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AT&T Case Study ATG
1. case study
AT&T
AT&T Answers the Call for Greater B2B
Customer Loyalty and Lower Churn
Personalized online experience increases satisfaction
and doubles customer acquisition rate
TH E C HALLENGE:
To build ongoing customer
TH E SOLUTION:
loyalty through a more personal
Keep the online experience relevant and resourceful
customer experience
AT&T decided to upgrade its online commerce capabilities to support customized
To compete in the fiercely competitive
sites for its business-to-business customers. AT&T chose ATG as the platform for
wireless telecom market, every player
its online B2B e-commerce site. ATG offered superior capabilities and fulfilled AT&T’s
is continually rolling out new offerings,
vision of a personalized, highly effective customer experience.
pricing promotions, and options.
AT&T saw an opportunity to stand out
TH E R ES U LT:
by building a reputation based on a
Better online resources, better customer loyalty,
superior customer experience. Getting
better bottom line
there required eliminating its home-
Using ATG Commerce, AT&T rolled out more than 50,000 unique sites to serve
grown legacy systems and re-engineering
its customers – all managed centrally from the ATG platform. The wireless carrier
its entire e-commerce infrastructure to
achieved a dramatic increase of nearly 100 percent year-over-year in new customer
provide accurate and relevant solutions
additions and significantly reduced its customer churn rate.
for customers seeking online access to its
wide range of products and services.
2. Breaking away from the pack
As the largest wireless company in the United States, in 2006 AT&T boasted over 61 million
wireless subscribers to the nation's largest digital voice and data network. AT&T’s vision:
To be the most highly regarded wireless company in the world, with best-in-class sales
and service. With offerings ranging from a robust voice network to sophisticated data
products and services, AT&T wants to build a reputation on innovation.
Still, AT&T – like all wireless providers – is under tremendous pressure to increase both
revenue and profits. But cost-cutting measures that result in poor customer experiences
are dangerous in such a hotly competitive environment, where competitors are also
continually rolling out new offerings and pricing promotions. Customer churn is an
ongoing challenge that must be combated by keeping existing customers highly satis-
fied, albeit at the lowest possible cost, and by continuing to roll out a broad range of
new products and services. To create an extraordinary customer experience, AT&T set
out to reengineer the process and practices that surround the customer. Its goal was
to create an online buying and service experience for customers that would reduce
churn and inspire lasting loyalty.
“Treating customers with respect and providing friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt
service at all touch points are important goals for us. We wanted to create the best online
customer experience possible across the entire customer lifecycle – from the time we
first engage them through our marketing programs, to the time of their purchase,
through to post-sales customer service. To create that experience, we need to implement
both leading-edge marketing and commerce capabilities,” said Bob Steelhammer, senior
vice president of e-commerce at AT&T.
AT&T sought to design an online commerce experience that would meet customers’
individual needs and offer exceptional support.
Creating the new e-commerce experience
Recognizing that customers feel most loyal to companies that know them and understand
their needs, AT&T embarked on a business-to-business initiative for its Fortune 1500
customers. The wireless leader pursued the lofty goal of setting up individualized sites
for each of its B2B customers that would serve as full-service e-commerce solutions
that are convenient, simple, and cost effective to use.
Reaching that goal required that AT&T move beyond its current homegrown system
which had grown cumbersome and unmanageable. Comprised of thousand of lines of
custom, hardwired code and no automated capabilities for making changes, the system
required excessive resources to manage the site and associated campaigns. Even small
changes to marketing programs would take weeks – if not months – to implement.
3. case study AT&T
“Treating customers with respect and providing friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt service
at all touch points are important goals for us. We wanted to create the best online customer
experience possible across the entire customer lifecycle – from the time we first engage
them through our marketing programs, to the time of their purchase, through to post-sales
customer service. To create that experience, we need to implement both leading-edge
marketing and commerce capabilities.” – Bob Steelhammer senior vice president of e-commerce at AT&T
The AT&T team sought a with AT&T, their purchase history, their market, their negotiated
dynamic commerce platform that would: pricing model, etc. Customers can use their site to make purchases
• Help each business customer meet its own specific needs by as well as to manage their accounts. For example, they can check
creating customized sites for each customer; offering a one-stop their usage information, inquire about their rate plan, set up a
resource for wireless service, equipment, and accessories; and new line of service, and more.
enabling new employee account activation online.
“The online experience we deliver through the ATG platform
• Enable the AT&T team to manage the sites centrally with a
would have been unthinkable on our previous system. Now we are
single platform.
able to create totally different sites for each customer with a
• Improve efficiency by enabling online account management and
skeletal support staff,” said Wong.
giving customers access to analytic tools that would quickly report
on usage, rate plans, billing information, etc. AT&T further enriches the online experience by using scenarios
• Streamline the customer purchase and delivery cycle by integrating defined with the ATG e-commerce platform. ATG helps AT&T learn
with the customers’ enterprise procurement systems and other about, adapt to, and respond to its customers’ changing needs and
approval mechanisms. preferences. It then automates the process of leading the cus-
tomers toward a desired outcome (such as making a purchase, ful-
After a thorough evaluation process headed by an independent
filling a service need, or accessing information). ATG does this by
e-commerce consultant, AT&T selected ATG. “ATG Commerce met
automatically creating customer profiles based on the attributes
all of our key criteria,” said Gilbert Wong, at AT&T. “Its customization
set by the AT&T team. It updates customer profiles continuously,
and personalization capabilities were head and shoulders above
based on interactions that the user executes online, as well as
the other options we reviewed. Plus, ATG introduced capabilities
other events. Using that information, AT&T then drives pre-de-
that we really felt would be advantageous in the build-out of our
signed dialogues that automatically adapt as customers’ behav-
commerce platform, such as its integrated catalog, scenarios, and
iors or actions change. For example, a customer who looks into
advanced promotional capabilities.”
purchasing a BlackBerry device and then researches a pricing plan
for data and voice service can be encouraged to complete the
Delivering a customized,
transaction by automatically receiving a discount on the Black-
optimized e-commerce experience
Berry device.
With ATG in place, AT&T now serves its online customers in a timely,
relevant manner that vastly improves the customers’ online shop-
ping experience. AT&T delivers personalized content that targets
specific customers, using some 150 different elements that can be
varied based on a customer’s unique profile. As a result, different
customers gain a unique and relevant experience based on their
relationship
