J.D. Power released the results of its latest customer care study, Wireless Customer Care Performance
Study--Volume 1. T-Mobile ranked the highest, and wireless customers prefer live human customer service.
T-Mobile ranks highest in customer care performance
for a second consecutive time, with an overall score of 758. T-Mobile
performs particularly well in phone contacts that originate in the ARS
channel and are then transferred to a live service representative, and they also perform well with phone calls made directly to a CSR.
Verizon Wireless follows in
the overall rankings with a score of 743 and performs well among
customers who contact their service representative directly and among
customers who contact their carrier online. Sprint and AT&T tied for last place.
The study also finds several key wireless customer care patterns:
- Overall, 36 percent of wireless customers contact their carrier due
to service and equipment-related issues, while 32 percent contact for
general billing issues; 28 percent for incorrect charges; 23 percent for
call quality; and 21 percent for price or cost. - Wireless customers who indicate that they have had a positive care
experience are more loyal and are, therefore, less likely to switch
carriers in the future, on average. Among customers who indicate that they
"definitely will not switch" carriers in the next 12 months, customer
care index scores average 810, compared with just 566 among those who
say they "definitely will switch"--a difference of 244 points. - Although the vast majority (88%) of customers get through to their
carrier on their first try, 12% of customers are misdirected or put on
hold for too long and must make more than one contact. The average
wireless customer spends 6.24 minutes on hold when trying to reach their
carrier via phone--a substantial increase from 5.27 minutes just six
months ago.
Customer service issues
that are personally handled by a service representative, either over the
phone or at a retail store, are significantly more satisfying to
customers than are automated response interactions.
Overall, among customers who speak with a service representative
without going through an automated response system, the customer care
index score averages 774 on a 1,000-point scale, well above the industry
average score of 739. Among customers who use other methods of contact,
satisfaction is considerably lower:
Overall Customer Care Index Scores Based on Contact Method
(on a 1,000-point scale)
|
Contact method |
Index score |
|
Telephone call with customer service representative |
774 |
|
Industry average |
739 |
|
Retail store |
755 |
|
Automated response system* |
704 |
|
Web-based contact |
684 |
*Includes only ARS/CSR and ARS channels
The study finds that one of the main factors contributing to this
performance disparity is the quality of the response provided. A service
representative--either over the phone or in person--can answer both
initial and follow-up questions from customers and clarify answers. This kind of flexibility is very limited in both ARS and Web-based
contacts.
"As more companies encourage customers to contact them on the Web to
save operating costs, they run the risk of increased customer churn if
the number of contacts needed to resolve a complaint or issue rises,"
said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power
and Associates. "Switching intent is four times as high among those who
rate their wireless carrier below average in customer care, so the
challenge for wireless carriers is to offer an easy and efficient
customer care transaction experience."
The majority (51%) of telephone contacts are resolved primarily via a
service representative. The study also finds that customers are most
satisfied with their experience when they can reach a customer service
representative quickly and spend only a brief period of time using
automated systems to resolve their problem.
"While customers tend to be more satisfied when they can reach a
service representative quickly, heavy reliance on live representatives
is much more costly for wireless carriers," said Parsons. "If wireless
carriers can drive improvements in satisfaction with non-human
interaction channels, overall customer care performance scores will
improve dramatically by making the process more intuitive and efficient,
and likely so in a much more cost-effective manner."
The 2011 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study--Volume 1 is based
on responses from 9,755 wireless customers who contacted their carrier's
customer care department within the past six months. The study was
fielded from July through December 2010.
For more information, to read an article, or to view wireless customer care ratings, please visit JDPower.com.