Thursday, April 29. 2010Customer Retention Is Becoming Ever More Important.......John Linton ....in the 'flat/declining' ADSL marketplaces. http://www.smh.com.au/business/optus-move-leaves-telstra-markets-dearest-provider-20100428-tske.html I've commented on it before but, as anyone would know, when a market place flattens the only growth of any individual supplier's business in those marketplaces can only come from other suppliers. If that isn't obvious then the plethora of new ADSL plans now being offered by almost all ADSL suppliers would be an indication that such an eternal verite is taking place right now.....across the spectra of marketplaces and suppliers. Exetel is no exception and we see the increasing loss of current customers to Telstra (via their "special welcome back" offers from their outsourced call centres calling all "ex-Telstra" ADSL users) and to the saturation advertising by TPG and AAPT with their unlimited offers - I notice AAPT is now fighting with TPG for advertising space on Sydney buses). We do an analysis of our ADSL users each month (as we do for all of our services) and we pay particular attention to both 'churn aways' and 'churn tos' in looking at what effect various marketplaces changes are having. In general terms this hasn't changed much over the past two years with the largest 'destination' being TPG or Telstra and the largest source being Telstra and TPG - work that out if you can. However there is more volatility than there ever has been in the past (in both directions) so it is increasingly hard to 'read'. One thing that is still very pleasing is the percentage of customers who stay with Exetel longer. We still have three of the first five customers who signed up with us and over 3,000 customers have been with us for more than five years now with another 15,000 being with us for more than four years. We have been working on ways of increasing the 'satisfaction' of the customer experience for our longer term customers and need to make more effort in this direction. Our first major foray has been to offer unlimited plans to longer term customers at the lowest price on the market and this has been taken up by a significant number of our higher downloading customers - which was good to see. This was only possible because of the new, much lower, IP costs we are now beginning to see the benefits from and we will need to take a new approach to buying IP in the future to sustain this program. We are about to offer wireless broadband as a 'no charge' back up service to our current customers with a zero cost per month if the customer signs up for a new 12 month contract and heavily discounted modem pricing for those customers who decide to do that. This should also appeal to customers who may want to use the internet while travelling which will be some proportion (perhaps over 70%) when you consider the number of customers who own laptops/notebooks as well as a desktop. In any event we believe that a significant number of our customers will be interested in a zero cost per month/pfwyu wireless broadband service with the condition that they must have a concurrent ADSL service with us. We have had a 'Pioneer Discount' scheme in place for almost five years now which rewards the remainder of the first 1,000 people who signed up with us (around 500) with discounts off their current ADSL monthly charges of up to $15.00 a month depending on what plan they were originally on. We are considering extending this scheme, at a different level of discount, for people who have remained with us for five years and perhaps then extending an offer to people who have been with us for four years. However we have yet to work out the actualities of doing that. These times, tough as they are now, are undoubtedly going to get tougher as the ADSL provider companies that have 'publicly committed' to growth numbers in ADSL find it harder and harder not just to meet their predicted growth but to maintain their current customer numbers. Good for current ADSL customers though. PS: I loved the Tacitus quote: Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2010
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Hi,
The backup HSPA at no monthly charge except for usage is a great idea. It would be wonderful if that was possible. I've got several ADSL accounts that were connected in 2005, so I guess that puts me into the 5 years customer list! I'd be happy if you could just waive the $10 plan change fee for the odd time I change plans (on the same line speed); just so I can keep my plan on a current plan easily and without cost. I'd be happy if that was the only loyalty scheme / pioneer discount I received if that was easy for you to implement. Comment (1)
I too find it strange that we have to pay to move to a current plan that isn't "Grandfathered". I did suggest something about this on the forum:
http://forum.exetel.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=35936 but as you can see I was told by Exetel "I doubt it, if you see value in the new plans, you should factor in the ROI when selecting them." Oh well... times change. I'm pretty sure I remember ForumAdmin stating years ago that it doesn't cost them anything for a non infrastructure/speed change change. Comments (2)
We have varied the plan change charge from $0.00 to as high as $90.00 (for a very short time) over the past 6 + years.
We use it to recover the cost of ADSL1 speed changes and to recover the cost of "stuff ups" (all caused by a customer doing something wrong or not reading something) which costs us money to handle. ADSL1 speed changes always cost us money. Comments (5)
The idea of a free wireless plan with an ADSL connection is absolutely brilliant.
Would it be a WM A style, or WI A style? I ask because we have a WM A plan which we purchased for almost exclusive internet use, but with the big advantage that we could also use it for phone calls in areas where our non-Exetel/non-Optus SIMs did not have coverage. It was both a backup internet and phone connection. A free backup wireless broadband connection, with users only paying for data they use, will be a big draw card I think. If its a WM A style plan, targeting smartphone owners who have minimal phone use but big data use on their phone would surely be a better option than 'bundles' offered by Telstra/Optus? Comment (1)
G'day I had a workmate just get one of those welcome back offers when he phoned up to see about a mobile phone contract. He got offered 25 gig adsl2 + line rental and all local calls for $99, which he took as no other provider has a dslam in his exchange and wanted the extra speed.
Comment (1)
Do you think many people think that "unlimited local calls" is a sensible deal?
Comments (5)
Great to hear about your backup HSPA idea. I currently pay $5 for this on an old HSPA C3 plan. Are you going to offer existing ADSL+Wireless customers a chance to move to this new free backup plan without having to pay for a new SIM etc? I'd also welcome an opportunity to purchase a discounted modem too... I currently replace the SIM in my mobile phone when I need backup broadband but it's less than ideal. I do find it amusing that when I became a "pioneer" member there was no ADSL "contract" period as (I'm guessing)you wanted to attract a lot of people in your start-up phase. I then became a BETA ADSL2+ tester for you which "locked" me into Exetel for the first time (12 months contract) and now for a cheap HSPA modem I guess I'll be locking myself into Exetel again for another 12 months. Not that I mind, I'm just thankful I found Exetel so early in the piece. Keep up the great work and thanks for the great and affordable service.
Comments (2)
Yes, we will find a suitable process for current users to transfer to the new "ADSL USer Only" plan.
Comments (5)
Thanks for that possible consideration. It was only day before yesterday (27 Apr 2010) that I applied for a WM A plan and SIM card to serve as a backup to my wireline ADSL1.
Comment (1)
Some executive "defination" banter:
http://apcmag.com/oh-dear-optus-does-it-again-unlimited-doesnt-mean-unlimited.htm Comment (1)
All the customer retention plans outlined above are great ideas and I look forward to being retained for another 6 years!
Comment (1)
Great idea with the backup wireless plan. Would jump on that in a flash..
to go OT for a sec...I had a interesting experience at work today in regards to Exetel. Our company is gradually switching over to VOIP (35k + employees). Its our turn in a month. This raised the question of VOIP to my work mates. They didnt quite 'get it'. I brought up my latest Exetel Voip Bill online and proceeded to show them my pages of STD calls for 10c. Then I showed them my mobile $5 pack and how my wife....who rings me via VOIP daily to my mobile will be lucky to exceed the 5 dollar limit. I got a sequence of 'we have to talk'. I was then reminded by one of them how over two years ago 'we talked' as I, apparently, saw him about to sign up for Bigpond online, he has been with Exetel since. I would imagine it is getting harder to break the TPG and Telstra advertising, and deals. A wireless backup is a significant differentiator in the current market. PS As someone who has been around for a considerable time I find the Pioneer discounts an exceptional way to recognize long term customers, the extension of a scheme like this is a great idea as Exetel continues to grow Comment (1)
Thank you for sharing that.
Maybe one day Exetel will be the sort of company your employer can consider for their VoIP services? Comments (5)
John
A thought on further recognition of Pionner customers; if you ever decide to float the company or something similar provide a preference to those customers to take up the offer (I know a float is unlikely at this stage) I was heartened the other day to be talking to a freind who, when I told him I was with Exetel, told me that his mid size company was already talking to Exetel about their requirements - sounds like your sales team is getting out there! (I don't think I can score a referral fee on a commercial account can I!) Comment (1)
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