49883373-customer-retention-final-project.docx

2011 Customer Retention Challenges (with respect to Reliance Communication.)

By:- Ujjwal Chandra Chand and Akhilesh Kumar Sibar, Kondhwa

CONTENTS 1. Abstract

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3

2. Objectives

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4

3. Introduction

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5-9

4. Research Methodology

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10

5. Data representation and analysis

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11 - 20

6. Conclusion

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21

7. Bibliography

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8. Questionnaire

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22-23

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ABSTRCT Customer is one for whom any organization is functioning. Every organization has its own goals to maximize profits with minimum cost and for this every organization wants to have maximum number of customers. In the current scenario retaining a customer is more difficult than to get a new customer, because an old customer is like an asset to the organization. Customer loyalty is very important in any business. If your business wants to grow in the future it has to provide quality customer management and effective strategies to realize all its goals. An old customer works as a communicator to the target market with reference to– informing about the features, qualities, reliability and the most important feature is the resolution of the customer queries, and this plays a very vital role in retaining the customers. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact which an organization has with a customer and continuous throughout the entire lifetime of a relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain new customers, is not only related to its product or services, but strongly related to the way its services its existing customers and the reputation it creates within and across the marketplace. There is very close relationship between customer retention and customer satisfaction. If a customer is satisfied with the products and services offer by the company then there is higher probability rate that the customer will buy the product and service again. But on the other hand it is also true that giving a satisfying product and service is difficult for a company and this could be a challenge because of the competition in the market with various competitors and the dynamic behaviour of the market.

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OBJECTIVE



Main objective o To identify the strategies to retaining customers o To understand the challenges faced by marketers in retaining customers.



Sub objectives o To identify the competitors o

To identify the factors to customer retaining

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Introduction As communications service providers (CSPs) continue to engage in fierce customer acquisition and customer poaching programs, they themselves are increasingly feeling the pinch of customer churn within their base. Given the increasing number of players in the market (traditional telecom, cable, broadband phone providers) and the increasing number of options (wireless, fixed PSTN, VoIP), CSPs are being forced to devote more resources to their customer retention strategies. As a result, increased focus has been placed on customer service as a both a competitive strategy and a survival strategy, perhaps more intensively here than in any other industry. Some companies have even dedicated entire contact center operations exclusively to save atrisk customers. However, as critical as contact center operations have become to customer retention strategies, most companies still face major operational issues, such as efficiency and productivity obstacles, which traditional contact center technology has failed to address. One such company, Vodafone UK, one of the leading wireless providers, is continually trying to perfect its retention process. Most recently it created a single contact center devoted exclusively to customer retention. By using Jacada® Fusion, the Vodafone “SAVES” group has increased customer and agent satisfaction levels by dramatically decreasing overall call handle time – and as a side benefit, was able to completely eliminate after call wrap-up, resulting in a significant reduction in operational costs. The customer lifecycle is made up of three core customer management processes: customer acquisition, customer retention and customer development. The processes of customer retention and development are the focus of this chapter. A customer retention strategy aims to keep a high proportion of valuable customers by reducing customer defections (churn), and a customer development strategy aims to increase the value of those retained customers to the company. Just as customer acquisition is focused on particular prospects, retention and development also focus on particular customers. Focus is necessary because not all customers are worth retaining and not all customers have potential for development. We will deal with the issue of retention first, before turning to development. A number of important questions have to be answered when a company puts together a customer retention strategy.

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

Which customers will be targeted for retention?

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What customer retention strategies will be used?

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How will the customer retention performance be measured?

We believe that these issues need to be carefully considered and programmed into a properly resourced customer retention plan. Many companies, perhaps as many as six out of ten, have no explicit customer retention plan in place. 1 Most companies spend a majority of their time, energy and resources chasing new business, with 75 per cent or more of marketing budgets being earmarked for customer acquisition.

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CONCEPT OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION “My vision is to provide the latest telecommunication facilities to every Indian at the price of a post card” – Dhirubhai Ambani. Reliance Infocomm was launched as a very ambitious project. The project was conceived at the convergence of communication and information technology. It was designed to connect every home and office in India with each other and the world. On Thursday, August 09, 2007 Anil Ambani has chosen as “ Telecom person of the year 2007 “ His marketing strategy has made millions of Indians happy, they got the best mobile tariffs in the world-local call costs at 15 paise/minute, and STD call at 40 paise/minute . As per its expansion plan, Reliance Communications will have the single largest wireless network in the world, covering over 950 mn Indians or more than 5% of the global population. It will cover 23,300 towns or every single Indian habitation with a population of over 1,000. Reliance Communications will cover almost 100% of all rail routes, providing seamless voice, video, radio, and Internet connectivity to 14 mn commuters every day. It will also cover almost 100% of all national highways, and 84% of all state highways, giving millions of users the power to talk, text, surf, play, chat or simply stay in touch across nearly the entire length of India's 2,00,000-km-long road network. Having achieved tremendous growth, the main challenge for Reliance Communications is to improve quality of service and ARPU. Its enterprise business is also not in a position to compete with the global majors. Stock market valuations may boost the fortunes of an entrepreneur, but Ambani needs to address the issues faced by the growing mobile customer base, especially in India, where bureaucracy takes pride in checking the businessman.

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SWOT Analysis of Reliance Com.

Strength

Weakness

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Low Price

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Branding Image

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Network

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Marketing problem

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Connectivity

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Limited reach of wire lines.

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Flexible plans

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Slowest Activation Process

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Cheap VAS Services

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Limited Budget for Sales Promotion

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Reputed Brand Name

Opportunity

Threat

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Preference of Flexible wired plans

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Political destabilization.

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IPTV introduction

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New Entrants

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Rural Telephony

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IT Development

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New Market, Vertical, Horizontal

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Market Demand

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Competitors` Vulnerabilities

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Seasonality, Weather Effects

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New

Product

development

by

competitors

PROBLEM BEING FACED 

Competitors



Not Proper Communication of Customers Complaint to the company

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Lack of instant complaint solving due to the lengthy documentation and entertainment of complaint

WHAT DOES COMPANY EXPECT TO DO BY SOLVING THE PROBLEM Page | 8



Customer Satisfaction

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Customer Retention

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Increase in Sale

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Service Excellence

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Increase in Revenue by Broadband Department

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a way to systematically do the job. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. The most desirable approach with regards to the selection of the research methodology depends on the nature of particular work, time and resources available along with the desire level of accuracy. 

Research Type

Descriptive Research

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Data Source

Primary Data and Secondary data

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Research Instrument

Questionnaire design

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Type of Questionnaire

Structured

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Sample Size

50

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Sampling Method

Judgmental

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Contact Method

Personal Interview

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DATA ANALYSIS Questions put up to the customers:Q 1. Most Influencing factor of consideration while purchasing products of Reliance comm.?

35 30

30 25 25 20 20 15 15 10 10 5 0 Brand name

Flexibility in tariff plan

Price

Easy availability

Aafter sale service

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 25 % of people influence by price only and the major role is played by after sales service.

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Q 2. What is the nature of problem you face with Reliance comm.? 60

55

50

40

30 30

20 10 10

5

0

Service level

Claim level

Product availability

Product awareness

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 55 % of people are facing the problem in service level and the other most effective part is at claim level.

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Q 3. Are you aware about new scheme of Reliance comm.?

32

Yes No

68

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 68 % of people are aware of the schemes of reliance.

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Q 4. Which type of problem you face with Reliance comm.?

45 45 40 35

30

30 25 20 13

15

12

10 5 0 Call drop

Echo

Network failure

Voice clarity

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 45 % of people are facing the problem of Network failure and the other most effective part is the call drop.

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Q 5. How you rate Reliance as a service Provider?

18

12

Poor 26

Average Good Excellent

44

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 44 % of people rate Reliance as Good where as 26 % of people rate as Average.

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Questions put up to the Reliance Comm. people:Q 1. How frequently your company comes up with new offers?

12 26

19

Yearly Within 6 months Within 3 months Monthly

43

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 43 % time Reliance comes up with a new offer within three months and 26% in monthly.

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Q 2. Does this help in retaining the consumer?

27

Yes No

73

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 68 % of people are aware of the schemes of reliance.

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Q 3. What do you do for retaining the customers?

10

Giving extra schemes 24

66

Giving proper expected solution on time By showing empathy to customers

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 66% time company retains customers by showing empathy to the customers.

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Q 4. What type of customers usually comes to you?

20

16

Flirty Irate Abusing Normal

22 42

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 42% of the customers that comes are irate customers.

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Q 5. Which helps more in retaining the customer?

5 18 Good service Price 54

Product quality Others

23

By the help of the graph shown above we can conclude that 54% of the customers are retained just by providing good services and next major part is played by price.

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Conclusion From the above research it can be concluded that customers of Reliance are more inclined towards the price part. Reliance is still facing some network issues and many of the customers rate Reliance as a good service provider. Where as from the companies prospective new offers does help in retaining the new customers and showing empathy to the customer also helps in many of the situations while retaining.

Bibliography

BOOKS Marketing Management

-

Phillip Kotler

MAGAZINE Business Today NEWSPAPERS Economic Times Hindustan Times WEBSITE www.COAI.in www.trai.co.in

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Questionnaire for Customers

1. Most Influencing factor of consideration while purchasing products of Reliance comm.? a. brand name b. flexibility in tariff plan c. price d. easy availability e. after sale service •

2. What is the nature of problem you face with Reliance comm.? a. Service level b. Claim level c. Product availability d. Product awareness 3. Are you aware about new scheme of Reliance comm.? a. Yes b. No •

•

4. Which type of problem you face with Reliance comm.? a. Call drop b. Echo c. Network failure d. Voice clarity 5. How you rate Reliance as a service Provider? a. Poor b. Average c. Good d. Excellent

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Questionnaire for Reliance Comm. Employees

1. How frequently your company comes up with new offers? a. Yearly b. Within 6 months c. Within 3 months d. Monthly 2. Does this help in retaining the consumer? a. Yes b. No 3. What do you do for retaining the customers? a. Giving extra schemes b. Giving proper expected solution on time c. By showing empathy to customers 4. What type of customers usually comes to you? a. Flirty b. Irate c. Abusing d. Normal 5. Which helps more in retaining the customer? a. Good service b. Price c. Product quality d. Others ( Specify___________)

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