Month: April 2022

The Customer Experience & Telco Sales Association (CETS) recently announced the winners of the CETS 2022 Best in Class Awards.

“Each year, CETS (http://www.cets.org) recognizes teams and companies that demonstrate innovation and excellence related to customer experience and telco sales,’’ said Ellis Hill, President of ResearchFirst, Inc., CETS’s management firm. This year’s awards went to two service providers, MTA and Bell Canada, and one vendor company, Calix, each of which executed best in class practices over the last year

MTA has historically prioritized maintaining a physical presence within their community in order to meet members where they are. During the pandemic, they made the difficult decision to close all physical locations, which left them to conduct business solely over the phone. The customer experience has always been at the forefront of their minds, so they sought to re-establish a physical presence for our members while abiding by local, state, and federal safety regulations. They began planning their retail approach in Q2 2021 and fully implemented the plan by Q3. When they first opened their retail location to the public, they did not initially see a large response. With each passing month, they saw an increase in customers who preferred to come into their retail location instead of interacting over the phone. Currently, their retail location is still successfully operating under this plan.

“CETS is more than an organization of telco professionals. It is a collective think tank of connoisseurs of the industry who gather in a safe space to share ideas and best practices. Together we analyze what is working and what is not to aid in our collective success in our home territories. Our team at MTA is extremely honored to win the CETS Best in Class award for 2022,” said William Spear, Sales Manager at MTA.

About CETS

The Customer Experience & Telco Sales Association (CETS) brings together professionals from the service provider and vendor communities within the Telecom industry responsible for direct and indirect sales channels, customer care, and the customer experience. Members share channel best practices and industry trends in these areas with respect to all products and services sold by Telco providers.

View  http://www.CETS.org for more information.

Executive Director: ResearchFirst, Inc. (http://www.researchfirst.com)

The Broadband Multimedia Marketing Association (BMMA) recently announced the winners of the 2022 Best in Class Marketing awards.

“Each year, the BMMA recognizes teams and companies that demonstrate innovation and excellence in marketing broadband services,’’ said Ellis Hill, President of ResearchFirst, Inc., the BMMA’s management firm. This year’s awards went to two service providers, MTA and Kinetic by Windstream, and two vendor companies, Calix and Scout Alarm, each of which executed best in class marketing practices related to broadband products and services.”

MTA has been running upgrade marketing campaigns for a few years, using monthly network improvement reports to send mailers to customers eligible for upgrades as well as newly serviceable addresses. After a pause during the pandemic in 2020, MTA revamped the upgrade campaign in 2021 with new branding and improved copy. The new campaign ran throughout 2021 and was targeted to current customers eligible for upgrades due to network improvements, as well as newly serviceable households and non-customer households in areas where MTA had recently upgraded their network. With the shift to a remote lifestyle of school and work from home, the market was seeking improved bandwidth options. This campaign alerted customers that improved speeds were available so they could upgrade and notified unserved households that they had an alternate provider to consider. Using Alaskan elements in the graphics was a strategic move to stand out from the generic imagery competitors were using and offering a free month for non-customers provided an opportunity for them to test out the service before disconnecting their current connection.

“MTA is proud of our team’s outreach efforts to ensure our network investments are resulting in an improved experience for our members. Receiving recognition from organizations like BMMA affirms that we have the right people doing the right activities. Thank you BMMA and thank you to our member solutions team at MTA,” said Michael Burke, CEO of MTA.

Overall, the 2021 campaign provided a significant sustained revenue boost and was an improved experience for both customers and staff. The updated message is easier to understand and multiple touchpoints with the same message improve retention. The streamlined request process improved both efficiency and tracking, providing a definitive answer to the campaign’s value.

About the BMMA

The BMMA is an international organization dedicated to helping Telco internet service providers and their vendors advance the adoption and use of broadband services.

Our membership includes many of the key Telco and broadband vendor organizations in North America and is open to any broadband industry Telco service provider, vendor, CPE manufacturer, government agency, consultant, analyst, or other party with a demonstrated interest in promoting the mission of the BMMA.

Our goal is to advance the adoption and use of broadband services by identifying key industry success factors and sharing best practice marketing initiatives, new product and customer trends and other relevant industry information.

Please see our website at http://www.BMMA.org for more information or to apply for membership in the BMMA.

Executive Director: ResearchFirst, Inc. (http://www.researchfirst.com)