mobileYouth takes a look at how using qualitative research and ethnography as research methods will improve mobile carrier's chances in taking advantage of the rising use of mobile data. Download this PDF from http://www.mobileYouth.org

1. Context Drives Experience:
How Ethnographic Research on Mobile
Data Drives Sustainable Profit for
Mobile Carriers
The Optus CEO recently declared his company’s shift to “sustainable profit
growth,” moving from “raw subscriber acquisition” to an emphasis on
retaining and increasing revenues from existing customers.
Sustainable profitability means retaining existing customers and encouraging
them to spend more money on mobile. Central to this proposition in the era of
data is understanding why.
Monetizing the increase in data use means building a better customer
experience around social context. Customers don’t consume data, they
consume what data does for them. Understanding the motivations and drivers
behind data usage will provide more solid foundations for pricing and
marketing strategies.
Find the most relevant insights on youth mobile marketing: http://www.mobileYouthReport.com

2. Carriers need to upgrade their marketing strategies: without context-driven
customer experience, data is simply a commodity. Competing on data volume
and price will become a race to the bottom that operators will lose to new
entrants wanting to establish a foothold in the market.
The 4 Benefits of Ethnographic Research on Data for Mobile
Carriers
The best way to understand customer drivers is to research mobile data in
context i.e. in the malls, street and homes (not focus groups and online)
where people actually use data. This ethnographic approach yields 4 key
benefits for operators:
1) Drive product development road map by identifying customer pain points
and usage profiles. Identify the quick wins that operators can fix to improve
customer experience.
Smartphone customers who experience between fewer problems with slow
mobile web speeds spend an average of $11 more per month than those who
experience considerable problems ($140 vs. $129, respectively). (source JD
Power)
2) Develop relevant marketing messages to help migrate the sales strategy
from being about selling commodities on price to being about selling the
premium of social benefit.
Rohan Ganeson, MD of retail sales at Optus recently said of the carrier’s
intentions to ramp up retail investment that, “We want interactions with Optus
to exceed expectations and the feedback, both good and bad, from our pilot
stores will be invaluable in helping us shape the experience for the rest of the
transformation.” Success at the Frontline will depend on arming the retail staff
with the most competitive insights.
3) Empower frontline and service employees with insight on how customers
use/could use data and help them cross-sell other data products in the
operator portfolio.
4) By identifying the power users and influencers, operators can dedicate
more resources to these key market makers. The power users (20% of the
Find the most relevant insights on youth mobile marketing: http://www.mobileYouthReport.com

3. market) currently use 80% of data traffic, with top 1% generating 17% of
traffic (source Cisco).
All 4 benefits combine to create a better customer experience which in turn
reduces customer attrition (churn), increases individual revenues (ARPU) and
drives recommendation (NPS).
The Starting Point
Youth drive mobile trends.
They are already at the forefront of change. Youth are both the heaviest users
of mobile internet and those with the greatest social need to make operator
rollouts successful. Youth are the influencers. Technologies that reach mass
market adoption often filter through the youth market first (e.g. SMS,
Facebook, Messenger). Not only do youth influence each other but data from
the 2013 Mobile Youth Report shows that they exert a significant influence
over the adult market.
Compared to adults, youth are more likely to use mobile internet services like
social networking (50% vs 12% for adults), photo sharing (38% vs 12%) and
streaming videos (24% vs 5%) (source Gallup).
Quantitative research into mobile data consumption patterns cannot reveal
the offline scenarios in which youth use mobile internet. Mobile carriers need
qualitative research to step into the 3Hs (homes, hangouts and hideouts).
Actionable insights for marketing and innovation can only be achieved when
we understand how and why youth use mobile internet.
Operators should start developing their future customer propositions by
employing ethnographic research to understand how youth are using data
today.
What Should be The 3 Key Outputs of Ethnographic Research?
The key outputs of ethnographic research should help operators identify
which users and activities within mobile data are most conducive to
profitability (e.g. We found that 15% of SingTel customers now generate 85%
of the data traffic but not necessarily 85% of their profits). MobileYouth
ethnographic research focuses on building operator customer propositions
Find the most relevant insights on youth mobile marketing: http://www.mobileYouthReport.com

4. around a solid context-driven customer experience. The 3 deliverables of
such research are:
1) A gradation of young data users based on behavior and attitude as
opposed to more traditional demographic segmentations.
2) Pen profiles of key data users that identify both drivers and the offline
scenarios where they use data. How do pen profiles vary by usage scenario
and handset? (e.g. NPS for mobile internet varies by handset ownership:
Apple +49%, HTC +41%, Samsung +23%). Profiles providers operators with
a natural starting point by identifying youth market influencers.
3) Reframing of app categories based on social context (e.g. arranging
meetings, while watching TV, photo sharing) as opposed to traditional formats
(e.g. games, business, utility). Already 60% of youth use mobile data to
organize gatherings, and 45% of youth use mobile data to settle arguments
(source Pew Research). These behaviors are more relevant to young
people’s social lives and are unlikely to change as they enter the adult world.
Positive Customer Experience for Data Creates a Barrier to Market
Entry
In an interview with Rutgers, Verizon CEO McAdam spoke of the early days
the mobile industry where operators focused on monetizing negative
customer experiences (e.g. roaming charges, paid voicemail etc) but that left
the door open to new players (such as Verizon Wireless).
“It was a pretty ugly experience,” he said. “There was a good opportunity for
someone to come in and disrupt the environment – to consolidate and create
scale.”
Verizon successfully disrupted the environment by building its culture around
customer need as opposed to customer revenue maximization. As operators
talk up the opportunity to maximize customer data revenue through pricing
structures which by comparison to fixed line offerings are archaic, they too
expose themselves to external disruption. By contrast, focusing on the
customer experience has enabled Verizon to maintain the lowest churn and
highest customer recommendation rates in their market, despite rivals paying
extensively for iPhone exclusivity.
Find the most relevant insights on youth mobile marketing: http://www.mobileYouthReport.com

5. Today, operators need to re-engineer their cultures around the customer
experience of data and leverage ethnographic insights to guide their
strategies.
If operators fail to get data strategies right now they leave the door wide open
to profit erosion from new competitors such as Google who thrive in fixing
broken technology experiences. As the handset industry has learned, once
they invite new players like Apple in, it’s impossible to regain their market
position.
Find out more:
The 2013 mobileYouth Report
Find the most relevant insights on youth mobile marketing: http://www.mobileYouthReport.com