Alice Lamotte is the head of Web Analytics and Tag Management at Bouygues Telecom. After gaining experience in media surveys, and on the advertiser side in the banking and travel industries, she joined ad platform Weborama. The marked rise of tracking and bid management tools, as well as Google’s acquisition of Urchin in 2005, largely influenced her choice and desire to delve into the technical heart of analytics. Upon her arrival at Bouygues Telecom nearly two years ago, she rediscovered the advertiser perspective and was able to integrate her rich technical experience. Alice has a very precise view of the challenges associated with implementing a measurement tool. She was kind enough to speak with us and answer a few questions – read on for the interview.
Tell us, in a few words, about Bouygues’ digital presence.
Recently, Bouygues Telecom’s digital presence was extensively revamped. Of the two brands, ‘Bouygues Telecom ’and ‘b&you’ (the SIM-only/Web-Only offer), the group decided to only keep one – Bouygues Telecom – with two product ranges conserving the best of both offers. This change reflected the desire to simplify the range of plans and packages available (down to 14 different offers, instead of nearly 50 previously), and to encourage customer loyalty by responding to each client’s needs in the best way possible. A new online store offering the two product ranges (‘b&you’ and ‘Sensation’) was born, while the Bouygues Telecom online customer zone was reworked to accommodate ‘b&you’ customers as well. The communication plans, for both prospects and clients, were completely revised, of course.
And how did this impact your activities?
It was a very large-scale project, conducted in just a few months’ time, during which the contribution of the web analytics team was significant. The revamping of the new online store happened in a very ‘data-driven’ way – we relied on analysis of traffic and the performance of various user pathways already existing on the two brands’ sites. We implemented a new decision-driving dashboard that offered a centralised vision, as well as a view of each product range. Today, we assist our internal teams with performance analysis regarding these changes in our offer, and with tracking of progress toward our goals for each range within this new context. AT Internet’s consulting team worked very closely with us through the entire ‘restructuring’ phase, measuring and implementing KPIs for this new programme. Bouygues Telecom also offers its clients access to many applications which are, for the most part, also measured with AT Internet’s solution.
What are the challenges associated with an analytics-oriented approach for a major player in the telecom industry like Bouygues?
In the ultra-competitive telecom market, which has become even more so since Free came onto the scene, having an analytics-based approach is essential. Customer retention is a crucial challenge that is just as important as acquisition. Indeed, it is now quite easy to change telecom providers, yet consumers don’t wish to change them regularly, unless they are particularly dissatisfied. Acquisition funnels are therefore scrupulously monitored, as are re-engaging client actions. Any signs of dissatisfaction that may be detected on the sites are also tracked in the framework of a retention action plan (pushing offers on the site, by email and by phone). Moreover, for a group like Bouygues Telecom that has a physical sales network as well as a call centre, a major challenge remains having a multi-channel approach to streamline the experience across different points of contact. Additionally, a major challenge for our company (made even more complex by the increase in “no strings attached” offers) remains the estimation of a client’s value over time per offer, which web analytics alone cannot really summarise.
Has the evolution of the ISP market changed your objectives (KPIs) in terms of performance analysis?
Just as with mobile, the ISP market is very active and is characterised by a race to innovate and lower prices. Moreover, the industry trend of mobiles and landlines converging is only getting stronger (notably with the Numericable-SFR merger, and more recently, Virgin Mobile). To stand out in this market, last November, Bouygues Telecom launched an “Internet box” for its ‘b&you’ clients, then launched the Triple Play Box (Internet/TV/phone) for €19.99 last March, and has now just announced the launch of the new “Bbox Miami” in early 2015, which offers greater usability and a mix of TV-mobile experiences, with, notably, the possibility of using your smartphone as a remote control. A teaser campaign and microsite designed to collect contacts and help people discover the Bbox Miami have just been launched. The conquest of new business is the most important objective. A/B testing is often used to test the promotion of new ISP offers, as well as funnel progressions. Aside from the online conversion funnel, the metrics tracked are the rate of being successfully eligible for different offers (fibre optic/ADSL), and the pathways toward other channels (web call-back and in-store appointments).
Today, as a web analyst, do your analyses and recommendations weigh directly on Bouygues’ offline actions?
I can’t say that web analytics have, today, an impact on offline actions. The concept of inter-channel still remains a topic on which we must advance, because even if these inter-channel ‘connections’ (from the web to a call centre and social networks, or inversely) exist and are measured, online and offline channels still work in a rather independent manner.
How do you see web analytics in 10 years?
The market is evolving so rapidly that a 10-year vision seems very complicated to have. Web analytics will not be (and already is not) only ‘web’. It will inevitably be holistic and will take on an increasingly central position. The individual (whether a client or prospect) will undoubtedly be placed at the heart of the analysis, which must be cross-channel in order to give the advertiser a complete vision of the performance of his or her actions. The integration of offline data in the same platform as online data is still in its infancy. It seems to me that the winning solutions will be those that facilitate decision-making, and also facilitate the automation of acquisition and CRM activities. Therefore, these solutions must be capable of collecting, treating and rendering granular data with an analytic objective. They must also be able to make data directly actionable on third-party platforms (retargeting, email or inventory for programmatic buying…). Over these last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of many types of solutions (DMPs, attribution platforms). We can expect to see these pared down into ‘one-stop-shop’-type offers, which have yet to be built. I think analytics and TMS tools will have an important role to play, because data collection remains at the heart of it all.
From your point of view, what are the 3 key qualities that data or web analytics professionals should have?
I think that it is first necessary to be a good listener, in order to really understand needs and problems, and to be able to transcribe them in a tagging plan and KPIs? You have to have lots of curiosity, but also be methodical in order to have a disciplined approach with data analysis in general. And let’s not forget how vital it is to correctly interpret data and to know how data is collected (meaning you must master the technical part of implementation, and understand how your tool works).
Any stories to share?
More than a story, here are a few milestone dates in the close collaboration between Bouygues Telecom and AT Internet: 2002 was the year that AT Internet’s solution was first implemented on the Bouygues Telecom site, and 2008 was when AT Internet started working on-site in Bouygues Telecom’s offices.
Thanks to Alice for sharing her thoughts and experiences with us!
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