Mobile Customer Loyalty Tied Closely To Retail Shopping Experience.

The U.S. mobile industry can take an important step toward managing customer turnover by improving the mobile customer’s retail shopping experience, according to Telephia, Inc. Customer satisfaction with the retail experience as a whole plays a substantial role in predicting a customer’s subsequent likelihood to switch service providers. This suggests that the mobile industry can make a critical impact at the point of purchase to help combat churn.

These findings are drawn from a recent survey conducted jointly by Telephia and Harris Interactive®, a leading Internet-based market research and consulting firm. Telephia will launch the Telephia Point-of-Purchase Survey, a new, dedicated study focused solely on the mobile consumer’s shopping experience, in the first quarter of 2003.

While issues surrounding pricing and network quality are generally perceived as the main drivers of churn, satisfaction with the sign-up process, a mobile customer’s initial point of contact with a service provider, also plays an important role in setting customer expectations and is a key driver of likelihood to churn.

Subscribers are far more likely to remain loyal to their service provider if they have a positive, satisfying experience at the point of purchase. Those who report that they were not highly satisfied with the process of signing up for a new plan (38 percent) are almost four times as likely to switch away from their service provider than those who were highly satisfied (10 percent).

Impact of Sign-Up Process on Likelihood to Switch Service Providers

Customer Satisfaction With the Sign-Up Process Likely to Switch Service Providers

Subscribers who were highly satisfied (1) — 10%

Subscribers who were not highly satisfied (2) — 38%

(1) Indicated satisfaction level of 8, 9 or 10 (on a 10-point scale, with 10 being highest) with sign-up process

(2) Indicated satisfaction levels of less than 8 (on a 10-point scale, with 10 being highest) with sign-up process
Note: Results are based on an online study of more than 100,000 mobile subscribers, surveyed over the past year, in the 35 largest U.S. markets.

“The customer experience at the point of purchase has the potential to serve as an important foundation to drive customer loyalty in the mobile industry,” said Mick Mullagh, president and chief executive officer of Telephia. “It is crucial that operators and other retailers continue to improve the mobile shopping experience and work to better educate consumers about the tremendous benefits of today’s mobile services.”

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For more information at http://www.telephia.com