In a market where each interaction shapes loyalty and revenue, telcos must transform routine touchpoints into powerful growth levers. This second instalment of our three-part Global Telecommunications Study 2025 series examines the “Engagement pillar” of our HELP framework. Discover which customer behaviours drive the biggest returns, how service interactions, telco app usage and loyalty programs influence customer lifetime value, and actionable strategies to deepen engagement.
Grounded in data from 15,700+ consumers across 31 markets, our Global Telecommunications Study 2025 outlines how telcos can turn every customer interaction, whether online or offline, into an opportunity for value creation and sustainable growth.
Building on our exploration of the Happiness pillar in the previous blog, our article on Engagement focuses on how customers and operators interact across channels, and how those interactions correlate with loyalty, ARPU, ultimately resulting in customer lifetime value (CLTV).
Across global operators, the Engagement score averages 7.7 out of 10 (Top 10%: 9.1), making it the highest-performing pillar in Simon-Kucher’s HELP framework. However, as the results show, significant untapped upside is still available, as they widely differ between operators in each market.
Our analysis identifies three distinct ways of customer engagement: service touchpoints, telco app usage, and loyalty program participation. Each of these levers reflects an interaction frequency and serves as a conduit for upsell, cross-sell, and satisfaction improvements.
Service touchpoints: From cost center to growth catalyst
Traditionally viewed as a cost center, customer engagement can instead become a growth engine, when managed correctly. While customers with less than 2 service touchpoints a year have the highest NPS, our study shows that customers with service engagement exhibit 19% higher CLTV compared to non-contactors.
However, satisfaction dips sharply after two support interactions, underscoring the importance of efficient first-contact resolution. When customers have ten or more interactions, where they receive consistent support, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) almost rebounds completely, approaching the levels of the ones without any service touchpoints.
This pattern indicates that reliable, high-quality service experiences restore trust even after service breakdowns.
Your next-best action:
- Optimize first-contact resolution through smarter routing and agent training.
- Leverage analytics to predict common issues and resolve them via proactive notifications.
- Integrate digital and human channels; for example, escalating complex cases from chatbots to expert agents without friction.
- Regularly engage with customers with relevant updates
Telco app usage: The digital gateway to upselling
With 81% who are using their provider’s mobile app, they have established as key platform that telcos should use for interaction, especially since 52% of customers engage with it on a weekly basis. However, as almost 50% of customers still use it for administrative tasks, telcos should expand their capabilities to leverage them as a sales channel.
The app is a natural ‘pull’ channel for context-based offers: with real-time usage data, telcos can surface add-ons, upsell bundles, or loyalty incentives at the precise moment of customer need.
Your next-best action:
- Embed dynamic promotions such as one-day data packs or device insurance trials directly into app workflows.
- Personalize in-app messaging using AI-driven recommendations based on usage patterns.
- Simplify in-app transactions with one-click purchase flows and clear value communication to minimize friction.
Loyalty programs: Advancing engagement and retention
While almost 80% of telco providers offer a loyalty program, only half of customers are subscribed. Meanwhile, the other half is aware of their operator’s loyalty programs but not enrolled, highlighting a conversion opportunity. Participation indicates a 43% uplift in CLTV, making loyalty programs the single strongest customer engagement proxy in our HELP framework.
Effectively promoting loyalty programs strengthens both usage and advocacy by rewarding key customer milestones such as tenure tiers and usage thresholds. It also ensures seamless reward redemption, whether through bill credits, partner perks, or device upgrades.
Your next-best action:
- Streamline enrolment via single-tap options in the app and at point-of-sale.
- Diversify rewards to include non-monetary benefits (e.g., priority support, partner discounts) that drive emotional loyalty.
- Use gamification, such as progress bars and milestone badges, to sustain engagement momentum.
Morph customer engagement into tangible growth outcomes
Effective engagement doesn’t happen by accident. It requires a coordinated approach that aligns data, incentives, and cross-functional teams around the customer journey. Telcos must embed these strategies into their broader commercial playbook to make the most of the Engagement pillar:
- Omni-channel orchestration: Align digital, voice, and physical channels so that a support ticket opened in telco app carries over seamlessly to call center or in-store interactions.
- Predictive engagement analytics: Deploy machine learning models to forecast which customers are likely to engage (or disengage) and surface the right offers at the right time. Also, identify the triggers that should initiate a pro-active engagement coming from the operator.
- KPI realignment: Track engagement metrics (app session length, loyalty activation, first-contact resolution) alongside financial KPIs (ARPU uplift, churn rate reduction) to measure holistic impact.
Before you go …
By elevating customer engagement across service touchpoints, app usage, and loyalty programs, telcos can convert everyday interactions into sustainable growth drivers. These collective actions will deepen customer relationships and accelerate CLTV.
In the final chapter of our three-part series, we will explore the Loyalty and Buying pillars of the HELP framework. This piece will focus on translating engagement momentum into lasting retention and profitable upsell. Stay tuned!
Interested in our 2025 Global Telecommunications Study results in more detail?
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