Industry

Telecommunications/Technology

Security Need

To help increase customer retention and create complementary streams of revenue

Solution

TELUS Online Security powered by Norton, an exclusive product developed in collaboration between TELUS and Norton

Results

• Over 10% of TELUS customers subscribed to the product within 4 years
• Growth continues at 37% year over year
• Maintained customer retention rate of 90%
• Reached subscriber activation rate of over 65% in digital channels

Partner Overview

TELUS is a world-leading communications technology company and one of the largest in Canada, with over 19 million customer connections. TELUS is a socially led company, driven by a purpose to use its technology to help solve the most pressing issues of our generation. Their longstanding commitment to putting customers first fuels every aspect of their business, making TELUS a distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty.

In 2018, TELUS and Gen joined together to create a product for the TELUS customer base that would provide them with the most comprehensive cybersecurity product possible. This custom product held complementary benefits to the core lines of business of TELUS increasing ARPU of the customer base and extending the stickiness with additional products per user.

TELUS’ Channel Strategy and Product Enablement Manager, Kyle Simunovic, and Marketing Manager, Eddy Tan, sat down with Norton to share their experience with our suite of Cyber Safety products, and talk about the role Norton has played in helping protect their customers’ digital lives and keeping them safer online. 

The Opportunity

Back in 2018, when TELUS began their search for a Cyber Safety partner, they focused on what mattered most to their customers: their community and their brand.

“When we think about how we find a good partner, we’re really focusing on our brand promise, which is to provide high-value services - the best services - to our consumers. And that’s certainly what we looked for when we began to work with Norton,” said Kyle.

Kyle and Eddy went on to talk about the importance of having the right partner to meet their customers’ needs.

“When we think of TELUS Online Security (our exclusive product that we sell in partnership with Norton), our motto is ‘if you connect it, protect it.’ And that really comes to life for us in a number of different ways. Data breaches are becoming more frequent, so customers’ data is becoming more sensitive,” Kyle said. 

He added: “Consumers want to protect themselves especially when they are sharing personal information, like when they’re doing online banking, making payments, etc. - so our value prop fits nicely for them. Norton not only gives us the ability to provide a best-in-class device security product, but also an identity protection service that alerts customers when an issue arises—it really aligns with our ‘peace of mind’ motto.”

Evolving the TELUS channels

TELUS has worked closely with Norton to evolve their go-tomarket channels. “We have some really unique channel distribution programs here at TELUS. The partnership with Norton is also very unique, as we brought TELUS Online Security into all of our distribution channels over time,” Kyle explained.

Why TELUS chose Norton as their cyber safety partner

For TELUS, having a partner who aligns with their core values on how they serve customers is foundational. “With Norton, we found a partner that also values that same level of customer service, reliability, and support,” said Kyle.

Eddy added: “The TELUS culture and ecosystem makes Norton a good fit for our customers because cybersecurity is an essential complement to every other TELUS product. The backbone of all TELUS solutions is our network that connects millions of Canadians online, and every single one of them should be protected while they’re using our other services. At TELUS, we’re also intent on providing peace of mind through our connected home solutions, of which cybersecurity plays an important role.”

When further reflecting on the TELUS/Norton partnership, the team explained how Norton helps them enhance their customer-first value proposition. “Norton is always there to back us up and continue to provide that support to our customers - that’s where we find synergies in our partnership,” Kyle said. 

Integration

Leveraging Norton’s application programming interface (API), TELUS is able to control their customer enrollment and subscription experience. This API provides the interface for our partners to manage the full subscriber lifecycle of Norton product subscriptions. This includes billing, upsells, and cancellation of the entitlement as required. Furthermore, utilizing this type of integration model keeps customers within the TELUS ecosystem, allowing the TELUS brand to lead – this helps build customer loyalty, yet also leverages the trust and recognition of the Norton brand.

TELUS Online Security powered by Norton was created as the result of a strong collaboration between TELUS and Norton. This exclusive product was developed and customized based on TELUS’ needs.

The TELUS team explained the importance of being able to tailor the Norton product to the way they go to market. “Norton really went the extra mile to ensure our customers had the best experience while using our VPN,” said Kyle.

Kyle went on to explain the importance of being able to easily implement Norton solutions into their go-to-market strategy. “

Norton is a leader in cybersecurity and Cyber Safety and leveraging that breadth of talent, intelligence, and sheer creativity is really important. We add all kinds of different features all the time. We test them and bring them into market in ways nobody else does, and in places where they don’t offer even comparable sorts of services. We’re constantly working with Norton to find new solutions that would add incremental value to the portfolio of features that we offer through our products,” he added.

Results

Partnering with Norton has empowered TELUS to grow their organization, boost customer relationships, and reach a new subscriber activation rate of over 70%.

Furthermore, Eddy explained that the partnership with Norton has helped TELUS’ core business goals by equipping them with the data, insights, and resources to be successful.

“We’ve made great strides over the years on improving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and churn. Based on our internal research, we’re now viewed as the solution with the best customer service among Canadian competitors, and we’re among the top on reliability. Plus, customer retention has improved dramatically,” he said.

Kyle added, “Not to mention, we’re protecting around a million Canadians now, which was almost unfathomable three years ago. And over time, we’ve established a wide breadth of 6,000+ points of distribution across the country, and several thousand agents across those as well. It’s a big partnership. It’s coast to coast to coast, and it’s attached to all sorts of different products and services that we sell as core to our business.”

“Norton is a great team to work with – they’re the best of the best. We see it consistently in our surveys, we see it in its functionality, and we see it in the operations of the product and the rigor with which Norton really leads from a thought leadership perspective,” said Kyle. 

A strong partnership, a bright future

Kyle and Eddy say that they would highly recommend partnering with Norton.

“With Norton, we’ve been able to drive great value, and the most meaningful part of that is being able to provide a really strong social purpose product that’s having an incredibly positive effect on lives, all while driving value for our stakeholders,” said Kyle.

Kyle went on to describe how seamlessly the two teams work together – and how that synergy helps achieve common goals. “There is so much flexibility in the partnership. We’ve really brought Norton into the TELUS team, and they’ve done the same for us. It’s a really collaborative, solution-focused partnership where we’re looking at what we can bring into the market and how we do it - together. We’re one team moving forward with a really unique value proposition into the marketplace.”

Eddy added: “We intend to maximize the value that Norton’s portfolio provides our customers in the future by helping them make full use of TELUS Online Security. We have plans to optimize product and feature activations, as well as enhancements to the customer experience.”