JD Power: Reliability, Speed Keys to Satisfaction

According to J.D. Power and Associates, reliability and speed are the keys to customers' satisfaction with service providers. The research house has released the results of three customer satisfaction surveys covering video, voice and Internet services: U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study, U.S. Residential Telephone Service Provider Satisfaction Study, and U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study.According to the TV study, not only is loss of signal the most frequently mentioned service outage, but it also has the greatest negative impact on customer satisfaction and future loyalty. Overall customer satisfaction among TV service customers was 699 on a 1,000-point scale. Satisfaction was 741 among customers who did not experience a loss of signal, 82 points higher than among those who did experience a signal-loss outage (659).The telephone service study indicated that service outages due to severe weather or technical blackouts have a notably negative impact on satisfaction with telephone service performance and reliability among residential customers. Overall customer satisfaction among telephone service customers was 710 on a 1,000-point scale. Satisfaction was 727 among customers who did not experience a service outage, 85 points higher than among those who did experience at least one service outage (642). The incidence of customers who indicated they plan to drop their current telephone service during the next 12 months increased by 46% among those who had experienced a service outage, compared with those who had not experienced an outage (15% vs. 8%, respectively).The Internet study indicated that when customers upgrade their basic Internet service as their need for bandwidth increases, levels of both overall satisfaction and customer loyalty increase. Overall customer satisfaction among Internet service customers was 683 on a 1,000-point scale. Customer satisfaction increased to 712 among customers who upgraded to a premium speed package, 41 points higher than among those who had not upgraded their Internet service (671). Customers who upgraded to premium speed packages made nearly twice as many positive recommendations to friends/family of their provider during the past year (23% vs. 14%).