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UK survey reveals what consumers want in a mobile carrier
A survey conducted by Retail Eyes, a customer evaluation company based in the UK, has revealed the most important reason UK residents change mobile phone carriers is because a better tariff is available. Significantly for retailers though, nearly one-in-ten switch carriers due to bad customer service.
Of those people who renewed a mobile phone contract in the last year, 29.4% switched providers, implying a lack of customer loyalty in the industry. Interestingly, the older the consumer, the more likely they were to switch providers. The top reason for switching (73.2%) was that a better tariff was available. However, the second most common reason (9.4%) was that the consumer was unhappy with the customer service he or she received. 7.6% changed to be on the same network as family or friends and 5.8% changed due to poor network coverage.
When asked about how they made their decision on which carrier to choose, only 3.98% were influenced by advertising. 51% said they were influenced by price, 54.4% saw functionality as a factor in their decision, and phone brand was identified as an influencer by 34.3%. Additionally, 32.1% of respondents were influenced by technology and phone styling and design influenced 48.79% of respondents' decision.
Slightly more respondents purchased their phone online than in-store at 50.76% to 49.64%, and more men bought online at 51.8%. Of those that did buy in-store, 44.3% purchased at a specialist mobile phone retailer such as Phones-4-U, whereas 39.8% bought from a service provider store and 15.1% purchased at a general retail outlet. However, when broken down by gender, men were much more likely to buy direct from the service provider when buying in-store at 46.3% versus 36.6% at specialist mobile retailers.
Not surprisingly, the most important capability for a mobile phone according to respondents is the ability to send text messages, with 58.4% rating this capability as 7 out of 7, or 'very important'. The figure was 65.4% for 16-30 year olds, and decreased to 49.7% for those 46-60. The scores of 'very important' for other capabilities were 11% for ability to upgrade with additional memory, 6.6% for MP3 capability, 6.4% for video, 3.9% for web browsing, 3.4% for e-mail, and 3.2% for gaming. No respondent over 60 years old rated MP3 capability as a 7 in terms of importance.
When looking at reasons for customer loyalty, 48.5% of respondents would return to the same retailer on the basis of getting a great deal. 25% would return based solely on availability of stock. 44.4% would also return in order to remain with the same service provider.
The reasons consumers gave for not returning were even more interesting. Wanting to try a different provider and low service standards were tied for the top reason at 36%, but next was that respondents are turned off by high pressured sales associates; 27.9% stated this would cause them to purchase a phone elsewhere.
"The results of this research demonstrate that, although pricing is the biggest influencer in making a decision about a new mobile, customer service is a big enough influencer that providers and retailers need to take notice," stated Tim Ogle, Group Marketing Director at Retail Eyes. "The fact that nearly 10% of customers switch providers due to poor service and 27.9% would not return to a phone retailer if the sales staff were too pushy means service has a huge impact on their bottom line."
The Retail Eyes survey was conducted 5-8 January 2007, and surveyed 1,031 UK residents aged 16 to 80.
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