Posted: 03rd Jun, 2010 By: MarkJ

A new survey from call centre and customer service specialist
Orchid Consulting has found that internet connection speed is the largest cause of ISP dissatisfaction and the factor which is most likely to fall short of expectations. However 81% of people still claim to be satisfied with their broadband supplier.
The research shows that customers expect the service to be reliable above all else, with speed the next most important attribute, and over 25% say the customer service they receive does not match their expectations.
The results claim that people choose their NEW ISP because of price, then brand and then speed. The key point at which dissatisfied customers switch was found to be speed of connectivity. This is perhaps understandable because speed can have an obvious impact on your experience.
Keith Gait, Founder and Principal Consultant at Orchid Consulting, said:
"It’s clear that broadband companies have got to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. It’s no good spending a lot of money on advertising and building a brand if the customer expectations are not met. People aren’t afraid of switching if connectivity speed is not up to scratch, and poor customer retention can prove very costly.
What’s interesting is that price is the biggest single driver of purchasing decisions, not reliability of service. It would be more logical that if people want to switch that they should choose their new provider on the same basis that they decided to leave the old one. Otherwise it’s not comparing apples with apples."
Gait continued on to warn that ISP's should not rely on stable subscriptions as an indicator or predictor of loyalty (low churn behaviour). Good satisfaction levels will not necessarily be maintained and inertia can quickly turn to churn. More than 80% of respondents had been with their ISP for over a year before switching.