Vodafone, made for Ireland.
Mobile service provider creates personalized app experiences to build engagement and loyalty among diverse customer segments.
Created compelling brand interactions beyond transactions to build affinity for Vodafone
Objectives
- Creating more personalized customer experiences
- Leveraging mobile app to regularly engage with customers
- Enabling anytime, anywhere self-service options for customers
Results
- Enabled unique customer interactions across each audience segment
- Created compelling brand interactions beyond transactions to build affinity for Vodafone
- Adopted the most relevant value-added and cost-avoidance opportunities for every customer segment
- 200K monthly and 50K daily active users
Of the time
Ireland today balances a powerful history and rich culture and traditions with fast-paced, ultra-modern technologies that support everything from everyday citizen activities to the offices of Fortune 500 companies in city centers. Within that environment is Vodafone, one of the world’s leading mobile service providers with over 400 million customers, operating in more than 30 countries and through 50 partner networks.
Understanding the evolving landscape, Vodafone sees Ireland as a key European market with tremendous growth potential. However, the mobile service provider also recognizes the country’s uniqueness, which requires a high-level of personal touch that harkens to a not-so-distant past. This knowledge is driving Vodafone to engage each of its customer segments—business, contract, and pay-as-you-go—with tailored conversations.
While some mobile companies still focus only on success metrics like call deflection and cost savings, Vodafone matured its marketing and service conversations around improving customer relationships—boosting customer satisfaction and engagement. A key component of this is providing customers with the greatest amount of control as possible over their plans. This also means that customers need the tools to view and manage their accounts immediately.
The result was an app that speaks to the broadest audience possible and could be personalized to each customer segment. “We restructured our teams around the customer insight we were getting from Adobe Analytics and we extensively used Target on our site to test everything from content to UX. So, we already had a good sense as to what customers wanted to see and we used that data to direct how we communicated usage, billing information, and other details,” says Brian Corish, Head of Digital at Vodafone Ireland. “The challenge was customizing those experiences to increase the app’s appeal to each group to make it something customers use regularly.”
To support more personal experiences, Vodafone needed to dive deeper into customer data and segments to refine messages. Additionally, it needed the means to actively engage in ways that customers wanted—through personalized offers and value-added discussions, as well as avoiding potentially negative experiences. For example, if a customer is passing by a store and has been looking at the website or using the app, they would receive a targeted notification.
“Using Adobe Marketing Cloud, we can tap into data to see what our customers are doing and what they’re responding to, and then make those experiences better across all our digital touchpoints.”
Brian Corish
Head of Digital at Vodafone Ireland
Making a great app greater
Using Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target, Vodafone is enriching its understanding of customer segments to deliver targeted interactions. From in-app messages and offers to push messages, the company can measure, analyze, and optimize experiences to increase engagement.
“On any day, we have up to 50,000 customers logging into the app to review their plans, add minutes or data, pay their bills, and more,” says Corish. “Using Adobe solutions can tap into data to see what our customers are doing and what they’re responding to, and then make those experiences better.”
With in-app banners and content, Vodafone is leveraging audience segment data to boost relevancy. For example, its contract and business customers may receive messages about new phone releases or ways to optimize their plans. Alternatively, pay-as-you-go customers might receive messages about discounted voice, data, and text packages. For each group, the company is also careful not to provide offers that aren’t available within a plan type.
One way that Vodafone has targeted customers is through a top-up campaign that encourages pay-as-you-go customers to buy more minutes, data, and texts by incenting them with free additional services. For example, for customers who typically buy €10, the company would offer them an additional €5 in service for free if they opted for a €20 purchase.
Customer focused
Vodafone didn’t stop at creating personalized offers and messages with its new digital marketing platform. Using push and in-app messages, the company uses Adobe solutions to provide personal updates and reminders when minutes are low, helping them avoid dropped calls due to lack of minutes or other poor experiences. Contract customers also receive alerts to add minutes as needed so they don’t get overage fees.
“Our app is as much about avoiding negative interactions with customers as it is about supporting positive experiences,” says Corish. “Adobe solutions give us both the information and the means to activate data and address both challenges at the same time.”
In-app and push messages are also supporting core marketing activities, promoting special offers broadly and for each segment. Across all groups, Vodafone sends messages about valuable promotions, such as free calling on Christmas day for all users. In parallel, pay-as-you-go customers receive information holiday gift sets, including a phone, accessory, and a free month of a partner app, such as a streaming video service.
Data collected with Adobe Analytics and Target helps the company look beyond transactional relationships with customers and create meaningful brand interactions. For instance, Vodafone can use billing and location information to inform customers about brand events in the area, such as a music festival, and build loyalty beyond the quality of service or the competitive price point.
Real engagement
The most telling sign of the app’s effectiveness has been the rate of adoption across customer segments. Overall, the app has been downloaded over 422,000 times by customers. On a monthly basis, approximately 200,000 unique Vodafone customers across customer segments access the company’s app to pay a bill, monitor usage, view promotions, and more. As compared to Vodafone apps available in other markets across Europe, the Vodafone Ireland app has the highest engagement, by percentage.
“It’s fantastic that we’ve had as many downloads as we have had, but that is just a small piece of the story,” says Corish. “The exciting piece has been that customers have come back to the app again and again because they find it truly useful. In turn, we’re developing a following for the app and increasing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.”
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