The disruptive impact of social conversation channels from giants such as Facebook and Google are not only offering alternative communication options, but are also giving consumers a way to seize control of telcos’ reputations – and even some business decisions.
This is among the results of an Institute for Business Value (IBV) survey of 22 000 consumers in 35 countries looking at telecommunication consumer behaviour commissioned by IBM.
In South Africa two thirds of consumers (66%) use social networking once a day or more. And 37% use specific apps, such as WhatsApp, daily to communicate with others.
At the same time, more than a third have or will cut traditional voice calling. In South Africa, nearly 60% said they had or would reduce SMS usage because of alternative messaging tools, and around 40% had or would cut mobile voice use because of new alternatives.
“The survey findings tell us that social media is literally soaring.” says Craig Holmes, vice-president for Communications Industries at IBM. “It’s now the primary communication vehicle for an increasing number of digitally-aware consumers, giving consumers unprecedented power to build or demolish brand strength as they blog, text and comment via social media.
“The influence of peers on peers has a radical impact on telecoms providers,” says Homes.
Consumers increasingly trust consumers like themselves – and even strangers – more than providers. The survey reveals that 55% of South African respondents will always or often share negative experiences with others. Moreover, 44% will discourage others to use the provider, while one-out-of-three respondents will post a negative comment online or will complain on social media.
This peer influence is damaging as 39% said a key reason not to buy from or subscribe to a provider is discouragement from others.
“Telecom providers have transformed how the world communicates, but they are essentially lagging in how they communicate with their own customers.” says Homes.
“Consumers in South Africa tell us they buy on trust and relationships, that they want one-on-one social-style communications and will be more loyal on the back of good experiences, yet telecoms providers locally continue to experience declining revenues. They have to do more – really tune in to digital consumers, better at understand their wants and needs, then responding with compelling user experiences.”
For consumers this equates to getting high quality and compelling products and services. “Receiving quick effective responses to questions and issues, getting exclusive offers for their loyalty – these are the aspect in creating loyal customers that telecoms players must get to grips with,” adds Holmes.
One clear message from this survey is that despite investments in customer experience and customer relationship management initiatives, the industry has not achieved its customer-related goals. Current industry advocacy is very low, as the survey reveals. As an industry, CSPs are not leaders by any customer advocacy metrics.
“Now that smartphones are overtaking feature phones and are the primary communications tools of the majority of consumers, telcos have a presence within a two-metre radius of every customer all day long. Telcos are in a position to know who their customers are, who they call, what apps and services they use and where they go.
“By effectively applying advanced analytics and personalisation tools, telcos could be offering their customers a wealth of revenue-generating value-added services, at the right time, when the customer needs them,” he says.
The consumer survey has been conducted in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, the UK and the US.
