TELUS is one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies and offers a range of products and services including wireless, data, Internet, voice, entertainment, video, television and healthcare technology.
“We now have a single segmentation system across the enterprise. We’ve created a lot of enthusiasm across the company.“
Over time, several divisions within TELUS had developed their own segmentation systems to target their products and engage customers within their respective areas. This created a challenge when senior management at the company made a strategic decision to shift from product-focused to customer-centric marketing, since the company lacked a single, shared view of their customers. Their goal was to create a single segmentation system to build a common language within TELUS and create a more consistent customer experience across the company’s physical and digital channels.
We held stakeholder workshops with several TELUS departments to align objectives, identify success metrics and get buy-in. Our analysts then combined TELUS behavioral data from multiple lines of business with rich, third-party data to create six themes that aligned with the company’s business objectives, including tech adoption, value for money and brand loyalty, along with data tracking customers demographic and socioeconomic status.
Using the strategic insights from the stakeholder workshops, along with the integrated customer data that was purpose-built for TELUS, we created 12 custom segments for TELUS that could be linked to current and prospective customers via postal codes. The company developed detailed profiles for each segment, highlighting family type, values, digital habits and motivations.
Our staff developed personas and reports that were customized for each department within the company. By crafting personas around this information TELUS was about to identify the factors that influence their customers’ purchase decisions. The company also created a library of resources with icons, heat maps and custom dashboards accessible to all TELUS divisions. To enhance company-wide buy-in, numerous interdepartmental workshops were held to socialize the results of this study to demonstrate the value of this project.
Within a year, the company’s new segmentation system had been socialized throughout TELUS and was being used for a variety of applications, from regional acquisition and retention strategies to measuring the success of their campaigns and other projects. Although it’s too early to measure the impact the segmentation system is having on long-term projects, the company reports that several of its campaigns are enjoying higher response rates and lift. Overall, the project has been well received within the company and has helped lead a cultural change within TELUS around how it uses data.
