Customers gave the mobile telecoms retail stores industry an average satisfaction score of 74.8 out of 100, against which Vodacom scored 4.1% higher and MTN scored 1.7% higher. SAcsi is a national economic indicator of customer satisfaction in the quality of products and services available to household consumers in South Africa. When comparing the SAcsi results in mobile networks, Vodacom achieved an on-par to industry result, whilst showing a marginal lead on MTN in the mobile telecoms retail report.
Along with Vodacom and MTN, SAcsi measured Altech Autopage Cellular, Cell C, and Telkom Direct, all of which were selected by market share. Cell C scored on par with the industry average, whilst Telkom Direct and Altech Autopage Cellular both scored below par at 6.6% and 12.8% below industry average, respectively.
SAcsi is the only South African company to hold a licence with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), and now forms part of a growing number of ACSI-licensed partner countries worldwide.
Its patented system is the only benchmark model that allows licensed partners to match the statistical models used to generate ACSI results. South Africa is the only ACSI licenced partner country to measure mobile retail telecoms stores at this stage and, therefore, compared these stores to other speciality retail stores measured by other countries.
South Africa's mobile telecoms retail stores industry ranked third out of the countries measured under the ACSI global licence programme. The international benchmark in mobile telecoms retail stores is the UK with a customer satisfaction score of 78 out of 100. South Africa outranked South Korea and Singapore, but lagged marginally behind the US.
SAcsi founder and CEO, and an expert in customer satisfaction, Professor Adré Schreuder, says that the when comparing the results of mobile retail versus mobile networks released last month, one can clearly see the positive outcomes of the customer-centric strategy efforts of the two largest mobile brands in South Africa. "It is further encouraging to note that two of the popular supporting measures of the SAcsi are positively correlated with the satisfaction scores achieved - with specific reference to the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Sentiment Index that SAcsi subscribers receive as part of the industry benchmark report," he said.
The SAcsi index gives companies detailed information to assist them in improving customer satisfaction. "The model combines three drivers of customer satisfaction: customer expectations, perceived quality, and perceived value. The calculated customer satisfaction index is statistically linked to two outcomes, i.e. customer complaints, and customer loyalty. The industry model for mobile retail can predict the outcome of changes in customer loyalty with 77.8% accuracy," said Schreuder.
This second monthly release of SAcsi also included customer satisfaction results for South African mobile network retail outlets, short-term insurance, life insurance and gaming (casinos). The third monthly report of SAcsi results will include commercial airlines and fast-food restaurants and will be available next month.
Summaries of the industry level reports are available at www.sacsi.co.za.
