"There's a direct correlation between an efficient sales transaction process and improving satisfaction with the overall purchase experience," said Kirk Parsons, Senior Director of the Telecom services practice at J.D. Power. "The increased levels of satisfaction with website are partially due to the efficiency and immediacy of the experience driven by increasingly innovative online chat functions. Additionally, carriers have invested heavily in promoting and marketing the latest 4G devices to keep current customers loyal and encourage spending on more advanced services."

While advanced services and superfast 4G LTE are great ways to upsell current subscribers into buying more services, Julio Puschel, principal analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media believes building customer relationships and loyalty starts with meeting the customer's expectations.

“Operators need to make sure customers don't experience an excessive number of call drops and that the quality of the network is reliable to use data services,” Puschel adds.  In general terms, it is to improve the customer experience in all touch points including the call center, website, retail store, network, etc.

“On the top of providing good customer experience, operators should also work on segmentation to provide more relevant offers to its customers,” Puschel says. “The segmentation will also help operators to better plan their loyalty campaigns. It is important to highlight that loyalty programs need to be also relevant to customers and the rewards achievable.”

Rewarding customer loyalty matters 

Telstra is one operator which has embraced loyalty programs with its new “THANKS” initiative. Telstra’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mark Buckman, said the program recognizes and rewards customer loyalty and was the next phase in Telstra’s strategy to put the customer at the center of everything and drive customer advocacy.

“This new initiative rewards and thanks our customers for choosing Telstra and connects them to the things they love,” he said. “Our research indicates that our customers rate film, live music and sport among their highest categories of personal interest, so there is no better way to thank them for their loyalty than by offering experiences and benefits that fit in with their live."

“We wanted to ensure the customer rewards were tangible, immediately redeemable and related to things that they are passionate about and we think this program hits the sweet spot on both fronts,” Buckman added.

The “THANKS” program offers deals on movies, concerts and sports events to loyal Telsta customers.

From a shift in corporate vision to network and business intelligence upgrades to gold old-fashioned movie tickets, CSPs are tackling the challenges of customer loyalty on every front in 2014. No matter the customer touch point you choose, remember to put the expectations of the customer at the center of each interaction, from the network level up to customer service.