Analyst Corner
April 25, 2021

Drivers of Mobile Customer Retention

Cost and billing was the greatest driver of customer retention. That was in the past. Since 2014, consumers are attributing more importance to service. These are some of the key findings reported by Nokia in its recently completed 2016 Nokia Acquisition and Retention Study.

Drivers of customer retention

A positive customer experience has a direct impact on consumers’ likelihood to stay with their mobile operator. Sounds simple, right? Not quite:

  • Cost & Billing has the greatest impact on customer retention, but…
  • Since 2014, consumers attribute less importance to price and more to service
  • Customer care has 60% more impact on mobile subscriber loyalty than it did in 2014
  • Consumers expect a certain level of service and device expertise and after care to be offered by their operator.

In South Africa, customer care ranks higher, while cost & billing ranks lower than the survey averages across the various countries (developed and developing).

Source: 2016 Acquisition and Retention Study

Nokia 2016 Acquisition and Retention Study The Nokia 2016 Acquisition and Retention Study has been designed to help mobile operators understand current trends in consumer behaviour, in order to make more informed decisions when developing acquisition and retention strategies. The focus of this extensive study is to uncover the core drivers of customer retention by providing detailed and granular insights around consumer perceptions, causes of dissatisfaction and the likelihood to churn across several scenarios.