Rural Cellular Corporation (RCC) offers full-service wireless communications in the Midwest, Northeast, Northwest and Southern regions of the United States. RCC services rural areas which are adjacent to metropolitan areas or along highway corridors where tourism, agriculture and small businesses are prevalent. Since 1990, RCC has grown into a regional wireless leader by recognizing the opportunities that exist in rural cellular communications. RCC captured these markets by offering innovative solutions and acquiring companies with strong operating results and a similar commitment to service excellence.
In order to sustain continued growth and strong financial results, RCC must provide innovative solutions while maximizing customer satisfaction. This depends on having a sound marketing research approach that will provide RCC with a clear understanding of customer needs and a solid basis for decision making.
RCC uses PASW Statistics software to conduct all of its marketing research, which includes customer satisfaction studies, branding studies and other research to determine positioning for products and features. By continually collecting and analyzing key measurement information, RCC is better able to position products, improve brand image and determine where to allocate its resources.
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Since its inception, RCC has valued the importance of supporting key business decisions with hard data. "We can't imagine doing business without having statistical data to back us up," said Noel Roos, marketing communications project manager, RCC. "You can't run a business unless you know your customer, your competitor and your environment."
The results of the analysis provide RCC with a better understanding of each of these areas, enabling RCC to make proactive decisions that contribute to its success. "With PASW Statistics we can make decisions that affect everything we do," explained Roos. "Some companies base decisions on gut instinct, which is dangerous because you tend to believe what you want to believe. It's amazing how solid marketing data changes your thinking."
Data-based decision making has a direct impact on the bottom line. The better information you have, the more effective you can be… With PASW Statistics we can make decisions that affect everything we do.
Noel Roos
Marketing Communications Project Manager
RCC
Much of RCC's research focuses on improving the market positioning of its products. "We do a lot of research to help us understand how to position a feature or service plan or to determine what sort of new service plan to develop," said Roos. "This really tells us what people want and what we need to develop to meet their needs."
For example, several years ago a major competitor came out with a single-rate plan. Many companies responded by rushing to the market with similar service plans, which are costly to implement and support. Rather than develop and deliver a similar plan, RCC used PASW Statistics to evaluate customer needs.
"We wanted to determine what our customers wanted, not just blindly follow the market," said Roos. "A single-rate plan turned out to be very expensive, as our competitors discovered. So we looked at which aspects of the plan our customers really wanted, such as no roaming charges or a larger coverage area."
Before investing money in any new feature, RCC surveys its customers to determine exactly what they want, what they want the feature to do and what they're willing to pay for it. In order to position a new feature, RCC asks customers to discuss key benefits. "Understanding what customers already know about a feature helps us determine what obvious or hidden benefits we need to highlight," explained Roos.
Using PASW Statistics, RCC analyzes marketing data to determine how to allocate its resources. According to Roos, "Data-based decision making has a direct impact on the bottom line. The better information you have, the more effective you can be."
For example, when analyzing data, a correlation may be discovered between the number of household phones and a particular occupation or age group. Armed with this information, RCC can leverage its resources accordingly to meet the needs of the specific target market.
"PASW Statistics helps us to better understand where we should spend our money," said Roos. "For example, should we invest more resources in expanding the number of cell sites or should we focus on developing new features such as voice-activated dialing? Without PASW Statistics delivering the answers to these questions, there's the possibility of making some very large mistakes, such as spending money on new features when what the customer really wants is higher quality service."
RCC conducts a branding survey every year to evaluate whether the image it projects to its customers matches the image it wants to project. The survey asks customers to recall what they remember about RCC's advertising and to identify the attributes they assign to the brand. RCC also gathers data on what customers think about RCC's brand image versus competitor brands.
Using PASW Statistics, RCC can statistically evaluate the data to determine whether customers are differentiating it from the competition. "Looking at the results of the branding survey helps us gauge the effectiveness of our advertising and evaluate whether we are going in the right direction," said Roos. "Are we building the reputation we want? Does our brand stand out or does it blend in? If our customers are having a difficult time differentiating us from our competition, then it becomes a matter of price and that's a game we don't want to play."
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