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personal, and what’s importantto one customer may well be ofcomplete disinterest to another.Lost in confusionLet me give you an example.Fairly recently I found myselfhaving — for the very firsttime — to buy a mobile phonefor personal use. Please thoughbear in mind that I am experiencedin the ways of thescenario is repeated all over theplace and countless unknownmultiples of sales opportunitiesgo down the pan. People willnot buy when they are confused,it’s a simple as that.It’s a truism I know, butmodern life is very complexand everyone has a lot to copewith. Everyone has many, andmultiplying, calls on their time.any SMS message sent to thechild’s phone, perhaps we wouldalso allow the child to call theirparents even if they had nocredit. We might even add theability for parents to restrict thenumbers that the child coulddial or indeed, even restrict thenumbers that could dial theirchild. These features would giveparents a strong set of reasonsto use the service, which developsa clear place for the servicein the user’s mind.That simple and clear position isalso easily communicable by theuser to associates and friends —and word-of-mouth recommendationscan be massively moreeffective than any amount ofexpensive advertising, celebrityendorsements, or sponsorship.technology as I have been usingbusiness mobiles since the early1990s when they first becamelight enough to carry.It was a Saturday morning asI strode purposefully along aBritish high street looking to getmyself all mobiled-up. On enteringthe first of several phonesshops on that fashionablethoroughfare, I was confrontedby walls festooned floor-to withdifferent handsets and advertsfor different tariff packages. Inten minutes I was confused.And after fifteen, was terminallybaffled. I had absoluteno idea which package wouldbe right for me and neither didthe shop’s staff, who were: (a)not particularly helpful; and (b)apparently even more confusedabout the choices on offer thanI was.Not surprisingly I voted with myfeet and walked out — withouta phone.Now that was a single salesopportunity lost. Everyday, thatOn a day-to-day basis, it meansthat unless something is ofearth-shattering importance tous we are very unlikely to spenda lot of time and effort in understandingit. What is neededare product solutions that areaimed at us and are tailored forus as individuals.Divide and conquerTo be able to provide that, it isnecessary to divide customersinto different groups with differentcharacteristics, then providethe services and applicationsthat they want and will value.This may well mean constructinga bundle of services and brandingidentity for each group.For example, as service providerswe could launch a packagefor children, the fist-time usersof the network. The decisionto purchase is going to bemade by their parents so, thesensible thing is to focus ontheir concerns. Knowing that wemight launch a package wherethe parents were copied withfor choosing our network.Or we could launch a packagefor the owners of small businesses.In this case we mightgive them two numbers for asingle phone. This would allowthem to treat business callsdifferently. They might want, forexample, to direct business callsto voice mail outside of businesshours, while still acceptingcalls from family and friends.We might also give them theability to have their colleagueslog on to role- based phonenumbers. This might mean thatone member of staff could logon to be responsible for supportover the weekend. We couldalso send them a list of numbersthat had called them while theywere on other calls, or out ofservice for some reason.In each case, the branding foreach service can be much betterfocused and therefore muchmore powerful. Furthermore,behind the gloss of the brandingis a real reason for subscribersEncouraging new habitsThus it could well prove remarkablyeffective to build ARPU byencouraging new behaviouralpatterns among subscribers.For example, students mightbe encouraged to phone homemore often if offered short-termtow rates or free minutes tospecific numbers. Once a newhabit is established, the operatoris then able either to reducethe discounts and/or offer newservices.The point is that subscriberscan be wooed into long evenpermanent, increased ARPUif operators are prepared tooffer a flexible array of servicesthat are relevant to them asindividuals and accompanied bygentle price rises invoked at thesubscribers’ request, When subscribersknow that the servicesdeliver clear, tangible benefits,are easy to use and understand,and cost comparatively littleto trial then take-up should besteady and progressive. T15Jun - 14Jul 2011www.teletimesinternational.com45