Mobile Operators Failing Young Customers - Survey

A survey from NOP has reported that mobile operators need to follow the example of on-line vendors and offer more tailor-made services to retain the loyalty of young consumers. The survey of more than 800 mobile phone users shows that less than half (45%) of respondents in the higher-spending 15-34 age bracket felt they were getting the 'personal treatment' from mobile operators in targeting them with relevant services matching their individual needs.

This highlights the opportunity for smart operators to exploit this demand through improved differentiation between their younger customers groups and more accurate targeting of personalised, lifestyle-linked mixes of content, entertainment and communications plans. And with 60% of 15-34 year olds citing the range of service plans and options as a reason to switch providers, operators need to provide services exactly matched to an individual's needs in order to reduce churn and improve subscriber's loyalty.

In contrast, the survey revealed that online vendors such as Dell or Amazon are now way ahead in terms of offering products and solutions designed to meet their customers' individual preferences. As many as 62% of all those in the 15-34 age group rated as good or excellent the customised offerings of on-line vendors.

Ceon, a supplier of product management and fulfilment software VP, Yogen Patel, comments: "The 'one-size-fits-all' services are no longer acceptable to today's internet-generation of consumers who have become increasingly sophisticated in their expectations of the level of service, price plan options and customised offerings they demand.

Today's consumers are less forgiving, and will switch providers if they are not getting the mix of offerings perfectly matched to their needs. Operators must rise to this challenge by more closely targeting services to their customers' interests and lifestyles, and becoming more creative in the way they construct and market tailored bundled service offerings. This is the way to retain the loyalty of this increasingly demanding demographic group.

"Given the fast moving marketplace and the complexity involved in combining a large number of base services and options into many differentiated offerings, operators can no longer rely on ad-hoc manual processes for product definition and product management. Increasingly, the required product lifecycle management tools and software systems are becoming available to enable operators to streamline, speed-up and simplify new product introduction and product change management - this will prove critical as operators race to deploy and deliver more specialised offerings to retain customers' business."

NOP Survey Key Findings

Ratings for various service providers in delivering a good customer service that meets your individual needs and preferences (15-34 year olds age group) % scoring service as 'good' or 'excellent'

• On-line vendors 61%
• Telephone (fixed line) providers 53.5%
• Broadband cable providers 48%
• Banks 47%
• Mobile phone operators 45%

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Posted to the site on 7th July 2006