Consumer user experiences have not been optimized for mass adoption. For these forecasts to bear their fruits, MNOs will need to simplify user experiences, to rightly cater to the needs of their customers.
Indeed, the needs of consumers have drastically changed in recent years. Their demands are now centered around digital-first experiences. While the Covid context sparked these changes, the new expectations of customers are likely to stay. The pandemic forced companies to accelerate the evolution of their digital channels to cater for exponential growth since customers want their goods to be delivered fast. For this reason, by the end of 2020, customer experience has overtaken price and product to become the key brand differentiator.
Hence, MNOs must imperatively adapt to these changing needs since customer experiences drive—or destroy—a brand’s ability to win and retain customers. Research has shown that 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a great experience, while 89% will leave due to a poor experience.
The vendor community still haven’t offered good-enough solutions on how to weave eSIM into the customer journey seamlessly.
Nowadays, when customers perform their onboarding, they are required to identify themselves, sign the plan and get the plan to work. But current practices are characterized by outdated onboarding methods. For instance, one of Poland's largest Mobile Network Operators still delivers QR codes by courier, which is overly time-consuming and cumbersome for customers. Major MNOs in countries such as Singapore, Canada and Turkey entrust their customers to physically go to sale points to receive their QR code activation. Others provide overly ambiguous explanations on their website, which transfers the complexity of eSIM activation in the hands of unaware customers.
Olivier Leroux, CEO of Oasis Smart SIM explained: “eSIM is double-edge sword. Yes, it was the missing piece to build a true digital experience and higher customer satisfaction. However, it also turned out to be a struggle for operators in terms on how to properly integrate it. Onboarding is still far from being smooth. QR code is the most common way to onboard costumers but it is a cumbersome and clumsy experience for users as they have switch between devices multiple times. This fails to achieve the vision of one-touch integration."
He also adds: " On the other hand, the profile provisioning is seamless - when and if done well. Indeed, consumers can have a hard time understanding how to download their eSIM on their smartphone: where to go in their smartphone settings, how to enable their profile, what happens if there already is a profile installed, etc. As a result, many operators have reported to have a surge in their customer care centers due to the complexity of eSIM onboarding.”
The risks of a clumsy onboarding
Resorting to such delivery methods implies a range of disadvantages for MNOs, such as:
- Lower customer satisfaction and NPS – Simplifying arduous processes and catering to customer needs by creating digital-first experiences drives customer satisfaction and increases your NPS.
- Higher costs and lower revenue – If done correctly, digital-first user onboarding decreases customer acquisition and service costs as well as SIM production, storage and transportation costs.
- Higher carbon footprint and more waste – going digital means less plastic, paper and CO2 emissions.
- Higher likelihood of identity fraud– eKYC helps in identifying and preventing fraudulent activities that put telecom operators at risk.
- Lower user retention and loyalty – A satisfying onboarding experience prevents customer attrition and makes users come back.
Traditional players and new Digital Native entrants to mobiles services who want to launch a digital brand must truly understand how to weave eSIM into the customer journey. Such a journey will be primarily digital in the new world. They must anticipate the eSIM lifecycle from initial provisioning to end of life and all use-cases in between – failure to make eSIM a “better” option than traditional SIM will render the technology useless and add friction, ultimately slowing down mobile digital transformation.
Rewatch our November 10th Webinar, with insights on how to do this transformation right
To tackle the issues evoked above, Oasis hosted a webinar on November 10th to give MNOs and MVNOs insights on how to do this transformation right. In this webinar, Oasis Smart SIM, together with Mobilise & ARIADNEXT, two experts in with cutting-edge CX knowledge in UI and Digital Identity, discussed the top mistakes Telcos' make when digitalizing customer experience with eSIM, provide valuable insights on how to avoid them and present a solution that was designed to deal with those mistakes from not only an infrastructure but also a CX perspective.
