Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand

Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand

Rémy Pascal Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand 2

About this report

This report focuses on aspects of Analysys Mason’s Connected GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE Consumer Survey that relate to the behaviour, preferences and plans of smartphone users in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). In Developed Asia–Pacific (DVAP): particular, it focuses on customer satisfaction, churn and ▪ Australia retention-related aspects of mobile services. ▪ New Zealand The survey was conducted in association with Dynata between July and August 2019. The survey groups were chosen to be representative of the mobile-internet-using population in the region. We set quotas on age, gender and geographical spread to that effect. There were a minimum of 1000 respondents per country, and 2000 in the region.

KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS REPORT WHO SHOULD READ THIS REPORT

▪ What are the drivers of mobile customer experience? How do they vary ▪ Operators’ strategy executives and marketing managers who are by country and by operator? interested in understanding the needs of their consumer customer base, ▪ What key factors influence consumers’ intention to churn? How have the different drivers of customer experience and the impact of differing consumers’ priorities evolved? approaches to pricing on customer satisfaction. ▪ What are the Net Promoter Scores (NPSs) of operators in Australia and ▪ Market intelligence and research executives in service providers that are New Zealand? Which companies lead and why? responsible for understanding end-user trends and supporting business units in identifying and addressing new opportunities. ▪ What is the effect of bundling additional services on customer retention? How do new service-based pricing models affect KPIs? ▪ Equipment/device manufacturers and software providers that want to identify end-user trends in service and device usage and help their ▪ What is the relationship between customer service and customer operator customers to prioritise investments and improve their ability to satisfaction? address market opportunities. Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand 7 Australia and Spark lead in terms of NPS; most operators in ANZ have improved their scores since last year

Respondents were asked to rate how likely they were to Figure 2: Net Promoter Score for mobile operators, Australia recommend their mobile operator on a scale of 0 (not at all likely) and New Zealand1 to 10 (definitely). The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of subscribers that rated their operator 6 or below (detractors) from the percentage that rated it 9 or 10 (promoters). NPSs reflect consumers’ overall satisfaction with their operators. The best-performing mobile providers (in terms of NPS) were Spark (+20.2) and 2degrees (+20.1) in New Zealand and Australia Vodafone in Australia (+11.9). Five of the six main operators in ANZ improved their score between 2018 and 2019. The gap between operators in Australia has decreased, and all three operators now have very similar NPSs. Vodafone received the lowest score in 2018, but was in first place in 2019 (with an increase of 17.7 points). also significantly improved its score (+12.0 points since 2018). received the lowest NPS, but its score was still higher than that in 2018 (by 1.1 point). New Zealand Spark’s score increased the most out of all operators in New Zealand (+24.4 points since 2018, and it became the NPS leader with a slim lead over 2degrees (whose score increased by 4.8 points since 2018). was the only operator in the region with a negative NPS (–4.4) and the only one with a lower NPS in 2019 than in 2018 (–3.4 points) due to issues with price and customer service.

1 Please refer to the appendix for sample size and relevant survey questions. Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand 8 Price and customer service continue to bring down the levels of satisfaction in Australia

Australian operators improved their satisfaction scores in Figure 3: Average customer satisfaction scores for different 2019. elements of the mobile service, by operator, Australia1,2 We asked respondents how satisfied they were with specific elements of their mobile services.1 The highest levels of Telstra Optus Vodafone satisfaction were for voice and SMS allowances; this is not surprising as large and unlimited allowances are commonplace in Overall 4.1 4.0 4.1 ANZ. The lowest satisfaction ratings were for price and customer Call/SMS service, as in 2018. Vodafone led in most categories except 4.2 4.1 4.2 network coverage and data speeds, where Telstra dominated. allowance Telstra improved its scores in all categories but price. Its plans Network 4.2 3.9 4.0 tend to be expensive given the company’s premium positioning, coverage but its customer service satisfaction does not meet the high expectations. Optus’s scores were roughly identical to those from Data speed 4.1 3.9 4.0 last year, but its competitors have made improvements meaning that Optus has lost its edge, particularly for allowances. Data allowance 3.9 3.9 4.1 Vodafone’s investment in network performance has paid off. Australian customers were, on average, reasonably satisfied with Price 3.7 3.9 4.0 their network performance. Telstra maintained its lead, but Vodafone significantly improved its network coverage, which was Customer service 3.7 3.8 4.0 one if its key weaknesses last year. For Vodafone’s customers, network coverage moved from being the second-most commonly Source: Analysys Mason cited reason to churn in 2018 (40% of churners) to the fifth most- commonly cited reason in 2019 (16% of churners). Vodafone expanded its coverage with new sites and capacity during 2019 by refarming its 2100MHz spectrum. 1 Respondents rated their satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is ‘very dissatisfied’, 3 is ‘neutral’ and 5 is ‘very satisfied’. 2 Please refer to the appendix for sample size and relevant survey questions. Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand

Contents Executive summary

Drivers of customer satisfaction and churn

Focus on plans and pricing

Focus on digital experience

Methodology and panel information

About the author and Analysys Mason Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand 29

About the author

Rémy Pascal (Senior Analyst) joined Analysys Mason’s Asia–Pacific research team in August 2018 and is based in the Singapore office. He also contributes to other research programmes including those in the Consumer Services research practice. Rémy has more than 8 years of experience in the telecoms and ICT sectors. Before joining Analysys Mason, Rémy worked in various market intelligence positions at Samsung Electronics’ Networks Business in South Korea, Orange in France and the French Trade Commission in South Korea and Taiwan. Rémy holds a master’s degree in management from Rouen Business School in France. Connected Consumer Survey 2019: mobile customer satisfaction and churn in Australia and New Zealand 30

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