Developing go-to-market strategies for Vodafone

Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunications agency. In order to grow their market share and average revenue per user (ARPU), Vodafone needed to engage with first-time smartphone users. The business objective for Vodafone was to launch 10 new Commercial Services and gain buy-in for up to 21 local markets. To meet and surpass the expectations of their customers, user participation in the lean development of these services was crucial.

What did we do?

A Consumer Consulting Board (also known as online research community) of 75 participants was set up for every service to be tested, in different 3-week waves and involving multiple key markets (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK) in their native language. By enlarging the user base, wave after wave, the communities evolved towards a structural collaboration.
Vodafone Mobile app & music community

The results

This hybrid approach, combining blogs and discussions with live chat conversations (for detailed Q&A sessions with the developer team) provided a holistic view on three core areas:

  • Technical performance: How does the service work in comparison to user expectations? Feedback on consistency and reliability guide further product development and refinement.
  • User experience: What is the emotional resonance of the service? Does it look and feel right? Is it easy to understand?
  • Relevance: What are the needs the service is anticipating? How to take on the positioning and messaging?

By mapping the entire customer journey and highlighting triggers and barriers, Vodafone customers take on a central role in the development of new digital services. So far, the screening and prioritization analysis led to the launch of Guardian, Protect, Cloud, Contacts, Discover and Joyn. The research also supported the go-to-market strategy including volume uptake forecasts in each country.

How did the client experience it?

“The Consumer Consulting Boards we performed have been the most powerful tool to ensure that we stay in touch with the customer.”
Enrique Marti del Olmo, Head of Communication Services at Vodafone