Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Smartphone users more loyal to their network

The study, entitled '2010 US Wireless Retail Sales Satisfaction Study', examined evaluations from customers who recently made an in-store mobile telecoms retail purchase, and found that overall customer satisfaction with major wireless carrier-branded stores is based on four factors:

1. Sales staff (49%);
2. Price and promotion (27%);
3. Store facility (14%);
4. Display (10%).

Nearly 40% of the customers who had visited a wireless retail store during the previous six months to either replace or upgrade a mobile phone from a previous carrier, to switch carriers, or to sign up for a new service now own a smartphone.

Satisfaction with the retail experience among smartphone owners averaged 11 index points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than for traditional wireless handset owners (727 compared to 716 respectively), despite the fact that smartphones usually require additional service subscriptions and are more complex to operate. In fact, smartphone owners tended to be more satisfied than traditional handset owners for all four factors, particularly with regard to sales staff.

"The recent increase in smartphone sales will have a long-term impact on how carriers handle their customers' needs," explained Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power and Associates. "These phones do require retailers to adapt by constantly training sales staff to keep pace with new features and offerings, but carrying out simple tasks, such as explaining the phone's operation, provides salespeople with a great opportunity to improve the customer experience and fosters greater loyalty to both the carrier and store."

The study also found that owners of smartphones are 27% more likely to visit their carrier's retail store to enquire about problems with their phone than those with traditional handsets. In addition, smartphone users are 18% more likely to go back to their carrier's store when a phone needs to be repaired, compared with owners of traditional mobile phones.

Smartphone owners spend an average of more than one hour in the store during the sales process, which is four minutes longer than owners of traditional phones, perhaps due to the fact that smartphones require retailers to spend significantly more time carrying out tasks such as activating the phone. Sales representatives also spend about one minute longer carrying out value-adding tasks with smartphone owners (such as showing them how to operate the phone) than they do for owners of traditional handsets.

Among customers who said they were highly satisfied with the knowledge of a salesperson (i.e. those giving a score of 8 or more on a 10-point scale), 92% said that they planned to revisit the retail store, compared with only 70% of those who were less satisfied. Similarly, 91% of highly satisfied customers said they would recommend the store while only 62% of less satisfied customers said the same.

The study also found that:

• Displaying basic courtesies, such as acting in a straightforward and honest manner, remain critical for sales representatives. Satisfaction was 204 index points higher when representatives were perceived as straightforward and honest than when they were not;
• Nearly half (46%) of wireless customers said they visit their carrier's store to upgrade or replace a phone. However, satisfaction is highest when such visits are to add or subtract a family member (732) or to renew or change a service plan (727).

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)