Insights

6

5

min read

Circles’ Revolutionary Innovation Engine Drastically Improves Customer Engagement

Read more to find out how

Outline

In previous articles, we’ve established that customer experience, measured via the net promoter score (NPS), is directly linked to loyalty. We also shared some of the ways that telcos can improve NPS scores:

Flexible, No-Contract Plans
We offer flexible plans that cater to our customers' diverse needs, ensuring they only pay for what they use.
We release products based on their needs, such as Jetpac for jet-setters too.
Fast Customer Support
Our customer chat response time averages around 27 seconds, significantly reducing wait times and increasing customer satisfaction.
We look for ways to incorporate today’s technology to empower our customer service agents and improve customer service speed and accuracy.
Bill Transparency
We prioritize transparency in billing, eliminating hidden fees and ensuring customers understand their charges. We pride ourselves on no bill shock.
Rapid SIM Delivery
As we have no physical footprint, our efficient SIM delivery process helps customers start using our services as fast as possible.
Personalized Experiences
Using data-driven insights, we tailor our services to meet each customer's unique needs, enhancing their overall experience.
We also focus on experimentation through our in-app innovation engine and obsess over optimising our users' best experiences and offers.
Rewarding Referral Programs
Our referral programs offer attractive rewards, encouraging promoters to spread the word and bring in new customers.
Swipe here to learn more

Focusing on personalized experiences, in particular, we touched on how rapidly adapting and launching your telco’s product offerings to market conditions boosts customer satisfaction. 

Now, we can share how we help our partner telco brands do just that. 

Introducing Circles’ Innovation Engine

Circles’ Innovation Engine develops diverse non-telco offerings for our customers’ digital lifestyles to boost their engagement and retention with our telco apps. 

Focusing on Customer Engagement Creates Upsell Opportunities

The logic behind our Innovation Engine is that higher user engagement with the app increases the likelihood that they’ll spend more on it. This turns apps into valuable assets that generate new and diversified revenue streams and, in turn, increase average revenues per user. 

With how similar many telcos are becoming, McKinsey’s research has noted that great customer experiences, like gamified experiences and loyalty programs, can support longer-term customer relationships. Making these improvements provides more cross-selling offers for both connectivity and non-connectivity services.

They also noted that a personalized approach to offers and pricing for each user can raise customer lifetime value and average revenue per user. Still, more data needs to be captured to achieve this. Capturing this user data needs regular engagement with customers who usually have little reason to interact with telcos other than when experiencing problems.

This is where Circles’ Innovation Engine comes in.

Rapid Testing App Improvements With Real Customers

With how quickly the competitive environment can change, speed is key when building and testing new minimum-viable products and offers on your telco app.

Instead of relying on traditional, slower methods or extensive, costly research that captures customer opinions rather than their actual behaviors, our method helps you rapidly test new minimum viable products (MVP) with real consumer segments. 

This helps you to quickly test and gather customer feedback, giving you actionable insights to adjust and optimize offerings that your customers will love. 

This method has 3-stages from ideation to launching to performance monitoring covered below.

Circles’ 3-Stage Rapid Experimentation Method

Circles innovation engine's rapid experimentation method has has 3 stages: Ideation and discovery, Minimum viable product testing, and stop-iterate-scale.

Ideation and Discovery

We will collaborate with your telco brand in the ideation stage to discover and identify new user engagement and interaction opportunities. From our experience, these opportunities include entertainment, gaming, retail, and Fintech, just to name a few.

We’ll then generate, evaluate and finalize specific offerings and services to launch as minimum viable products (MVPs), based on three success criteria:

Business potential
Engagement potential
Alignment with customer habits and behaviour.
Business potential
Engagement potential
Alignment with customer habits and behaviour.

With a focus on speed, innovation and action, the goal is to finalize around 20 ideas and launch two to three MVPs per quarter.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Live Testing

At the MVP live testing stage, we’ll collaborate with you to rapidly deploy and test MVPs and offers with your target user groups. Feedback and data from these tests help us quickly update each MVP.

The sandbox is built into the telco app. For example, the sandbox that we use for our own telco brand Circles.Life is called Explore.

Circles’ Explore Tab Phone Screenshots:

Rapid Experimentation
This sandbox is built for rapid testing and data collection for multiple MVPs, allowing us to quickly generate actionable insights.
Early Partner Integration
You can select which target groups to test each MVP on. This lets us refine our strategies and tailor our solutions based on your target audience’s feedback and behavior
Target Experimentation with selected customers
All these tests let us assess what worked and what didn’t. Positive contributions are then kept and rolled out in the next MVP update.
Rapid Experimentation

This sandbox is built for rapid testing and data collection for multiple MVPs, allowing us to quickly generate actionable insights.

Early Partner Integration

You can select which target groups to test each MVP on. This lets us refine our strategies and tailor our solutions based on your target audience’s feedback and behavior

Target Experimentation with selected customers

All these tests let us assess what worked and what didn’t. Positive contributions are then kept and rolled out in the next MVP update.

Stop-Iterate-Scale

The performance of all these MVPs is then assessed in the Stop-Iterate-Scale stage in 4-week intervals. This approach emphasizes rapid iteration, feedback loops, and adaptive decision-making. Reassessments are made every four weeks during the initial three months to ensure only successful MVPs are kept. 

We measure four success criteria:

Activation
Measured by conversion rates, we examine the percentage of users becoming active participants
A conversion rate of 3% or higher indicates strong momentum, signaling that the MVP is on the right track and ready for further refinement and iteration to achieve the following three success criteria.
Adoption
Measured as a percentage of the user base, we examine how users adopt and integrate the app’s features into their daily routines.
Engagement
Measured by time spent on the app, we assess how much user interest and interaction there is. Engagement is also a key indicator of new customer habit formation and development.
Monetization
Measured by ARPU, we determine how effectively the engaged user base drives financial growth.

MVPs will be stopped or continued depending on what percentage of its success criteria it hits at each 4-week checkpoint:

4 weeks
Stop if <25% success criteria
8 weeks
Stop if <50% success criteria
12 weeks
Stop if all success criteria are not achieved
4 weeks

Stop if <25% success criteria

8 weeks

Stop if <50% success criteria

12 weeks

Stop if all success criteria are not achieved

Povo2.0’s Innovation Engine Results

Japan’s 2020 telco market was saturated, with historically low customer satisfaction, high capital expenditure costs, and stagnant revenues due to over-the-top messaging and voice services cannibalising voice and SMS revenues.

Japan’s KDDI partnered with us to launch their fully digital telco brand, povo 2.0, whose app is powered by our software. With a focus on customer-centricity, povo2.0 was designed to offer fresh, personalised digital experiences tailored to Japan's growing population of digital natives.

Povo2.0 emphasises ‘revolutionising digital experiences,’ to take that to the next level, we continuously improve the app experience with our Circles Innovation Engine. Our model has achieved the following results:

30% Increase
Engagement for MVP users vs non-MVP users
8% Increase
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for MVP users vs non-MVP users.

We made quite a number of improvements that drove higher engagement. To find out what they are, check out the full Innovation Engine case study.

Entertainment and Lifestyle MVPs launched on povo2.0 with Circles’

Innovation Engine, with positive engagement and ARPU results

This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding how we have been helping our  global telco partners. Our full-stack software approach is designed to be customer-centric and provide great features for lean operators. 

Get Your Free SaaS Demo

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Personalizing the Customer Experience at Every Touchpoint

 One of the most immediate and impactful uses of AI is in personalization. Telcos have long recognized that customer experience is more than just a differentiator—it’s central to loyalty and long-term success. AI enables telcos to create customer journeys that are tailored based on actual behavior and preferences.             

Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
Content
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
The telco industry has been notorious for poor customer service - in some cases, marketing professors even point to older telco ‘bad profit’ practices as poor examples of customer relationship management. Examples like these
This lack of transparency repulses customers and frustrates those who want to switch to better deals.

Heading

Content
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"
Complicated Billing and Bill Shock
“Why am I being charged for this?!"

Learn More

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As Telcos Transition to Techcos, is an NPS Score Still Relevant?

Part 2
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As Telcos Transition to Techcos, is an NPS Score Still Relevant?

Part 1
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Telco Economics

3 Building Blocks to Strengthen Financials

Insights

17 Sep 2024

Circles’ Revolutionary Innovation Engine Drastically Improves Customer Engagement

Read more to find out how

Insights

17 Sep 2024

Circles’ Revolutionary Innovation Engine Drastically Improves Customer Engagement

Read more to find out how

Written by

In previous articles, we’ve established that customer experience, measured via the net promoter score (NPS), is directly linked to loyalty. We also shared some of the ways that telcos can improve NPS scores:

Flexible, No-Contract Plans
We offer flexible plans that cater to our customers' diverse needs, ensuring they only pay for what they use.
We release products based on their needs, such as Jetpac for jet-setters too.
Fast Customer Support
Our customer chat response time averages around 27 seconds, significantly reducing wait times and increasing customer satisfaction.
We look for ways to incorporate today’s technology to empower our customer service agents and improve customer service speed and accuracy.
Bill Transparency
We prioritize transparency in billing, eliminating hidden fees and ensuring customers understand their charges. We pride ourselves on no bill shock.
Rapid SIM Delivery
As we have no physical footprint, our efficient SIM delivery process helps customers start using our services as fast as possible.
Personalized Experiences
Using data-driven insights, we tailor our services to meet each customer's unique needs, enhancing their overall experience.
We also focus on experimentation through our in-app innovation engine and obsess over optimising our users' best experiences and offers.
Rewarding Referral Programs
Our referral programs offer attractive rewards, encouraging promoters to spread the word and bring in new customers.
Swipe here to learn more

Focusing on personalized experiences, in particular, we touched on how rapidly adapting and launching your telco’s product offerings to market conditions boosts customer satisfaction. 

Now, we can share how we help our partner telco brands do just that. 

Introducing Circles’ Innovation Engine

Circles’ Innovation Engine develops diverse non-telco offerings for our customers’ digital lifestyles to boost their engagement and retention with our telco apps. 

Focusing on Customer Engagement Creates Upsell Opportunities

The logic behind our Innovation Engine is that higher user engagement with the app increases the likelihood that they’ll spend more on it. This turns apps into valuable assets that generate new and diversified revenue streams and, in turn, increase average revenues per user. 

With how similar many telcos are becoming, McKinsey’s research has noted that great customer experiences, like gamified experiences and loyalty programs, can support longer-term customer relationships. Making these improvements provides more cross-selling offers for both connectivity and non-connectivity services.

They also noted that a personalized approach to offers and pricing for each user can raise customer lifetime value and average revenue per user. Still, more data needs to be captured to achieve this. Capturing this user data needs regular engagement with customers who usually have little reason to interact with telcos other than when experiencing problems.

This is where Circles’ Innovation Engine comes in.

Rapid Testing App Improvements With Real Customers

With how quickly the competitive environment can change, speed is key when building and testing new minimum-viable products and offers on your telco app.

Instead of relying on traditional, slower methods or extensive, costly research that captures customer opinions rather than their actual behaviors, our method helps you rapidly test new minimum viable products (MVP) with real consumer segments. 

This helps you to quickly test and gather customer feedback, giving you actionable insights to adjust and optimize offerings that your customers will love. 

This method has 3-stages from ideation to launching to performance monitoring covered below.

Circles’ 3-Stage Rapid Experimentation Method

Circles innovation engine's rapid experimentation method has has 3 stages: Ideation and discovery, Minimum viable product testing, and stop-iterate-scale.

Ideation and Discovery

We will collaborate with your telco brand in the ideation stage to discover and identify new user engagement and interaction opportunities. From our experience, these opportunities include entertainment, gaming, retail, and Fintech, just to name a few.

We’ll then generate, evaluate and finalize specific offerings and services to launch as minimum viable products (MVPs), based on three success criteria:

Business potential
Engagement potential
Alignment with customer habits and behaviour.
Business potential
Engagement potential
Alignment with customer habits and behaviour.

With a focus on speed, innovation and action, the goal is to finalize around 20 ideas and launch two to three MVPs per quarter.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Live Testing

At the MVP live testing stage, we’ll collaborate with you to rapidly deploy and test MVPs and offers with your target user groups. Feedback and data from these tests help us quickly update each MVP.

The sandbox is built into the telco app. For example, the sandbox that we use for our own telco brand Circles.Life is called Explore.

Circles’ Explore Tab Phone Screenshots:

Rapid Experimentation
This sandbox is built for rapid testing and data collection for multiple MVPs, allowing us to quickly generate actionable insights.
Early Partner Integration
You can select which target groups to test each MVP on. This lets us refine our strategies and tailor our solutions based on your target audience’s feedback and behavior
Target Experimentation with selected customers
All these tests let us assess what worked and what didn’t. Positive contributions are then kept and rolled out in the next MVP update.
Rapid Experimentation

This sandbox is built for rapid testing and data collection for multiple MVPs, allowing us to quickly generate actionable insights.

Early Partner Integration

You can select which target groups to test each MVP on. This lets us refine our strategies and tailor our solutions based on your target audience’s feedback and behavior

Target Experimentation with selected customers

All these tests let us assess what worked and what didn’t. Positive contributions are then kept and rolled out in the next MVP update.

Stop-Iterate-Scale

The performance of all these MVPs is then assessed in the Stop-Iterate-Scale stage in 4-week intervals. This approach emphasizes rapid iteration, feedback loops, and adaptive decision-making. Reassessments are made every four weeks during the initial three months to ensure only successful MVPs are kept. 

We measure four success criteria:

Activation
Measured by conversion rates, we examine the percentage of users becoming active participants
A conversion rate of 3% or higher indicates strong momentum, signaling that the MVP is on the right track and ready for further refinement and iteration to achieve the following three success criteria.
Adoption
Measured as a percentage of the user base, we examine how users adopt and integrate the app’s features into their daily routines.
Engagement
Measured by time spent on the app, we assess how much user interest and interaction there is. Engagement is also a key indicator of new customer habit formation and development.
Monetization
Measured by ARPU, we determine how effectively the engaged user base drives financial growth.

MVPs will be stopped or continued depending on what percentage of its success criteria it hits at each 4-week checkpoint:

4 weeks
Stop if <25% success criteria
8 weeks
Stop if <50% success criteria
12 weeks
Stop if all success criteria are not achieved
4 weeks

Stop if <25% success criteria

8 weeks

Stop if <50% success criteria

12 weeks

Stop if all success criteria are not achieved

Povo2.0’s Innovation Engine Results

Japan’s 2020 telco market was saturated, with historically low customer satisfaction, high capital expenditure costs, and stagnant revenues due to over-the-top messaging and voice services cannibalising voice and SMS revenues.

Japan’s KDDI partnered with us to launch their fully digital telco brand, povo 2.0, whose app is powered by our software. With a focus on customer-centricity, povo2.0 was designed to offer fresh, personalised digital experiences tailored to Japan's growing population of digital natives.

Povo2.0 emphasises ‘revolutionising digital experiences,’ to take that to the next level, we continuously improve the app experience with our Circles Innovation Engine. Our model has achieved the following results:

30% Increase
Engagement for MVP users vs non-MVP users
8% Increase
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for MVP users vs non-MVP users.

We made quite a number of improvements that drove higher engagement. To find out what they are, check out the full Innovation Engine case study.

Entertainment and Lifestyle MVPs launched on povo2.0 with Circles’

Innovation Engine, with positive engagement and ARPU results

This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding how we have been helping our  global telco partners. Our full-stack software approach is designed to be customer-centric and provide great features for lean operators. 

Learn More

Insights

As Telcos Transition to Techcos, is an NPS Score Still Relevant?

Part 2
Insights

As Telcos Transition to Techcos, is an NPS Score Still Relevant?

Part 1
Insights

Telco Economics

3 Building Blocks to Strengthen Financials