7 Metrics Telecom Brands Should Measure to Track Customer Loyalty

Have you ever been so committed to a brand that you wouldn't dream of doing business elsewhere? That's the power of customer loyalty, a positive emotional relationship between a customer and a business. 

Customer loyalty plays a pivotal role in telecommunications, as many believe the industry has reached its saturation point. This is reflected in the low NPS score among telecom companies. A recent industry churn survey also reveals that 39% of Americans canceled their contract with a telecom company within 24 months, while 44% actively searched for an alternative provider. 

We all feel attached to a brand at some point. But as the market grows more saturated, it's increasingly difficult for companies to classify and measure the extent of loyalty as customers have different reasons for sticking with a particular provider. 

To ensure customer loyalty is not only constantly improving but also appropriately measured, telecom brands need to track these seven crucial KPIs.

What's the fuss about customer loyalty?

Repeat customers are key to a brand's stable and consistent revenue. It’s even more so for telecom companies due to the high churn in the industry. In the survey mentioned above, the 39% who canceled their telecom contracts cited poor customer experience. For example:  

• The company wasted the customer's time.
• They had to call customer service more than once.
• The reps were rude and incompetent.

Customer loyalty stems from a great user experience. The upside is that common issues can be fixed—but only if you can spot them and measure improvement over time. It can take time to get it right, but the results are rewarding. Customer loyalty is vital for any business because:

• It generates an increase in revenue.
• It drives repeat business.
• Your customers become brand advocates.
• You gain valuable customer data.

From increased engagement to retention and overall ROI, customer loyalty plays a fundamental role in your company's success. Best practices help you identify whether you have a customer loyalty problem and provide you with insightful knowledge to make strategic decisions on how to improve.

NPS is important, but it’s not a single solution

We can't talk about customer loyalty without NPS. NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a tool that gauges customer satisfaction. It assesses customer loyalty to a brand by asking a single question: "How likely are you to recommend our product or service to others?" 

For a competitive industry like telecom, customer loyalty is critical to its success. When you nail loyalty, you discover an increase in revenue, a lower cost to serve, and a higher customer lifetime value. 

NPS helps to find the general loyalty rate of your customers, so you know where to improve your customer experience. But it's not the only metric to track. There are other KPIs that provide your brand with crucial customer insights, with more context, and often on a more granular level.

7 customer experience KPIs you should be tracking (if you aren't already)

Now that we've explained why customer loyalty is so important, let's provide some essential KPIs brands should be measuring.

1. Brand engagement

Brand engagement refers to how often people interact with your telecom brand, and is measured based on customer usage of your services. It could be the frequency at which customers engage with your social media channels, how often they subscribe to emails, and how many reviews they leave on your app or website, amongst other factors.

To track customer engagement on your brand, you need inputs like:

• Activity time.
• Time spent on platform.
• Level of usage.
• Core user actions.

Tracking your customer brand engagement can help you assess churn risk and estimate the loyalty a customer has to your brand.

2.  Repurchasing rates

Repurchasing rate is a metric that gives a powerful insight into customer loyalty. It is the percentage of customers who have returned to you after a first or multiple purchases. Loyalty is easier to obtain from repeat customers than from new users, so this is an important metric to measure.

As a telecom brand, you can track this rate by the number of customers who continue with their subscriptions over the number of customers who cancel after their initial contract period. 

3. Customer lifetime value

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total amount of revenue you can expect from a customer during the span of their relationship with your business, including past and future sales. It measures customer loyalty by judging how much a customer is worth to your brand.

Customer loyalty and CLV go hand in hand. If you have loyal customers, they're likely to have a higher lifetime value. With customer intelligence, for example, you can predict how a customer's value will change over time, monitor the impact of marketing strategies, and determine the level of investments you need to make in that customer.

4. Customer loyalty score

Like NPS, a customer loyalty score uses a questionnaire format to track customer loyalty over time. It involves a survey aimed at measuring NPS, repurchases, and upselling, using questions like:

1. 1. How likely are you to recommend our brand to your friends and family?
2. 2. How likely are you to buy from us again?
3. 3. How likely are you to try other products and services from our company?

The customer loyalty score is calculated using an average of all three scores. This method gives you a more comprehensive understanding of your customer loyalty than the single metric approach. It needs to be evaluated periodically, with an analytical tool to help you track it effectively.

5. Upsell ratio

Upsell ratio is similar to repurchasing rate, but for a different product or value offer. It specifically tracks existing customers who buy a higher value option, such as a package bundle of cable TV, internet, and cell phone service. Upsell ratio is an essential indicator of customer loyalty. For instance, a customer who chooses a higher subscription or an additional product over the lower one purchased previously shows their commitment to your brand.

To track this metric, divide customers who bought more than one type of offer from you by those who bought only one. Note that the more the additional product differs from the original, the higher the indication of customer loyalty.

6. Customer retention rate

It's no secret that for most telecom businesses, acquiring a new customer can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Returning customers also spend 67% more than new customers. Hence, customer retention is super important.

Customer retention rate reflects the percentage of loyal customers over a given period. It is calculated using three data points:

1. 1. The number of customers at the start of the period.
2. 2. The number of customers at the end of the period.
3. 3. The total number of customers acquired during the period.

To improve your customer retention, you need to earn loyalty by delivering a great user experience.

7. Customer churn rate

Customer churn rate is essentially the opposite of customer retention rate. It measures the number of customers lost over time as opposed to the retention rate, which is the number of returning customers.

Churn rate is particularly high in the telecom industry. With an average rate of 10 to 67% annually, one in five telecom customers is on their way out the door at any given time. Picture this—millions of subscribers who sign up on a new wireless carrier every year are probably coming from another wireless provider. And what’s to stop them from doing the same thing next year? 

One effective means of reducing customer churn in telecom is improving the customer experience. Try to understand where they have fallen off and why by taking advantage of the vast streams of rich telecom customer data available. 

Easily track & optimize customer loyalty with Scuba Analytics

Scuba Analytics is a customer intelligence tool that harnesses the power of your telecom customer data to improve your customer loyalty and reduce churn. It enables you to:

• Get real-time analytics across all metrics to understand the customer experience. 
• Understand your customer needs and expectations in real-time.
• Spot opportunities to reduce churn and friction.
• Track your retention analytics via intuitive dashboards.
• Ask new questions as they arise without needing the help of IT or data science teams.

To get more information on how Scuba Analytics can help optimize your customer loyalty, talk to a Scuba expert today!