Orange

Background:

With the advent of the mobile internet, Orange wanted to educate and inform its customers of new Orange World services (Orange's Mobile Internet Portal) that were particularly relevant to them. Orange and Enpocket worked together on a multiple award winning SMS program that succeeded in signing up and engaging hundreds of thousands of new mobile Web users by driving them to targeted content. SMS dramatically boosts understanding and uptake of Orange World data services.

Objectives:

• Increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by growing mobile Web subscriber base at a cost per trial of under £1

• Sign-up hundreds of thousands of users to the service without impacting service levels within the call centers

• Maintain and increase usage for the long term

Solution:

Research had shown Orange that there were two main reasons why many subscribers were not using its mobile Web service:

1. Costs – perceived to be expensive; complicated pricing structure
2. Content – out of date and generally difficult to find

The long-term objective for Orange, and all mobile  operators, is to drive customers to adopt 3rd Generation services and introduce downloading music or videos at a premium as the norm. Mobile Web was seen as the starting point in this customer journey and so it was strategically important for Orange to increase the number of mobile Web subscribers. Orange and Enpocket devised an educational SMS program. Customers were offered a free subscription to mobile Web services (usually £4 per month) for three months. To sign up subscribers a 2-way SMS mechanic was employed that simply allowed customers to respond 'Yes' to an outbound SMS in order to activate the three month trial. This enabled the acquisition of large volumes of customers without heavily impacting on budgets and valuable call center resources.

From the beginning, the program was based on deep analysis and profiling of the Orange subscriber base so that customers would only get tips relevant to them. For example, once a customer with a Nokia phone had signed up they would get a relatively simple handset tip to begin with. Early life Customers then received 7 increasingly targeted 'How to..' text tips over a 12 week period to = drive an understanding of what was available on the portal that was relevant to them. Analysis of the data allowed Enpocket and Orange to drive the communications strategy based on real-time behavioral usage of mobile Web.  Based on the data, customers were sent SMS messages related to content that was relevant to them. For example, customers viewing football pages were instructed how to add the homepage of their football team to their bookmarks through tips and mobile Web links.  By simply clicking on  links in the message, the customer could access the content immediately. SMS offered the only two-way channel that could both effectively drive customers to targeted content and educate them as to the value of mobile Web services. This trial was the first true mobile CRM program that Orange has introduced, and it has since become a permanent program.

Results

• An overwhelming success with more than 250,000 new mobile Web subscribers

• The 15% adoption rate was far higher and the churn rate far lower than any other media channel used

• ROI achieved: The campaign generated a 250% return on investment

• Proves the sustainability and ability of SMS as an ongoing communications tool with customers

Research shows that it satisfied customers’ requirement for concise and relevant information. The Orange Tips program became the first mobile marketing project to win an award from the Direct Marketing Association. It also won Gold and Silver in two separate categories at the 2004 CRM Awards.