Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I did some work on this a few years back for a UK telco.

We decided that customer segmentation MUST be looked at on different levels as the UK mobile market is complex. You are absolutely right about offering customer/segment specific positioning and offers.

I do not have the answers, I dealt with the UK market 2 years ago, but here are some areas to start looking at.

CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION:
By value, behaviour and demographics
By Pre-Paid/Post-Paid
Needs and Price Sensitivity

ECONOMICS FOR SEGMENTATION:
Customer Value
Retention and Acquisition Costs
Payback per customer
“What if” scenarios

PROGRAM ELEMENTS:
Different service levels per segment
Increase retention
Increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
Loyalty Scheme (never really took off in the UK!)
Identify high value customers, that may churn
Avoid retention activity aimed at low value customers

IMPORTANT: Customer Lifetime Value is critical to forming the basis for segmentation, remember over the life of the customer you will incurr costs (acquisition, handset subsidy, network costs, customer service costs, upgrade costs etc)

Finally … think bundles :-)

Good Luck