The Reality of what Consumer’s Want

Customer expectations towards their TV service providers is greater than ever before. Brand-new industry research from Singula Decisions, which surveyed 3000 people across the UK, US & the Philippines, highlights the reality of consumers attitudes towards customer experience. Although three very different markets, what consumers want is very clear; 85% want a pay-TV service provider that demonstrates they understand their needs and provide a positive customer experience at every stage of engagement. However, operators of all types are failing to meet these expectations.

What is customer experience and why does it matter?

Customer experience is determined by the perception a consumer has of a brand, and boils down to an individuals expectation on what they should be getting out of a service and the relationship with their service provider. All types of TV operators need to ensure that their customers are receiving the best possible service throughout the entire customer journey to stay ahead of the game.

31% of respondents had received a negative interaction with their service provider in the last 12 months, and three quarters of those reporting a negative issue said it had damaged their view of the brand. No matter how big or small the issue, the impact it has on your brand is similar and it’s difficult for operators to change the opinion of customers once something goes wrong. Of those that had a negative interaction, only one quarter felt that their issue was dealt with effectively and were happy with the outcome. With so much consumer choice, operators must work harder to keep their customers happy.

Don’t Let Your Customers Jump Ship

The research also demonstrates that failing to provide a consistently positive customer experience has real and serious ramifications: 26% of those surveyed terminated an over-the-top (OTT) TV subscription in the previous 12 months because of poor customer experience and 44% of consumers who had experienced a negative interaction or issue with an OTT provider had cancelled. Overall, 75% of all respondents say they would cancel if service and support became poor and a provider seemed out of touch with their needs and preferences.

On the positive side of the customer experience equation, the research also reveals half of the consumers across the three markets surveyed kept a pay-OTT subscription they had considered dropping in the previous 12 months because of excellent customer experience.

Scoring the Customer Journey

When it comes to key engagement points in the pay-TV customer journey, pay-OTT players faired considerably better than traditional providers. Across the survey, the OTT providers receive higher approval ratings for the way they deal with most aspects of the customer journey – from making sign-up easy, to recommending content, to dealing with billing, to facilitating service cancellation. On the other hand, there are two areas traditional providers performed better in consumer eyes: contacting customer service about a problem and upgrading/downgrading their package.

Overall, joining was the part of the customer journey most frequently flagged as a positive experience for both traditional and pay-OTT services, while dealing with an inaccurate bill or a payment issue was most often identified as a negative experience.

So how does your organisation stack up? Are you letting your customers down?

Find out more by downloading our brand-new research paper ‘Show the love with customer experience’