviv University use a cellular phone company’s database of more than one million customers to examine the influence that customers who leave the company (defectors) have on their first-degree contacts (direct contacts, or “neighbors”) in their social network.
| 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 June 16th, 2010
Protecting your Prepaid Base in a Competitive Market
Wikipedia defines churn as “a possible indicator of customer dissatisfaction, cheaper and/or better offers from the competition, more successful sales and/or marketing by the competition, or reasons having to do with the customer life cycle.” How can you avoid churn and nurture long-term relationships with your prepaid customer base in a competitive market consisting of customers that have no contractual commitment?
In the context of mobile subscribers, “churn prevention” is almost synonymous to “loyalty” and “retention.” While “loyalty” points to the required activities to keep customer faithful, “retention” makes sure customers do not leave, with superior offers and other customer-centric activities, compared to the alternatives provided by the competition. To ensure these two vital factors are fulfilled and have a real impact on your customer base you must establish real-time contextual marketing and selling capabilities.
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