The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
Research Report
The Connected Consumer Survey 2015:
mobile customer retention
March 2015
Patrick Rusby and Stephen Sale
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
2
The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
About this report
 This report focuses on aspects of Analysys Mason’s annual
Connected Consumer Survey that relate to the behaviour,
preferences and plans of mobile users in France, Germany,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, UAE, the UK and
the USA. The survey was conducted in association with
Survey Sampling International (SSI) and On Device
Research.
 The research was conducted in July and August 2014. The
survey groups in Europe and the USA were chosen to be
demographically representative of the broader online
consumer population, and those in Asia, the Middle East and
Africa were chosen to be representative of the mobileInternet-using population. We set quotas on age, gender and
employment status to that effect. There were a minimum of
1000 respondents per country, and 22 174 respondents.
 This report focuses on several issues that are critical to
mobile operators’ strategies for 2015, including:
 the drivers of churn and approaches to customer retention
 the potential impact of fixed–mobile convergent bundling
on operators’ mobile business
 the significance of Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and how
operators can influence them.
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
Figure 1: Geographical coverage of our Connected Consumer Survey 2015
[Source: Analysys Mason, 2015]
UK
Germany
Poland
France
USA
Spain
Turkey
Qatar
South
Korea
Morocco
Malaysia
Saudi
Arabia
UAE
Indonesia
South
Africa
Online survey
Browser-based mobile survey
(Survey Sampling International)
(On Device Research)
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
Contents
Slide no.
Slide no.
6.
Executive summary
20. Data pricing and its impact on retention
7.
Price is the key driver of churn for most age groups, but network factors
(notably speed) were more important for the youngest respondents
21. Data allowance has become a more important factor than voice minutes
when selecting a tariff in Europe and the USA
8.
Bundling fixed and mobile services does not necessarily reduce churn
9.
There is a correlation between high data allowances and high NPS, but
our results emphasise the importance of value, rather than just size
22. The price of data was identified as more important than that of voice and
messaging in APAC and MEA, but both are low priorities in South Korea
10. Recommendations
11. Recommendations
12. Key drivers of mobile customer churn
13. Price is the key driver of churn for most age groups, but network factors
(notably speed) were more important for the youngest respondents
14. Price dominated churn decisions in Europe and the USA, but other
factors came into play in Asia–Pacific and MEA
15. Operators with the best coverage have higher NPS than competitors,
but where all operators have good coverage, challengers have higher
NPS
16. Pricing structures and churn
17. SIM-only customers award the highest NPS, but increased churn rates
suggest that competition is bringing some volatility to the segment
18. Bundling fixed and mobile services does not necessarily reduce churn,
despite positive correlations among certain service combinations
19. Examining the effectiveness of fixed–mobile combinations in different
countries provides positive and negative examples of the role of pricing
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
23. There is a correlation between higher data allowance and increased
NPS, but our results emphasise the importance of value, not just size
24. Another dimension of data pricing is balancing the utilisation levels of
allowances and managing overage
25. Operators must balance monetising overage with increased likelihood of
churn but overage policies can complement rightsizing to improve NPS
26. Mobile data speed and customer satisfaction
27. Speed was a greater factor in churn among younger people who are
also more likely to use their handset to watch OTT video content
28. Customers on high-speed 4G services awarded higher NPS than 3G
customers, but speed is not the only variable between 3G and 4G users
29. 4G customers claim to use Wi-Fi more than 3G customers, but in
general Wi-Fi usage is an indicator of concern about price and
performance
30. Network coverage is also a significant driver of churn in some countries
31. Methodology and panel information
32. Methodology
33. Panel information: France and Germany
The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
Contents
Slide no.
34. Panel information: Indonesia and Malaysia
35. Panel information: Morocco and Poland
36. Panel information: Qatar and Saudi Arabia
37. Panel information: South Africa and South Korea
38. Panel information: Spain and Turkey
39. Panel information: UAE and UK
40. Panel information: USA
41. About the authors and Analysys Mason
42. About the authors
43. About Analysys Mason
44. Research from Analysys Mason
45. Consulting from Analysys Mason
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
List of figures
Figure 1: Geographical coverage of our Connected Consumer Survey 2015
Figure 14: Intention to churn by service bundle, Spain and the USA
Figure 2: Main reasons for churn cited by respondents who said they
intended to churn in the next 6 months, by age group, Europe and
the USA
Figure 15: Percentage of respondents who selected more data or minutes as
an important factor in choice of mobile tariff, by age group,
Europe and the USA, 2012 and 2014
Figure 3:
Mobile customers’ intention to churn by fixed–mobile service
combinations, Europe and the USA
Figure 4: Mobile customers’ intention to churn by fixed–mobile service
combinations, Spain and the USA
Figure 16: Respondents by size of monthly voice minute and data
allowances, 2012 and 2014
Figure 5: Net Promoter Score by mobile data allowance
Figure 17: Respondents that identified the price of mobile data, relative to
that of voice and messaging, as important when selecting their
current provider, APAC and MEA countries
Figure 6: Intention to churn within 6 months, by proportion of data
allowance used
Figure 18: NPS and average mobile spend per month by data allowance,
Europe and the USA
Figure 7: Main reasons for churn cited by respondents who said they
intended to churn in the next 6 months, by age group, Europe and
the USA
Figure 19: Mobile data allowances by usage, Europe and the USA
Figure 8: Percentage of respondents who cited a given reason for leaving
their previous operator, by countries and region
Figure 21: Intention to churn because of speed and OTT video consumption
by age, Europe and the USA
Figure 9: Net Promoter Score for mobile operators, selected countries
Figure 22: Intention to churn because of speed, by country
Figure 10: Intention to churn by contract type, Europe and the USA, 2012
and 2014
Figure 23: NPS for respondents with 3G or 4G service
Figure 11: Net Promoter Score by contract type, Europe and the USA, 2014
Figure 12: Mobile customers and intention to churn by fixed–mobile service
combinations, Europe and the USA
Figure 13: Mobile customers and intention to churn by fixed–mobile service
combinations, Europe and the USA
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
Figure 20: Intention to churn within 6 months, by proportion of data
allowance used
Figure 24: Use of Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspots, by cellular technology
generation
Figure 25: Intention to churn because of poor network coverage, by country
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
Price dominated churn decisions in Europe and the USA, but other factors
came into play in Asia–Pacific and MEA
 Poor customer service: This can be
expensive and difficult to address, but
up to 20% of respondents cited it.
 Poor coverage: This varied by country,
but was particularly high in Indonesia,
where coverage is unreliable because
of the geography of the area.
 Reasons for churn varied significantly
between countries outside Europe and
the USA. For example: handset choice
and access to value-added services
were particularly important in South
Korea; promotional offers and OTT
partnerships featured heavily in
Indonesia and Malaysia; and regularly
changing operator is an established
trend in some countries in MEA.
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
Price
UAE
South Africa
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
MEA
Morocco
South Korea
Malaysia
Indonesia
Asia–Pacific
USA
UK
Turkey
Spain
Reason
Poland
Europe and the USA
Germany
 Price: The most-commonly cited
factor, price was more significant in
Europe and the USA than in
Asia–Pacific or MEA.
Figure 8: Percentage of respondents who cited a given reason for leaving their previous operator, by
countries and region [Source: Analysys Mason, 2015]
France
 About 63% of our survey respondents
had changed mobile provider. The topthree reasons cited were as follows.
55% 46% 38% 51% 43% 40% 46% 19% 20% 14% 17% 18% 19% 22% 21%
Poor customer
17% 12% 9% 20% 10% 10% 7%
service
8% 10% 10% 13% 8% 16% 16% 11%
Poor coverage
8%
9%
7%
6% 14% 16% 18% 27% 19% 8% 14% 10% 16% 10% 9%
Handset
choice
3%
2%
5%
6%
3%
6%
5%
1%
2% 16% 6%
4%
1%
4%
4%
Different
package
3%
4%
5%
5%
8%
8%
5%
8%
6%
5%
4%
9%
6%
Poor data
speed
2%
3%
3%
2%
4%
2%
3% 20% 13% 5%
7% 10% 10% 8%
8%
To join
peers’ network
2%
8% 17% 4%
8%
4%
4% 11% 10% 6% 10% 9%
Other
10% 14% 15% 8%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
9% 14% 13% 6% 21% 33% 26% 37% 27% 27% 37%
Question: “What key factor motivated you to leave your previous mobile provider?”; n = 9635.
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
There is a correlation between higher data allowance and increased NPS,
but our results emphasise the importance of value, not just size
 Balancing price and allowances appeared to be the key in
terms of attaining high NPS among our panel. Respondents
with 10–20GB allowances awarded the highest NPS, and
paid on average EUR32 per month for their service.
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
10
5
0
Unlimited
>20GB
>10GB to 20GB
>5GB to 10GB
>2GB to 5GB
-5
>1GB to 2GB
 Customers of Iliad in France distort the top of the curve.
Iliad’s 20GB allowance is aggressively priced (at EUR20
per month, or EUR16 if purchased as part of a bundle),
and its customers in our panel gave it high NPS.
15
>500MB to 1GB
 There is a bias towards customers from the USA in the
5GB to 10GB band. These customers award low NPS,
possibly because they pay high tariffs of an average of
EUR76 per month, and distort the curve.
20
500MB or less
 However, the correlation is not simply linear, but rather there
are distinct brackets of data allowance that achieve higher
NPS than others. Respondents with 2GB to 5GB and 10GB
to 20GB allowances awarded the highest NPS, while those
with 0.5GB, 5GB to 10GB and more than 20GB awarded the
lowest. These distinct brackets underline the importance of
value over pure volume.
Figure 18: NPS and average mobile spend per month by data allowance,
Europe and the USA [Source: Analysys Mason, 2015]
Net Promoter Score
 There was a correlation between data allowances and
respondents’ likelihood to recommend their operator. As data
allowances increase, so does willingness to recommend the
service. This is largely because customers get better value
as the cost per gigabyte of data decreases.
Trend line
Questions: “How much mobile data is included in your mobile phone package per month?”;
n = 5629; and “On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that you would recommend your
mobile phone service provider to a friend or colleague?”; n = 7052.
The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
Executive summary
Recommendations
Key drivers of mobile customer churn
Pricing structures and churn
Data pricing and its impact on retention
Mobile data speed and customer satisfaction
Methodology and panel information
About the authors and Analysys Mason
© Analysys Mason Limited 2015
41
The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
42
About the authors
Patrick Rusby (Analyst) is the lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s SME Strategies research programme, and
contributes to the Mobile Services programme within the Consumer research practice. Patrick’s areas of
specialisation for SME strategies are SME technology trends and adoption, enterprise mobility, SaaS and IaaS
services for SMEs and unified communications. Within Mobile Services, Patrick is focused on the MVNO market
and churn-reduction strategies for operators. Patrick was previously a Research Manager for Knowledge Peers, a
peer learning platform helping SME CxOs share best practice in finance, technology and telecoms. He holds a
Master’s degree in Contemporary British Politics from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Stephen Sale (Principal Analyst) is the lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s Mobile Services and Next-Generation
Services research programmes. His primary areas of specialisation include next-generation communication
services, over-the-top (OTT) player strategies and mobile pricing. He also has extensive experience in analysing
mobile operator strategies and forecasting mobile service markets. Before joining Analysys Mason in 2004, Stephen
worked in the industry on areas that include VoIP, next-generation service architecture and broadband access. He
has a degree in economics and an interdisciplinary MRes from the University of London.
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
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The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: mobile customer retention
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