Tariff portfolio simplification: from 47 tariffs to 11 without revenue loss

Context

Operator accumulated 47 active tariffs over 5 years. Every launch of something new added a plan; legacy plans were not retired. Customer service spends 30% of time explaining differences. Marketing cannot communicate value in focus.

CMO asks: “simplify, but do not drop ARPU”.

Diagnostic (4 weeks)

The audit showed:

• 47 active tariffs cover 18 distinct customer profiles. 60% of plans are variations of one theme.
• Top 11 tariffs — 91% of revenue. The other 36 — 9%.
• “Upward” migration (to a pricier plan) — natural, happens. “Downward” — blocked by UX, the customer loses deals.

Insight: simplification = consolidation, not destruction of value.

Approach (8 months)

Months 1-2. Target portfolio design. 11 plans cover 18 profiles, with graceful overlap.

Months 2-3. Migration matrix. Each of the 47 plans → one of the 11 target plans with a no-loss guarantee (customer cannot end up worse off).

Months 3-5. Communication wave. Personalised notifications: “your plan is moving to [new plan]; you additionally get X”. Optionally — opt-in to a better plan.

Months 5-7. Auto-migration for opt-out customers with a soft touch. Customer service trained on the new portfolio.

Months 7-8. Decommission of leftovers, monitoring NPS / churn / ARPU.

Results

• Active tariffs: 47 → 11.
• ARPU: -1% (acceptable, projected was -3 to +2).
• Churn in migration period: +0.3% (small spike, normalised).
• Customer service handle time per call: −22%.
• Marketing campaign clarity: significant qualitative improvement.
• 18 months later — new customer re-acquisition rate +14% (clearer value proposition).

What is critical

No-loss guarantee. Without it: regulator concerns + customer complaints.

Communication wave with personalisation. A “generic plan change” notification is a disaster.

CEO public commitment. Without visible top cover, every sub-stakeholder defends their old plan.

How SamaraliSoft engages

An engagement of this class — 6-9 months. Diagnostic 3-4 weeks, design 4-6 weeks, migration execution.

Related

• /en/insights/telecom-tariff-architecture/ — tariff architecture
• /en/use-cases/telecom-tariff-migration-recommender/ — recommender
• /en/insights/telecom-portfolio-discipline/ — portfolio discipline
• /en/cases/telecom-cvm-rebuild-engagement/ — CVM rebuild