Made For You Review (MFYR) by Spark put the power back in customers hands by allowing them to check if they have the right plan to suit their individual needs.
As the largest telecommunications company in New Zealand, Spark had a lot to lose from competitors battling to grow its market share.
Unlike other businesses that use data insights solely for their benefit, Spark flipped this dynamic and used data insights to deliver a better customer experience. The goal was to empower customers with their own data insights, checking their plan inclusions and value-added services to ensure they suit their needs. This personalised approach aimed to build trust in the brand and lay the foundations for long-lasting customer relationships.
This thinking was influenced by research commissioned by Spark which revealed that New Zealanders needed help in ensuring their services were ‘right-for-them’ as customers’ top reasons for switching included plans not suiting their needs, lack of proactive suggestions for better offers, and a perception of expensive services.
Spark’s campaign aimed to address this by providing personalised insights and recommendations based on each customer’s unique usage and needs. By proactively reviewing customer data and offering tailored solutions, MFYR aimed to increase customer loyalty and their perception of value.
The telecommunications industry presented several challenges for implementing MFYR. Telco services are typically set-and-forget, with low customer engagement. To overcome this, MFYR needed to present customer insights in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format. The campaign also leveraged complex data sets, integrating five disparate data sets and analysing over 2.6 million rows of data. Additionally, creating seamless online and offline experiences required API capabilities and integration between different systems.
To successfully implement MFYR, a whole-of-business approach was essential. A cross-functional team including marketers, product managers, data scientists, data engineers, software developers, and frontline teams worked together to deliver the programme. Integration of data sets that had never been used before in marketing enabled more targeted and relevant customer communications.
Spark’s new frontline dashboard has been instrumental in shaping the development of the Know Your Customer dashboard. It allows the company to gather and analyse customer interactions through staff-assisted channels, which helps them improve customer service. Additionally, the MFYR team has created a special feature that links Adobe with the frontline CRM system. This feature dynamically generates an online link to view each customer’s email, making it easier to stay connected with customers across various Spark channels.
To better understand customer needs and provide genuine recommendations, MFYR integrated new data-sets that marketing hadn’t used before. These data-sets contain dynamic information about wireless services, such as frequency, load, and strength, for every address in New Zealand. By using this data, Spark can accurately suggest wireless plans that are suitable for each customer’s specific location. These solutions enable better targeting for future customer communications, leading to more relevant and improved customer experiences.
And clearly it worked. “I feel valued because you went out of your way to offer a better service,” said one customer in the post campaign customer survey.
“I was impressed that you looked at my account and realised that another package was more suited to my needs,” said another.
MFYR also created one-click change forms to make it easier for customers to switch plans. These forms include three-point authentication, making the process more secure. Instead of going through eight different steps, customers could now complete the change in just one step. These forms are now being used in new campaigns.
Additionally, the front-end capability of MFYR can be reused to enhance customer experiences in other areas. Furthermore, MFYR has built a backend BOT (a kind of automated system) to handle the process of fulfilling plan changes automatically. This BOT is also being used to reduce the need for staff assistance in future campaigns, streamlining the whole process.
Made For You Review was an innovative way to empower customers with personalised data insights. By flipping the dynamic and using data insights for an exceptional customer experience, Spark improved customer engagement, and enhanced trust in the brand. The programmes’ results and continuous improvement mechanisms demonstrate its effectiveness and potential for long-term business value. Spark’s innovative strategy has set a new benchmark for the telco industry, showcasing how data can be harnessed to create meaningful customer experiences and drive business success.
Category
Best Overall Marketing Campaign & Best Data Driven Marketing Campaign
Company
Spark
Marketing Initiative
Made For You Review
Marketing Partners
Proximity New Zealand
Judges’ Comments
“Made For You Review” is a powerful example of the ideal Venn diagram where doing the right thing by the customer, meeting the needs of business, and the use of technology came together to deliver outstanding results for all. It was a complex gamble with significant upfront tech investment underpinned by the discipline to test and validate before moving to a program of scale. Unlocking data for the customer was an empowering move and Spark made sure that all touchpoints were enabled to facilitate customer choice. The level of transparency paid dividends in terms of customer engagement and retention. Thinking evergreen means this campaign will continue to deliver ongoing ROI for the business and no doubt continue to delight customers.
Finalists
Best Overall Marketing Campaign:
ANZ Bank New Zealand, Brother, Fire and Emergency NZ, National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, New Plymouth District Council, Squirrel, Trade Me
Best Data Driven Marketing Campaign: AA Smartfuel, AMI, Spark (Sparks Product Challenge Becoming Marketing Data Gold!)
This article was originally published in the September/October 2023 issue of NZ Marketing. Click here to subscribe.
