Dear Marketing Executives - "Average" the Needs of Indians at Your Own Peril

India represents possibly the most varied single market in the world, and the table below bears this out.  Selling commonly defined products and services to a billion people with varied needs is always a challenge, and a “one-size-fits-all” approach is fraught with peril. Check the data set compiled below for the Indian Telecom Circles :

For the purposes of licensing, India was carved up by the Department of Telecommunications into 22 Local Service Areas, commonly known as “circles.”  My team did some analysis recently of just how varied the circles are, by showing the contrasts in population, economic might and income per capita. As well as broadening my geographic imagination, it made me think of how varied this country really is: India has a 7x earnings ratio between poorest and richest:

• Delhi’s average GDP/capita is INR 1.75 Lakh, whereas Bihar’s is only INR 27,000.  Globally, that’s rather like comparing the average person in Morocco (whose GDP/capita is the same as Delhi’s) with someone in Ethiopia (which has the same as Bihar)
• India has a 30x differential in most versus least populous regions: the two circles which make up UP have a population of 200m whereas Himachal Pradesh, the least populous circle, has 7m. UP compares to Brazil in population, whereas mountainous HP only has the population of Panama.
• Gujarat has the population of the UK but the GDP per capita of Pakistan
• Bihar has the population of Russia but an economy only the size of Uzbekistan and Bosnia combined.

Telecom marketing is advanced when it comes to segmentation, with operators having strategies by segment, circle, and smaller zonal units too. But most of the campaigns which leverage this savviness apply to tariff offers only to drive usage or prevent churn.  There isn’t much out there that treats us differently, by way of service quality, credit policies, whether we are prepaid or post-paid, let alone anything that’s properly based on our wider individual preferences for consumption and entertainment.

In a recent market survey conducted by my team, we found that telcos may be missing opportunities to target customers because of generalizing too much by region, profession or SEC classification.  But by cross-analysing two groups (eg SEC class versus profession) we are finding some interesting insights. For example, while only 1 in 7 of a segment would consider switching from a prepaid connection to a postpaid one, when analysed against their profession, the number jumps to 35% for some sub-segments.

The big data revolution is being talked about by everyone. The genuine ability to cross-analyse and micro-segment the India market right down to the individual, and act on it through reaching the customer with the right message on the their device at the right time and place, at their email address or at the retail store, couldn’t come sooner.