Indeed, in North America and around the world, customer satisfaction with communications services is alarmingly low—and consistent with what we have seen in research findings from other firms.
Depending on the communications service in question, as much as 41 percent of North Americans and 43 percent of global respondents gave a rating of three or lower on a five point scale—essentially saying that service was acceptable and no better.
Our research also revealed that an integrated, smooth and consistent multichannel experience is critical. Globally, 97 percent of consumers said it is important to receive consistent access to the same products, services and assistance in a store, by phone or via the website. Likewise, in North America 96 percent of consumers said cross-channel consistency is important.
Stores are important: 68 percent of North Americans said they want a retail store to visit when purchasing communications products or services, as did 75 percent of global respondents. However, having a retail store is not enough: The quality of a communications provider’s store experience is a factor in the purchase decision for 77 percent of global consumers, and for 66 percent of North Americans. What is “quality?”
On a global basis, product availability and knowledgeable staff are the most importantattributes for consumers.
However, our research shows that stores have significant opportunities to improve. Indeed, just 37 percent or less of global and North American respondents said that their providers’ stores perform extremely well in 12 measured attributes, including staff availability and attitude, service speed, and the ease of finding products.
Looking ahead, retail stores will continue to be a critical channel for consumers. Indeed, our survey findings illustrate not only that stores are important today, but also that the need for a physical retail store will persist for years to come. Seventy-seven percent of all consumers surveyed and 80 percent of North Americans said that in two years, physical retail stores will be as important as or more important thanproviders’ online stores.
Providers’ Perspectives
Given the importance of physical retail stores to consumers, it is no surprise that the majority of executives believe stores are critical to attracting and retaining customers, or that most plan to expand their physical retail presence in the next two years. However, the research also revealed some shortcomings, which, left unaddressed, could keep providers from achieving profitable growth, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction.
To begin with, more than 80 percent of providers rated a strong physical retail channel as either important or extremelyimportant to the company’s growth strategy today and in two years. A majority of respondents also indicated they used a variety of physical retail formats, with relationships with third-party retailers and companyowned retail stores being the most popular (both 76 percent), followed by franchises/dealers (71 percent). About half said they sell through a “store within a store” and customer service/payment centers model. In the next two years, more than three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) said they plan to increase the total number of storefronts through which they sell. As they expand their physical retail presence in the next two years, providers increasingly will use the channel to target business customers, especially those in the small office/home office and small business segments. Providers also expect that such expansion will increase the percentage of their overall revenue that is generated by the physical retail channel, and by company-owned stores in particular.