How To: increase the operator's ARPU. Part 2
For the telecom operator, the launch of the cloud PBX service is a rather lengthy process, requiring a lot of approvals and approvals, especially if the operator is classified as “large”. The time and resources saved at the launch stage allow you to save money and go to the first revenue in a shorter period of time. In this sense, we, as one of the leading vendors of the cloud PBX platform, always advise you to build on already proven business models and use our competencies and expertise accumulated over the years of continuous monitoring of the market. The publications in this blog have a simple goal - to help the business of already existing partner operators and operators who are just planning to start the service, to create effective and commercially successful projects. Today we want to talk about how best to create a tariff policy and create an optimal product catalog, i.e. to get to the market as much as possible.
We will not repeat and motivate to launch cloud services, but immediately move on to the practical part of the story. For the telecom operator, the benefit of launching its own cloud PBX is not only that a product with a monthly subscriber appears in the product line, but also that the cloud PBX can give a second life to sluggishly marketable products and services. The typical connection of the “SaaS-user” is guaranteed to be followed by additional sales - virtual numbers, channels for outgoing calls, integration modules with third-party IP, additional implementations.
We will try to make a typical calculation of the economics of the cloud subscription, based on the sales experience of ITooLabs Communications Server . The settled average value of ARPU in the Russian market of telephone SaaS, for the SMB segment, is in the region of 2.5-3.0 thousand rubles. This is exactly how much a spherical client from the world of small business pays a telecom operator per month. We strongly advise against listening to those service providers who often complain loudly about the low margins of the cloud market and describe depressive scenarios with payments not exceeding a few tens of dollars per month. As a rule, the cause of low margins or unprofitability are incorrect business models or miscalculations admitted during development. If your cloud PBX generates ARPU more or more than 3.0 thousand rubles, then most likely, your service is built without significant economic errors. It is important to understand that, in fact, the payment for SaaS licenses does not exceed 40-50% of the total customer’s check, the remaining 50-60% are payments for basic communication services: virtual numbers, outgoing calls, additional VAS.
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The scheme of binding a cloud subscription to standard services and operator products can be seen in this figure.
In more detail we will stop on the demanded functionality of cloudy automatic telephone exchange for clients of the SOHO segment. A typical subscription must necessarily enable the use of the functionality shown in the figure below.
Voice menu is a function that serves as a locomotive for selling virtual PBXs. Even a small business wants to look big, which means that “Hello, you called….” Every first subscriber connects. Another thing is that in 90% of cases, clients are limited to a single-level IVR and do not fence a garden from DTMF-mazes. As an additional option, the functionality of call forwarding to the mobile and schedules of work time will be in demand.
Statistics is the second most important factor affecting sales. PBX with a well-developed statistics module - guaranteed competitive advantage. Small and medium businesses like to count the cost of telephony and assess the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, which means that call history and details are vital. Many developers of PBX based on OpenSource do not pay enough attention to this moment, which certainly serves as an additional incentive for sales of commercial solutions. And if you also have interactive statistics with the construction of online graphs and call detailing by clicking on the graph, it will be easier to increase the average customer’s receipt.
Call recording is becoming an increasingly popular feature. Fighting for a client in competitive markets dictates its own rules and recorded conversation allows you to work effectively with complaints. It is wise and far-sighted to suggest recording as part of a cloud subscriber base subscription, and the ability to connect additional disk space or increase the retention time of the call recording is an excellent way to raise the average bill per subscription.
Integration with CRM is the trend of 2015. The number of customers wishing to use CRM in conjunction with PBX is growing steadily and, by our estimate, is already reaching 20% ​​of the total. There is a logical explanation for this: CRM developers are increasingly entering the market, warming it up strongly. A client using such a bundle has a feeling of complete control and total automation. This is not to say that this is absolutely true, but those customers who began to use the CRM functionality in their business processes intensively, achieved substantial revenue growth. Thus, the CRM-story is not just another fairy tale for adults and a relatively honest way of taking money from the public, this is really necessary IP.
Well-chosen and logically formed tariffs are a tangible sales driver, but one should not get carried away with the construction of “one thousand and one” offers, it is better to limit oneself to three or four tariff plans. The most correct principle: to form package tariffs, where the user purchases a minimum package of licenses and distributes internal lines within the specified limits. The ability to infinitely increase the number of lines in “One Pitch” increments makes life difficult for both salespeople and technical staff. Try to sell packages, it is justified in all senses.
The approximate scheme of the tariff line.
In the tariff line must necessarily be present and the budget plan and premium class tariff plan. This is necessary not only for sellers who receive an additional tool for customer motivation, it also has a positive effect on the monetization of the service. A loyal customer with a growing business sees an opportunity to migrate to a tariff with broader functionality, and the very fact of the existence of a tariff line is a great way to make additional sales using marketing techniques. The proposal to switch to the next level of tariffs can always be used as an info page for monthly mailings. There are many ways to raise a check: for example, to give a trial period to a premium tariff for regular customers.
Tariff â„–1
Budget tariff plan with the necessary functionality and the minimum number of employees (internal lines) - usually it is 3-5 licenses per package. The subscription includes a virtual number, a minimum outgoing package (IHL) and one or two VAS options (recording of conversations with a retention period of 7 days or a caller ID control module for outgoing calls).
Tariff â„–2
The average segment rate. The number of licenses in the package number 2 should be 2-3 times higher than the number of licenses in the budget tariff. We offer increased IHL (more employees, which means more outgoing calls) and additional premium features (integration with CRM, advanced statistics module, recording of conversations stored for 1 month).
Tariff â„–3
The premium rate, which with a high degree of probability, will be used by no more than 10% of customers, but it should be in case of the appearance of a “big shot”. As part of the tariff 15-20 internal lines, two or more virtual numbers, the ability to connect your own DID, increased IHL and a wide range of additional VAS: the storage of call recording up to 1 year, the module of the notification of missed calls by e-mail, caller ID management functionality under a number of conditions (call direction, subscriber number B) and, in general, all the possibilities provided by the platform.
In this case, it is advisable to allocate the premium options into a separate offer and, if necessary, offer customers to connect advanced functionality even at the initial rate, but at an additional cost.
The wisdom described in this post is only a small part of the knowledge and competencies of ITooLabs , which we are ready to share with our potential and existing customers. Cloud business is very dynamic and we are constantly working to expand the functionality of the platform, adding more and more new options. We will talk step by step about how to effectively build a virtual PBX sales scheme, what functions are in demand and what trends are relevant at the moment, which means that the continuation inevitably follows.
We will not repeat and motivate to launch cloud services, but immediately move on to the practical part of the story. For the telecom operator, the benefit of launching its own cloud PBX is not only that a product with a monthly subscriber appears in the product line, but also that the cloud PBX can give a second life to sluggishly marketable products and services. The typical connection of the “SaaS-user” is guaranteed to be followed by additional sales - virtual numbers, channels for outgoing calls, integration modules with third-party IP, additional implementations.
We will try to make a typical calculation of the economics of the cloud subscription, based on the sales experience of ITooLabs Communications Server . The settled average value of ARPU in the Russian market of telephone SaaS, for the SMB segment, is in the region of 2.5-3.0 thousand rubles. This is exactly how much a spherical client from the world of small business pays a telecom operator per month. We strongly advise against listening to those service providers who often complain loudly about the low margins of the cloud market and describe depressive scenarios with payments not exceeding a few tens of dollars per month. As a rule, the cause of low margins or unprofitability are incorrect business models or miscalculations admitted during development. If your cloud PBX generates ARPU more or more than 3.0 thousand rubles, then most likely, your service is built without significant economic errors. It is important to understand that, in fact, the payment for SaaS licenses does not exceed 40-50% of the total customer’s check, the remaining 50-60% are payments for basic communication services: virtual numbers, outgoing calls, additional VAS.
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Cloud Subscription Structure
The scheme of binding a cloud subscription to standard services and operator products can be seen in this figure.
- Communication services. Cloud PBX is bought not only to receive incoming, but also to call. The percentage of subscriptions where there are no outgoing calls is minimal. We recommend not to abuse a large choice of tariffs for outgoing calls. It is enough to create 2-3 tariff plans with a minimum guaranteed payment (IHL).
- Virtual numbers necessarily accompany any sale of PBX, otherwise its use loses its meaning. We do not recommend allowing the client to come only with their own numbers; at least one number from their own numbering capacity must appear in the subscription structure. At the same time, a significant part of customers comes from competitors and to refuse the ability to “bolt” a third-party number means to lose up to 20% of connections. The moment is subtle and intimate, it is optimal to give the opportunity to connect your own DID for an additional fee or when purchasing premium options.
- Integration with CRM or HelpDesk. The mere fact of the existence of boxed integration with two or three market leaders in cloud CRM already serves as a good source of connections. Customers are carefully studying the CRM marketplace and willingly follow the links in the connector descriptions. It is optimal to give integration for free, but not for low-cost tariffs. The best of all is to take a little money for the module in the budget tariff line, and to allow the integration of the middle and premium segments for free.
- Despite the fact that we expect the largest percentage of connections in the SOHO segment, many customers even with three to five employees buy equipment: for example, a secretarial phone that allows you to see the status of internal lines (BLF). We know cases when a one-time payment for a piece of hardware was an order of magnitude higher than the monthly subscription price. We strongly advise you to negotiate partnership discounts with one of the suppliers of equipment for IP-telephony.
- Some customers want premium functionality (VAS). This may be an extended retention time for recording conversations and an advanced statistics module and the option of additional e-mail notifications of missed calls. It is advisable to allocate premium VAS into a separate offer and charge an additional subscriber for their use.
Demanded PBX functionality
In more detail we will stop on the demanded functionality of cloudy automatic telephone exchange for clients of the SOHO segment. A typical subscription must necessarily enable the use of the functionality shown in the figure below.
Voice menu is a function that serves as a locomotive for selling virtual PBXs. Even a small business wants to look big, which means that “Hello, you called….” Every first subscriber connects. Another thing is that in 90% of cases, clients are limited to a single-level IVR and do not fence a garden from DTMF-mazes. As an additional option, the functionality of call forwarding to the mobile and schedules of work time will be in demand.
Statistics is the second most important factor affecting sales. PBX with a well-developed statistics module - guaranteed competitive advantage. Small and medium businesses like to count the cost of telephony and assess the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, which means that call history and details are vital. Many developers of PBX based on OpenSource do not pay enough attention to this moment, which certainly serves as an additional incentive for sales of commercial solutions. And if you also have interactive statistics with the construction of online graphs and call detailing by clicking on the graph, it will be easier to increase the average customer’s receipt.
Call recording is becoming an increasingly popular feature. Fighting for a client in competitive markets dictates its own rules and recorded conversation allows you to work effectively with complaints. It is wise and far-sighted to suggest recording as part of a cloud subscriber base subscription, and the ability to connect additional disk space or increase the retention time of the call recording is an excellent way to raise the average bill per subscription.
Integration with CRM is the trend of 2015. The number of customers wishing to use CRM in conjunction with PBX is growing steadily and, by our estimate, is already reaching 20% ​​of the total. There is a logical explanation for this: CRM developers are increasingly entering the market, warming it up strongly. A client using such a bundle has a feeling of complete control and total automation. This is not to say that this is absolutely true, but those customers who began to use the CRM functionality in their business processes intensively, achieved substantial revenue growth. Thus, the CRM-story is not just another fairy tale for adults and a relatively honest way of taking money from the public, this is really necessary IP.
Tariff Principles
Well-chosen and logically formed tariffs are a tangible sales driver, but one should not get carried away with the construction of “one thousand and one” offers, it is better to limit oneself to three or four tariff plans. The most correct principle: to form package tariffs, where the user purchases a minimum package of licenses and distributes internal lines within the specified limits. The ability to infinitely increase the number of lines in “One Pitch” increments makes life difficult for both salespeople and technical staff. Try to sell packages, it is justified in all senses.
The approximate scheme of the tariff line.
In the tariff line must necessarily be present and the budget plan and premium class tariff plan. This is necessary not only for sellers who receive an additional tool for customer motivation, it also has a positive effect on the monetization of the service. A loyal customer with a growing business sees an opportunity to migrate to a tariff with broader functionality, and the very fact of the existence of a tariff line is a great way to make additional sales using marketing techniques. The proposal to switch to the next level of tariffs can always be used as an info page for monthly mailings. There are many ways to raise a check: for example, to give a trial period to a premium tariff for regular customers.
Tariff â„–1
Budget tariff plan with the necessary functionality and the minimum number of employees (internal lines) - usually it is 3-5 licenses per package. The subscription includes a virtual number, a minimum outgoing package (IHL) and one or two VAS options (recording of conversations with a retention period of 7 days or a caller ID control module for outgoing calls).
Tariff â„–2
The average segment rate. The number of licenses in the package number 2 should be 2-3 times higher than the number of licenses in the budget tariff. We offer increased IHL (more employees, which means more outgoing calls) and additional premium features (integration with CRM, advanced statistics module, recording of conversations stored for 1 month).
Tariff â„–3
The premium rate, which with a high degree of probability, will be used by no more than 10% of customers, but it should be in case of the appearance of a “big shot”. As part of the tariff 15-20 internal lines, two or more virtual numbers, the ability to connect your own DID, increased IHL and a wide range of additional VAS: the storage of call recording up to 1 year, the module of the notification of missed calls by e-mail, caller ID management functionality under a number of conditions (call direction, subscriber number B) and, in general, all the possibilities provided by the platform.
In this case, it is advisable to allocate the premium options into a separate offer and, if necessary, offer customers to connect advanced functionality even at the initial rate, but at an additional cost.
The wisdom described in this post is only a small part of the knowledge and competencies of ITooLabs , which we are ready to share with our potential and existing customers. Cloud business is very dynamic and we are constantly working to expand the functionality of the platform, adding more and more new options. We will talk step by step about how to effectively build a virtual PBX sales scheme, what functions are in demand and what trends are relevant at the moment, which means that the continuation inevitably follows.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297202/
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