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Customer service is emerging as the new battleground for LIME and Digicel and Digicel Jamaica Chief Executive Officer Barry O’Brien seems to be Shifting Strategic Focus From Customer Acquisition To Customer Retention.
Jamaican telecom consumers have grumbled for years about lousy service. And for years, the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) Consumer Affairs Unit (CAU) has kept track of those complaints. The agency’s Quarterly Performance Report showed it fielded 833 contacts for the third quarter ending September 2013. This figure represents the highest number of contacts received by the unit when compared with the two previous quarters in 2013.
The unit processed 577 contacts during the first quarter (January-March), and processed 527 contacts from April to June. Of the 833 contacts received during the third quarter, 6 per cent were for Digicel and 9 per cent were for LIME, while 4 per cent related to Flow Jamaica. In addition to queries related to billing, Digicel and LIME customers expressed concern about the poor customer service they have been experiencing recently. Digicel customers report that most of the time they do not get to speak to a customer service agent when they call the 100-number, which is designated for customer contact. LIME customers said they had difficulty contacting the company’s customer service department. Customers also complained about lengthy delays in getting responses to their queries.
But industry economics may have finally shifted in the customers’ favor. Cellphones are becoming ubiquitous. That means new customers, especially smartphone users, are harder to find. New customers now comprise a smaller percentage of the telecoms overall subscriber accounts.Of the reported nearly 2.8 million Jamaicans who own cellphones, it’s unclear how many are considered “free agents,” i.e. not bound by contracts. The impending introduction of number portability will also force carriers to work harder to keep customers loyal.
Managing Director of LIME Jamaica Garry Sinclair
LIME Jamaica CEO Garry Sinclair reported that at least 40,000 new mobile and 1,000 broadband subscribers were added every month since June 2013 fueling his company’s growth. Consumers reportedly flocked to LIME’s mobile network in its first quarter ending June 2013, but the company still recorded an $808-million net loss, more than double year-earlier levels. The telecom’s mobile subscriber base however jumped nearly one-quarter as rates were slashed by some two-thirds in early June as part of a marketing campaign facilitated by regulatory rate cuts. While Lime Jamaica suffered a net loss of more than $4.9 billion in fiscal year 2013, Sinclair is predicting operating profits to grow to $2.6 billion for this financial year ending in March.
It is for this reason that in Jamaica and around the Caribbean, as on the international scene analysts expect that in 2014 there will be an accelerated shift in strategic focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. Telecoms will be paying closer attention to their “churn” rates, which is a key metric that reflects how many customers leave each month.
Telecom leaders around the world are spending more time and resources evaluating customer complaints. Darren Entwistle, chief executive officer of Telus Corp., a Canadian telecom, is reported to have recently said, “I process a ton of customer complaints. You know what customer complaints are? They’re gold dust. If they are complaining, they’re telling you. They’re giving you the recipe; the blueprint for getting it right … What’s bugging one client is bugging hundreds of clients.”
And it’s less expensive to keep existing customers than to find new ones, according to Robert W. Bruce, president of communications for Rogers Communications in Toronto, Canada. “In theory, it doesn’t cost you anything to keep your customers,” he explained.
Veteran Canadian telecom executive John Watson warns that companies must take their customers seriously.
“Customers have long memories and you have to treat customers well because they don’t forget. There is a moment of truth and moments of truth really matter.”BM
Additional support source www.theglobeandmail.com