5 Tips for Increasing Online Conversions for Telecoms Businesses

The global telecommunications industry is booming, even amid COVID-19. Some point to the new normal of remote working and distance learning as growth factors – and they’re likely on the right track.

Verizon in the U.S. reported an increase of nearly 50 percent in VPN traffic and about 30% in web traffic in April 2020, as compared to a typical day pre-pandemic. LG Uplus in South Korea saw a rise in both sales and profits during the first quarter of 2020, too. Revenue increased by almost 15% from the previous year, while operating profit increased by more than 11%.

In addition, more than 20% of households in the U.S. with three or more children have upgraded their broadband service as of May 2020. Almost 14% of households with two children and nearly 10% of single-child homes did the same.

Increasing market share amid the fierce competition has been a constant challenge for telecoms businesses, but it has never been more important. Whether you are a newcomer or a well-established name in the industry, your focus during these uncertain times must be on how to increase online conversions.

There’s no way around it: users truly care about their online experiences. So, to drive up conversions across the board, telecom brands must fine-tune and optimize the digital experiences across websites and apps – or conversions will lag. In fact, a well-designed user interface could raise your website’s conversion rate by up to a 200%, and superior user experiences could yield conversion rates up to 400%.

To produce similar results, you’ll need to prioritize a few strategic areas of the online customer experience that keep users moving through the conversion funnel.

5 Ways Telecoms Companies Can Improve Customer Experience and Boost Online Conversion Rates

You don’t always have to execute huge campaigns. Everything counts — from small changes in a landing page design to a complete digital marketing overhaul.

Below are five noteworthy points from which you can start optimizing customer experience to draw in more online conversions.

1. Cultivate a Genuine Multichannel Brand Presence

Businesses today can interact with their target audience through a variety of channels. The average consumer expects to connect with their favorite brands not only through visiting brick-and-mortar stores and official websites but through social media platforms, as well.

When it comes to telecoms customers, 70% visit a minimum of two channels to gather information about a brand. In Europe, half of all telecoms consumers research through one channel but complete a purchase through another. It’s no longer enough to have information about your services on your website. If customers are looking elsewhere, even the best web page copy won’t do the job.

However, building a large audience for the sake of seeing your follower count go up on a certain platform is not a good idea. Many social networks amplify or limit organic reach based on your user engagement. It’s better to have a smaller audience that’s regularly engaged than a bigger one that doesn’t care.

2. Consider Video Marketing or Offering Video as One of Your Core Services

As internet speeds increased over the decades, video has steadily become a lucrative type of marketing content. A simple addition of a  video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. However, it’s worth remembering that more than 90% of consumers view videos with the sound turned off. If you’re going to create videos for your audience, consider adding captions.

When Verizon invested in video marketing by adding the content type throughout its website, the company observed a boost in conversions and a reduction in call center volumes.

Today, Verizon still features a promotional video on its homepage – which promotes its video-on-demand service. The latter is a great tactic. Providing your target audience with video services can also increase online conversions and further engage your loyal customers.

China Telecom launched a video-on-demand streaming service in 2014, and in two years the business accumulated 2 million new subscribers. Today, they own about 20% of the video subscription market share.

3. Launch a Targeted Content Marketing Campaign

Content marketing has always been an excellent tool to engage an audience.

More than 85% of companies use blog content in marketing initiatives, compared to other channels or formats. Of course, this strategy only works if your content is something your target audience will want to read. You may find it advantageous to create partnerships with entities that have a better grasp of content marketing than you do.

When Virgin Mobile partnered with BuzzFeed to create blog content, the telecoms business experienced a significant brand lift of more than 235% in about 15% of the audience that came across the Buzzfeed content through social sharing. More than 10% of people exposed to the marketing campaign said they were considering switching or staying with Virgin Mobile for their next phone.

4. Focus on Clear and Concise Product Differentiation

Do your customers understand all the features your telecoms business offers? Are they aware of all the products and services you provide?

Using marketing language when naming products or service packages – words like mega, turbo, or ultra are good examples – can engage customers and encourage them to click on a button to find out more. However, plain language is needed for people to grasp exactly what you mean.

With vague and bombastic words, customers may even complain that you’re not being transparent. The sentiment can be enough to drive them into your competitors’ arms.

Telstra in Australia boosted customer satisfaction by more than 15 percent within a few months when they created one-page descriptions of their varied offerings using simple words.

5. Provide Customers with Value to Earn Their Loyalty

For 25% of telecoms business marketers, the foremost path to countering competitor threats is better customer experience.

Differentiated products can be the core of a great marketing strategy, but it is essential not to miss the forest for the trees. You must provide differentiated value, as well — especially if you are looking not only to increase online conversions but also to strengthen customer retention.

To do the latter, you must invest in customer service and customer experience. One out of every three consumers stops patronizing a brand after a single negative experience. In the U.S., nearly nine out of 10 will switch loyalties and buy from a competing business.

When Telstra observed what product differentiation did for their customer satisfaction metric, the business continued to find more ways to implement similar tactics. You can see in the screenshot above that Telstra encourages subscribers to use their customer support mobile app. This fosters direct communication between the telecoms business and its subscribers.

Sometimes, it takes more than digital marketing to make a difference. A telco in Hong Kong was experiencing a high volume of customer complaints due to service network outages that lasted hours at a time. The business invested in their engineering proficiency, which allowed them to identify and respond to the outages faster. Notifications were sent to subscribers about unavoidable service problems and what the company was doing to solve the issues.

As a result, the Hong Kong telco’s customer retention program flourished as complaints dropped more than 40 percent.

How Can Medallia Digital Experience Analytics Help Telecoms Businesses Raise Online Conversion Rates?

In any conversation about creating a better customer experience, digital experience improvement should be a key topic.

With the current changes in routines and lifestyles due to COVID-19, managing the online customer experience has never been more vital. Medallia Digital Experience Analytics platform can serve you purpose-built experience metrics to do just that. Also, you’ll find out which channels to focus on to bring home the biggest and best potential wins.

Download The Essential Tools of Digital Experience Analytics to discover the place for each tool in your digital experience strategy, and how to get the most out of them to maximize actionable insights.