In an effort to create consistency among the many markets nationwide that use its brand name, Cellular One has been regularly monitoring customer satisfaction in each of its markets through customer surveys conducted each year.
Sixty-six wireless carriers use the Cellular One brand name in a total of 415 markets in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Those carriers, said the company, are expected to maintain a minimum customer satisfaction score of 85 percent. And although it has never done so, the company says it would consider disallowing a carrier from using the brand if its score consistently fell below minimum requirements.
“Part of the program is that members must achieve the 85 percent customer satisfaction level annually,” said Richard Lyons, president of Cellular One Group. “We want customers to receive the same level of service coast-to-coast.
“The real key is a trend line and whether a member is correcting problems over a period of years,” continued Lyons.
The annual surveys are conducted by Creative Marketing Services Inc., an independent consumer research company that specializes in telephone customer satisfaction surveys. Lynn Brown, chief executive officer of CMS, said the company has completed more than 200,000 surveys for Cellular One since it began the surveys in 1992.
CMS draws a probability sample from each Cellular One member’s subscriber population, said Brown. After completing the surveys for each market, the firm determines an overall customer satisfaction index.
While the contents of the survey and the results are proprietary, Brown said the basic topics include operations and billing, customer service, technical quality and overall value. A portion of the survey is left open for market-specific questions.
The surveys, said Brown, give members a tool to correct weaknesses and also identify misperceptions in the marketplace so they can correct them through advertising and marketing campaigns. In addition, CMS reports urgent customer complaints it turns up during the survey process to Cellular One members on a next-day basis.
” It’s a fast-moving industry and carriers really need to be on their toes in terms of maintaining a close watch on what people believe is happening,” said Brown.
The metropolitan statistical area and rural service area carriers who receive the highest rankings in a variety of categories are awarded “Quality One” customer service awards. This year’s winners are Price Communications Wireless Inc.’s Dothan, Ala., market and Cellular XL Associates L.P. in Mississippi.
Rick Jorgensen, president of Cellular XL Associates, said the company ranked near 100 percent in the billing accuracy and call clarity categories. He attributes the company’s success at keeping customers happy to being a small, locally owned company. Instead of focusing on strategic acquisitions as many large carriers spend time doing, Jorgensen said his company is focused on running its system.
Cellular XL also has developed a unique billing system that analyzes each customer’s usage each month and then assigns the best rate plan to that customer for the month. For instance, if a customer who normally would fit into a high-usage plan went out of town for most of the month and didn’t’ use the service, Cellular XL’s billing system would assign a basic lower-end pricing plan to the customer for that month.
Jorgensen said the system is a weapon against churn. “It costs a lot of money,” he said. “But it keeps our customers happy.”
Cellular XL also plans to offer bundled services to its customers, including paging, long-distance, local service, Internet and enhanced voice services.
Anita Johnson, general manager for Price Communications’ Dothan, Ala., market, said the surveys help her determine the company’s strengths and weaknesses. It also helps the company make sure its system is working properly.
