Keeping – And Growing – Customers

Why "Very Satisfied" Isn't Enough

By Evie Haskell

 

You know the score:  Unemployment topping 10% ... housing starts close to non-existent and home foreclosures ...

Ah, forget it.  You know it:  This is NOT an easy time to offer discretionary products to Americans.  Even discretionary products with the near “essential” mantra of at-home entertainment are under pressure.   Keeping customers, renewing them and boosting their PPV, VOD and other service take-rates have become tougher, and more important, than ever for cable, telco and satellite operators.

You know that.  What you may not know is that while “customer satisfaction” – long the Holy Grail of retention and upgrade campaigns – is nice, and even necessary, it won’t do much for your bottom line. 

The Satisfaction Deficit

 

•  85% of new car buyers describe themselves as “very satisfied;”

•  Only 26% of new car buyers will purchase their next vehicle from the same brand. 

In short, satisfaction does not equal revenue or loyalty, a fact that has not escaped some of the top researchers in the field of how customers relate to companies.  Thus the subject of this BRIDGE:  Customer relationships and how they can help – or hinder – multiplatform providers.

Getting Personal

 

iSKY, which is a research partner with BRIDGE parent firm MediaBiz, has spent the past 10 years focusing on relationship theory as it applies to businesses and as it can be measured and used to build customer commitment and loyalty and thus business revenues.  The iSKY Relationship Investment Model was developed with leading academics in the field of relationship theory and has been tested with companies across the U.S. 

How "Investment" Adds Up

 

In addition, Newman says, “Invested customers are more likely to go to your website and use it.  That gives you, as a provider, the medium to drive the relationship further and it saves money as customers are more likely to handle their needs online.”

Investment analysis, Newman says, also allows iSKY to provide strategic recommendations for individual companies.  “We can look at a variety of things including messaging, customer service, pricing and value, the appeal of promotions” – a whole smorgasbord of opportunities to improve subscriber relationships, up-sell existing subs, prevent subs from leaving and, yes, lure subscribers from the other guys.•

For more information on the iSKY product, please contact Alex Breckon, abreckon@mediabiz.com. 303.271.9960.

Cable Center Bibliography

 

 If you are interested in reading more about this topic the following is a selection of additional periodicals provided by The Cable Center’s Barco Library.  Dedicated to chronicling cable’s varied and colorful history, The Barco Library houses the largest collection of cable telecommunications equipment, photographs, and marketing and informational materials in the industry.  

Visit www.cablecenter.org for more information.

Rich, David. “Create Your Own Upturn” CRM Magazine, (October, 2009) p14-15.

Arussy, Lior. “You Are What You Measure” CRM Magazine, (October, 2009)

Graham, John. “What We Can Learn From a Challenging Economy” Journal for Quality & Participation, (July, 2009) p20

Sprague, Brian. “Customer Service Is Crucial in a Downturn”  BusinessWeek Online, (May 18, 2009)

McKay, Lauren. “I want (and get) my MTV” CRM Magazine, (May, 2009), p43

Staff. “To Win Wallets, Win Hearts First” Multichannel News, (October 12, 2009)

Neel, K.C. “Doing Right by Customers” Multichannel News, (September 28, 2009)

Coyne, Kevin. “The Customer Satisfaction Survey Snag” Business Week, (June 19, 2009)

Sprague, Brian “Customer Service Is Crucial in a Downturn” Business Week, (May 15, 2009)

Schmitt, Bernard H. Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers (New Jersey: John Wiley, 2003)

DiJulius, John R. What's the Secret: To Providing a World-Class Customer Experience  (New Jersey: Wiley, 2008)

Fletcher, Heather. "The customer's keepers.(Charter Communications Inc.s' loyalty program and service giveaways)(Cover story)." Target Marketing 31.12 (Dec 2008): 22(4).

Reisner, Rebecca. "Comcast's Twitter Man.(Comcast provides Twitter the mammoth provider of cable to interact with customers )." Business Week Online (Jan 14, 2009)