Subscriber Retention Strategy on the B2C Segment of the Fixed Communication Services Market in the Telecommunications Industry

Abstract

Main goal of the research is to design a marketing strategy aimed at subscriber retention for the service providers working on the b2c segment of the fixed communication services market. Research objectives: to find out what an average subscriber expects to get from the chosen provider and what he really gets throughout the whole service period, where are the weak points of provider`s performance; to reveal the general problems subscribers face throughout the service period as well as the reasons for the subscriber to switch from the current provider to another one; to identify the factors influencing on the primary choice of a provider of fixed communication services; to identify what are the key instruments which could be used by providers in order to retain the current subscribers. The results show that that the subscriber expects the provider of fixed communication services to be reliable in terms of the quality of service provision, responsive in terms of readiness to solve the specific problems and empathic in terms of the manner of problem solving. There are six main problematic issues: quality of core service, speed of reaction, maintenance, payment schemes and methods, failure to deliver promises by the service provider and trust. The initial choice of the fixed communications service provider depends heavily on price and area of operation of the company. After the subscriber starts using the services he makes the same decision on the regular basis – whether to continue using the services from this particular operator or switch to another one. The subscriber retention strategy includes various methods that could be used by the universal and fixed only operators in order to build steady relationships with subscribers in order to decrease the churn rates of subscribers. The strategy can be adopted by the new market entrants with lack of knowledge on peculiarities of subscriber expectations and perceptions. The strategy is also useful for established incumbents as it might be the source of relevant information on applicable instruments of subscriber retention and subscriber behavior.