Cost and billing remain the most important factors for staying with a mobile operator, but the importance of customer care and service is on the rise.
This is according to data from the Nokia 2016 Acquisition and Retention Study, which found SA is following the global trend.
The study was designed to uncover the core drivers of customer retention by providing detailed insights around consumer perceptions, causes of dissatisfaction and the likelihood to churn.
Since Nokia's previous study in 2014, network quality and cost and billing have become less important for customer acquisition and retention globally ? and good customer service and support have become more important to most operators' long-term success.
In terms of reasons for choosing an operator, the best price accounts for 42% of South African consumers' consideration. However, when it comes to sticking with a network, cost and billing account for 34% of the consumer's consideration locally. Customer care accounts for 27% in SA, while Internet quality and network coverage is 26% of the consideration.
The survey now covers 20 000 online respondents in 14 countries, including SA. The quantitative online survey is supplemented with secondary research and qualitative in-depth interviews with operators and consumers.
The study covers both mature markets and transition markets. SA falls into the transition markets group, along with Mexico, Brazil and Turkey, while the mature markets surveyed were Japan, Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Germany, Russia, the UK, Italy and the US.
In 2014, cost and billing made up 45% of why consumers stay with a network, but in 2016, this had fallen to 40% on average globally. This category still remains the most important but over the two years the importance of customer care has risen from 15% to 24%. The study found growth in importance of customer care is as relevant in both mature and transition markets. There is also a direct correlation between dissatisfaction with a client's experience in customer care and their likelihood to churn.
Taking care
The overall importance of customer care across mature and transition markets is identical, with a 24% impact on retention. However, transition markets place a greater emphasis on request and complaint handling.
In mature markets, general customer service accounts for 9% of why customers stick with a network. Request and complaint handling accounts for 8% of a consumer's consideration, while self-care accounts for 7%. Within transition markets, the splits across attributes are slightly more pronounced. Request and complaint handling is the most important factor (11%) followed by general customer service (7%) and self-care (6%).
"An example that differs from the global average is SA, where consumers place less importance on attributes around cost and billing. The categories of customer care and service and device portfolio have more of an impact on customer retention," the report says.
It is again the attribute of request and complaint handling that is driving this higher importance within the customer care category, while the attributes of self-care and general customer service are in line with the global average.
Quality control
Network quality is still a key factor when it comes to customer retention worldwide, but it has declined significantly from 34% in 2014 to 26% this year. The drop in importance has largely been driven by mature markets and is due to the advancement of technology between 2014 and 2016, making it less of a differentiating factor across the operators.
However, SA remains in line with global trends, with 26% of South Africans' consideration for staying with a mobile operator linked to Internet quality and network coverage.
A mobile operator's service and device portfolio is not seen as the most significant driver of customer retention, but should also not be underestimated, as it increased from a 6% consideration in 2014 to 10% overall in 2016. In SA, it's more significant at 13%.
The 2016 Acquisition and Retention Study was carried out by KAE on behalf of Nokia between December 2015 and January 2016. KAE is a strategic marketing consultancy that specialises in global research within the telecommunications industry.
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