Do Telecom Firms Respect Customers?

November 11, 2005

Today I got wind of a study to be released Monday (11/14/05)�from the Customer Respect Group (CRG),�ranking telecom companies on how they treat their customers online. This is particularly of interest here at TMCnet, as we cover both the telecommunications and contact center industries (and I'm always interested in how well companies do in this area -- I'm sure a number of contact centers have identified me as 'The Customer From Hell' in their operations.)

The Customer Respect Study focuses on how companies treat their customers online, according to attributes intended to measure the online customer experience. The study to be released Monday is for third quarter 2005.�Here are some highlights I noted from the summary I received:

+�Based on a perfect score of 10, the telecom sector was given a CRI (Customer Respect Index) rating of 6.7 for the third quarter. This is down from 6.9 in the second quarter. The telecom industry has now lost its top-industry rating to Retail, which scored 7.0.

+ "Excellent" CRI ratings of 8.0 or more went to Bell Canada and CenturyTel.

+ "Very Good" ratings (7.5-7.9, I believe)�went to Qwest, Sprint, Cablevision, Verizon Wireless and SBC.

+ The study includes a measure of "Privacy and Transparency," referring to treatment of customer personal information and clarity of policies. The study notes an aggregate decline in the industry's score in this area, down to 7.0 from 7.3 in Q2. Verizon Wireless, Verizon and Bell Canada all scored well in this area.

+ The study also measures Responsiveness to online customer inquiries. Findings show that 86% of email inquiries received a response, up from 83% the previous quarter. Interestingly, CRG finds that 74% of web users think that a day is "a valid period to wait for a response" but only 43% of email inquiries got a response within that time period; this is down from 60% in Q2 -- a big drop. The study also indicates that responses from companies have become less helpful and relevant.

+ SBC received a score of 8.7 in "Simplicity" and "Usability."

+ Verizon Wireless scored highest in "Privacy" at 9.3.

A prepared comment from CRG President Terry Golesworthy has this to say about this quarter's results:

"Trust is a critical factor for the online customer, especially in an industry that is so fast moving with the convergence of technologies and new options available. The increase in the quantity but drop in the quality of the responses may serve as an indicator of major restructuring to better communicate with the online customer.� Online customers are looking for usable websites from companies they trust to provide timely answers to questions in an increasingly complex purchasing environment."

Please visit TMCnet on Monday, Nov. 14, 2005,�for more information about the results of the Customer Respect Group study.

AB -- 11/11/05