Consumer Survey Reveals the Customer Care Experiences That Most Impact the Relationship Between Cable Operator and Subscriber

CSG Systems International, Inc, a provider of customer interaction management and billing solutions, announced the results of its latest consumer survey, designed to poll end consumers on the service experiences that most impact the relationship between cable operators and their customers.

Survey results indicate delivering high-quality customer communications along with a positive customer care experience across all customer touch points can greatly improve the ability to retain and grow a customer relationship. However, the survey also illustrated that the threshold for poor customer service experiences is low, in many cases prompting a customer to label a cable operator as a poor customer service provider after only one negative experience.

Summary of Key Findings:

Customer Service Tipping Points

-- Respondents stated that it takes only two occurrences of bad customer service before they become likely to change their opinion of the service provider to one that has poor customer service. Respondents aged 24 to 29 are more likely to alter their opinion of a service provider with just one occurrence of bad customer service.

-- Top three bad customer service incidents chosen by respondents: 68% on hold for an extended period; 66% rude/impolite service representatives; 63% told issue is resolved when it isn't. (Respondents could choose more than one option).

-- A majority of respondents will switch to another service provider when bad customer service occurs more than 50% of the time, regardless of age and gender.

-- Friendly staff consistently ranked highest (77%) as a meter of good experience with a service provider, followed by fast, polite and courteous service.

-- More than 10% of respondents said they would write about a good customer service interaction on a social media site. This statistic nearly doubled for a bad customer service experience (i.e., a service disruption).

-- Speed of response (37%), faster service changes (36%) and fast resolution of issues (35%), most influence the decision to use online customer care channels.

A Variety of Channels Drive Customers to Learn About and Buy New Products and Services

-- Mail (65%) and email (46%) are the most preferred ways to learn about new product and service offerings, while telephone (41%), online website (37%) and mail (37%) are the most preferred ways to buy new product and service offerings.

-- SMS text messaging is an emerging method that customers prefer to learn (4%) and buy (3%) new services with 9% of respondents aged 24 to 29 choosing SMS. This age group prefers email as its communications and buying channel, with 58% of respondents choosing this as their preferred method.

-- Email is also the most effective communication channel (32%) for the respondents to take action on coupons and promotional offers, followed by chatting with a service representative online.

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