Overview
The telecommunications industry finds itself in an age of reconfiguration. As telecom leaders make sense of this continuous reconfiguration and reinvention, addressing a multitude of areas vying for their focus, it is key to remember who is at the heart of their future business successes - the customer.
Closing the telecom customer sentiment gap should be seen as a critical imperative for the industry: to elevate customer satisfaction to levels commensurate with the vital role telecommunications play in daily life.
PwC is proud to partner with DataEQ to benchmark consumer sentiment on social media among South Africa’s major telecom operators and to provide data-driven insights on how to improve customer experience.
“The time for telecoms to prioritise improving customer satisfaction is now.”
Key report themes
Customer service
Customers are left dissatisfied by a lack of efficient feedback and issue resolution, particularly when contacting call centres. The industry made little progress from the prior year to address this key customer pain point.
Call centres
Call centres remained the most complained about channel. Despite the growing availability of digital channels, telecoms continue to rely heavily on telephonic support, with disappointing results.
Financial services
Financial services on offer from telecoms had varying performances, with mobile money driving interest and customer praise, but insurance driving risk and complaints.
Network
Network coverage complaints remained prevalent across all telecoms. With 335 days of load shedding in 2023, consumer perceptions of network quality did not improve and drove operational risk.
Responsiveness
Actionable social conversation is increasing. 45.3% of consumers’ conversation was actionable (up 14% from last year). This means that more social media conversation required the action of a service agent this year.
Trust
Consumers don’t feel that they’re being treated fairly by telecoms, particularly because of products that aren’t fit for purpose and shortfalls in customer service. Consumers are being forced to rely on multiple networks to ensure connectivity.
How we can help
Industry intervention is needed. The 2023 index highlights the need to remain competitive and respond to the rapidly evolving needs and preferences of consumers, with the following key interventions that can encourage successes in the short to medium term:
