RESEARCH FOCUS  -  CUSTOMER CARE IN TELECOMS

Customer Loyalty

As many organisations are discovering, a satisfied customer base has no real impact on revenues and growth, in the short term. In fact, in some industries, organisations that are concentrating on short term customer satisfaction alone are losing market-share. Leading-edge companies, are now focusing their efforts and goals on long term customer loyalty and satisfaction. Research indicates that a high customer satisfaction score does not mean that the organisation will retain those customers against the competition. But, a loyal customer base can virtually guarantee long term revenue growth, especially in business-to-business relationships. 

Research has found that, for business customers around the world, the customer value proposition is closely linked to the business relationship with a company, rather than pricing issues. Analysis of the research also indicates that the business relationships which most global customers value are those in which the supplier:

	Knows their customers' needs and expectations
	Offers customised solutions that will benefit their business and customers
	Understands both their business and competition
	Understands the customers' organisation culture

Customer Satisfaction 

Customer satisfaction is an elusive, subjective, notion. Loyal customers must be satisfied with the service provided, otherwise they would defect to competitors. However, customer satisfaction cannot just be measured by defection analysis. To maintain customer satisfaction, and therefore customer loyalty. Telcos must determine what they are doing right, and how they can improve the existing services. They must also determine which future products are likely to provide most satisfaction, and which way they must be packaged, to ensure sustained loyalty.

To find out what drives customer loyalty and repeat business, many companies have conducted customer value research. The research can be undertaken in a number of ways, but generally includes:

Identify who the customers are by:

	Customer type,
	Ways to market,
	Customer interaction level

• Determine what the customers are being offered, including:

	Product and service attributes
	Product lifecycle
	Growth/market-share
	Product strategy

• Create a customer segmentation matrix for all customer groups, containing a variety of data including: 

	Customer/product details.
	Product and service attributes.
	Success criteria/communication activities.
	Customer (survey) feedback methods.

Market research, together with the associated data analyses techniques can also help to determine customer satisfaction levels. Market research can also help to determine whether a new product and its package will help to maintain customer satisfaction, build loyalty and increased market share.

Related areas within this Research Focus topic,  include:

Service       CRM     Call Centres   Call Handling   

Additional information is also available on this Research Focus topic, these areas include:

Metrics        Billing     Outsourcing    Systems

Return to the  Introduction  page of this Research Focus topic.