Why "Gold" matters as a mobile customer

I’m pleased to say that it’s not just me that thinks there’s a problem when it comes to valuing service from mobile operators. Today’s experience cancelling my O2 accounts (because I really couldn’t find any reason to keep them) is a good example.

Thomas Wehmeier over at Informa Telecoms & Media has written a rather extensive piece on “Why gold matters when it comes to data pricing and customer experience.”

He’s absolutely right.

Because cellular service has more or less hit the commodity level, operators really need to differentiate. And they need to do this properly. Here’s a view in this respect from Thomas:

To me, what this really means is that operators must start to think about how they can bundle priority service levels in a much more comprehensive fashion and in a way that builds an easy-to-understand and meaningful value proposition for customers. There are a number of ways that this can be achieved, but just a few potential ideas could include bundling in:

– Priority service quality on the network
– Priority access to dedicated call centres
– Priority queuing systems in stores
– Priority purchasing on exclusive, new devices
– Early upgrades to new handsets
– Discounts on operator products & services
– Priority access to partner products & services (e.g. tickets)

Here, here.

I’d like to see things go further, Thomas!

(See my “T-Mobile Gold” thoughts from well over a year ago.)