1. MARKET SITUATION

In the past decade, the Flemish telecom market evolved towards maturity. 96% of Flemish households have Internet at home, 83% watch digital television and 81% of Flemings have smartphones. What is more interesting is the adoption of smart products and services at home. 48% has a smart TV, 31% has access to Netflix and 22% tracks its activity through wearables (Digimeter 2018).

The full-service telco market is divided between two main leaders (Proximus, Telenet) and a rising strong challenger brand (Orange). Other players who offer bundles only account for +- 15% of market share in Belgium. In the evolution towards a mature market all main players have followed the same strategy of focussing on techs, specs and bundles.

Connectivity hardware was hardly a focus of the telecom market; while entertainment had become an important differentiator in the market. External competition from Netflix drove the innovation level further upwards.

Telenet is market leader for bundles (60% market share for 3-product and 4-product bundles in Flanders). However, Orange attacks Telenet on the low end of the market, undercutting Telenet’s pricing at the same quality. Meanwhile, Proximus holds the leader position in mobile. Furthermore, Proximus started focusing on the entertainment story as well, supported with promo tactics and a good quality perception. This resulted in Telenet experiencing pressure on both the low- and the high-end side of the market.

2. OBJECTIVES

Telenet wants to grow from product campaigns focused on techs and specs, to a proactive innovation approach focused on customer experience. They want to do this by reaching the following goals:

• Put at least 200.000 Telenet internet families in motion and make them participate by the end of 2018.
• Create a churn saving of 8k/year vs. run rate.
• Increase the NPS by 5 points (isolated effect of the new initiative on NPS from users). The new initiative should also have a positive effect on the NPS of all Telenet customers (including those who did not receive a smart WiFi booster).
• Generate positive effects on the overall brand image of Telenet, specifically the value-for-money and WiFi perception, with all Telenet internet customer.

3. STRATEGY

Telenet is confronted with a paradox. The industry is pushing towards faster speed and abundance of internet, while consumers still face basic problems at the core of their in-home connectivity experience. Therefore, we must ask ourselves the question: What’s the value of speed without reach?

Telenet blazes the trail in order to reframe the speed and spec debate in the market by taking full responsibility of the connectivity promise in every corner of the home. In this strategy, there is no value in speed without reach. Therefore, Telenet decided to tackle the WiFi needs of its customers once and for all by offering a scalable WiFi solution to the entire customer base. An experience guarantee every internet customer can count on. Telenet aims to show that perfect in-home connectivity can be achieved in every corner of the house, regardless the type of house, in a simple way. To simply having it run smoothly beyond the modem. Beyond where Telenet has total control. To start where every other telecom operator stops.

Additionally, Telenet has to bring it to the market while focusing on providing a service that increases the value perception for current customers without increasing the actual price. To achieve this, Telenet wants to make 3 fundamental shifts:

1. From a focus on speed to a focus on experience
2. From one-off promo tactics to a brand promise
3. From problem to pro-active opportunity

Telenet wants to solve the negative perception around in-home connectivity and increase customer satisfaction by launching a new proactive proposition towards existing clients where it matters the most, in the hearts of their own homes.

Introducing: the smartest WiFi-system ever!
Finally, WiFi that reaches every place you want it.

Telenet customers start with scanning their house through the app to check for any WiFi blank spots. The scan works as a win-win mechanic to increase customer satisfaction. If the scan doesn’t detect blank spots, it confirms the good quality of internet you already have with your Telenet modem. If the scan does detect blank spots, you are offered an immediate smart WiFi-solution.

The smartest WiFi-system makes sure existing customers receive a simple and quick solution to improve their basic need for qualitative WiFi at home without needing technological knowledge to achieve it. Three keywords were used to describe the functionalities: fast, simple, everywhere. Three keywords which are easy to understand and actually carry meaning for the consumers. They claim the technological innovation without complicating it.

On a rational level, customers get more out of their in-home connectivity after scanning their house and the smartest WiFi-system delivers more value for their Telenet money. Above all, the in-home connectivity proposition has a direct emotional effect: there is attention and innovation exclusively for existing customers and that leads to extra satisfaction.

To make this disruption tangible we recreated the WiFi symbol. The traditional WiFi symbol immediately shows the restriction of WiFi: starting from a single dot and only reaching a part of the spectrum. That’s why Telenet decided to disrupt the symbol. Instead of a dot, it puts the house in the center. Moreover, it reaches the whole spectrum, not just a part of it. Its simple but dynamic design is able to spread the message without having to put it in words.

4. RESULTS

The smartest WiFi-system ever shows a clear win-win situation for both parties. The 364.944 participating families saw a lingering WiFi frustration pro-actively being solved and received a free, high quality hardware device. Resulting in a -37,8% churn decrease and significant NPS uplift at these families. Telenet was able to introduce a new key differentiator, superior WiFi quality, in the market. This strengthens the general superior quality perception of Telenet. More importantly, Telenet is able to do something for its existing clients with no ulterior commercial motive. By improving the WiFi experience in customers’ homes, Telenet implements a daily, positive reminder that they made the good choice. A reminder that will lasts for years to come.

By going back to the core and fixing a basic human need, Telenet was able to improve the good flow in each household in Flanders. While, in the meantime, redefining the competitive field, claiming the best WiFi coverage and increasing revenue at no extra cost for the existing customers.