Singapore telcos at risk of losing long-time subscribers

Customer satisfaction dipped to 64pts.

According to the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG), a study by the Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University,  when segmenting mobile telecommunications customers by their length of tenure with their telco, a noteworthy trend emerged. Customer loyalty ratings with the telcos traditionally moved in tandem, with longer tenured customers (i.e., ≥2 years) more loyal than newer customers (i.e., <2 years).

However, in 2012, as new customers posted better CSISG loyalty scores, the converse was true for the longer tenured customers: They registered a marked decrease in loyalty, and this trend continued in 2013. As illustrated in the chart below, the latest Q1 findings show new customers seem to be more loyal than longer-tenured customers which dipped to 64.0-points.

Extant research suggests it is more productive for companies to retain and keep existing customers than expend resources to recruit new ones. Thus, it may be prudent for the mobile telecos to investigate why their longer-tenured customers are becoming less loyal over the years.