How Bundled Services Are Going to Be the Most Effective Way of Increasing Customer Lifecycle in the Future?

The human tendency to get more services at lower prices is a never-ending process. Bundled services, whether it be value meals in restaurants or offers by telecom service providers in relation to internet services, are always appreciated and welcomed with open arms. Bundling of services to increase the customer life-cycle in the future has been highly underestimated for a long time now.

It is a well-known fact that the growth of a business involves two key elements, i.e. acquiring new customers and retaining the existing customer base, thereby, increasing their lifetime. Most research studies suggest that maintaining the current customer base is a much better technique of increasing revenue of a business effectively than acquiring new ones. Bundling of services is just one of the ways by which you can retain your customers, especially in the case of Telecom operators.

What is the Bundling of Services?

Bundling of services is a form of sales as well as a marketing technique where service providers tend to exhibit apparent value to their customer base by offering a variety of services at a discounted price if purchased together. In other words, if the customers purchase a single product, they have to pay a specific amount of money.

However, if they opt to buy a package of products containing a variety, then it becomes considerably cheaper for them. Such kinds of techniques have been used widely by the majority of service providers throughout the world in order to increase their sales.

Bundling of OTT services with Telecom Operators.

With the popularity of OTT (Over-the-Top) streaming services like Netflix, Zee5, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, etc. increasing day by day, people are beginning to realize the importance of bundled services. The majority of people now have access to or have subscriptions of more than one OTT media service platform.

Moreover, their choice of mobile data or broadband plans is reflected in their desirability to opt for more OTT services as most of the telecom providers such as Aitel and Jio now provide free access to applications such as Hotstar, ZEE5, ALTBalaji, etc. with their respective data plans. These additional services by the telecom providers benefit even the OTT media services since it automatically helps their market penetration, thereby, increasing their customer base rapidly. Therefore, such kind of bundled services is gaining momentum increasingly and it is reaping benefits for both the OTT Platforms as well as the telecom operators.

One of the most prominent and recent bundlings of both the services is being offered by Reliance Jio in collaboration with ZEE5 which has a vast library of more than 4500 movies and more than 250 original TV shows. With this partnership, JioFibre will again be rising to be one of the most successful telecom networks since ZEE5 is one of the most popular OTT platforms. ZEE5 is available on silver plan and above.

Customers have been given a variety of offers ranging from Bronze (Rs. 699) to Titanium (Rs.8499) to customers opting for a high-speed data connection from JioFibre. Such distinct subscription plans of JioFibre give free access to customers who want to enjoy entertainment shows on ZEE5.

Another highly prominent partnership has arisen between Bharti Airtel and ZEE5 for all Airtel Thanks users. ZEE5 and Airtel have launched two plans of Rs. 289 prepaid pack which gives ZEE5 access to users for 28 days with 1.5 GB/day and Monthly top up which is offered at Rs. 79 instead of Rs. 99. Such exclusive offers are available to broadband as well as post-paid customers of Airtel Thanks.

Seeing the ongoing trend, even Vodafone Idea could not have been left behind in the scene. So, for Vodafone prepaid as well as post-paid customers also Vodaphone Play subscription as well as ZEE5 Premium, has been presented as an additional offer along with all unlimited recharge packs.

The Vodafone Play application is a highly diverse app with more than 450 TV channels and includes movies from other OTT screens like SonyLIV, Eros Now, Shemaroo Me, Hoichoi, Sun NXT, Hungama, etc.

However, for Vodaphone Red users with a recharge of Rs. 499 and more, the telecom company offers the Amazon Prime subscription too. For customers with a monthly recharge of Rs. 999 or more per month, there is the additional offer of one year’s worth Netflix subscription. But Zee5 is only available only through Vodafone Play.

However, in recent times Indian telecom service operators are struggling to keep their businesses intact despite the ongoing financial liabilities that they are incurring including the AGR dues that are payable as per the mandates issued by the Supreme Court of India. With the scope of investment opportunities in the 5G spectrum knocking on the doors, the current scenario is not much profitable for such companies.

Therefore, other companies too, such as Airtel and Vodafone Idea are discovering ways to increase their revenues. Tying up with OTT services is one of the best ways that are rapidly bringing them increased revenues as well as giving them ample opportunities to secure investments for 5G.

As per a recent research report sponsored by Ovum-Amdocs, OTT services have a direct effect on the amount of money that customers spend on mobile and broadband data services and that customers are more loyal to the carrier service provider if they offer optimum bundled services with OTT platforms.

Research reports provide that 56 percent of Indian consumers subscribe to at least one or more than one digital media service, whether it be audio or video services. 42 percent of digital media consumers specify that the reason behind their subscribing to multiple OTT services is that none of the OTT service providers single-handedly contains all the content that they want. This portrays the increase in demand for local as well as international content among Indian consumers.

It is also an undeniable fact that more than 50 percent of the consumers are attracted to discounts as well as free trials that are offered by the various media platforms. This means that consumers prefer paying for the premium services offered by the media providers via their telecom carrier bills if it is offered at reasonably discounted prices or if offered an extended free trial, in cases where such offers are provided by the existing telecom operators that are being used by the consumers.

Such research reports clearly suggest that if telecom operators can effectively bag tie-ups with multiple OTT media partners, and offer innovative and affordable offers then such bundled services can produce rather optimum benefits for them and can increase customer lifecycle in future. The ultimate aim to grow the business is to offer the best user-experience at reasonably priced offers so that the customers stay loyal to their respective telecom operators.