Improvements in the quality mobile networks since 2013 haven’t helped reduce the number of issues smartphone users face on a daily basis, with customer loyalty severely tested by new apps and evolving video streaming behaviour, according to a report from Ericsson Consumer Lab. In fact, two in every five smartphone users now claim that they face more than 11 issues at least weekly, with video streaming glitches a more common complaint than three years ago. In total, some 26 percent of respondents worldwide say they face video streaming issues daily, an alarming figure considering mobile broadband experience remains the principal driver of smartphone user loyalty to operators. Other issues include slow loading websites, lack of signal and slow download and upload of social media content.
As a result, the report suggests that Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are no longer enough to properly gauge smartphone user loyalty, mainly because they take no account of the changing expectations of network performance due to new video streaming app behaviour. The survey of 14 markets shows that smartphone users who face 11 or more issues per week are twice as likely to think of switching operators.
It also offers six different loyalty profiles to quantify the different motives and preferences that smartphone users exhibit towards their operator. In many cases, consumers who say they would recommend their operator do so not because they prefer the operator, but because they cannot identify a better alternative, said the report.