Vodacom customers most satisfied

Vodacom has been named South Africa’s ‘leading’ telecommunications company in the latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-csi) for Telecommunications Services.

Conducted by Consulta, an independent customer experience consultancy that has published the Benchmark Report since 2012, it is the fourth year in succession that Vodacom has emerged as the network that customers are most satisfied with.

This allows the mobile network operator to retain its position as a leader in the local telecoms market, where the SA-csi report reveals that it is seen as the closest “ideal” provider with a 74.8 overall customer satisfaction index score – well above its closest competitor.

This satisfaction score is based on several factors for brands - exceeding or falling short of customer expectations, perceived value and overall satisfaction. The findings demonstrate that Vodacom’s commitment to ensuring it meets the needs of customers has been recognised by the market.

The SA-csi for Telecommunications Services offers independent insights into the South African mobile networks industry by measuring customers’ overall satisfaction.

 “When your business is about connecting people and offering them as much value as possible, nothing is more rewarding than knowing that your customers are satisfied. With brands constantly clamouring for consumer attention, today’s differentiator is value and Vodacom is constantly innovating to add value to the lives of all of our customers,” says Errol van Graan, chief officer of Vodacom’s commercial operations. “Customer satisfaction is a complex sentiment to measure, so to receive this title from South Africa’s only Customer Satisfaction Index recognised internationally is an honour for us.”

A popular metric for measuring a brand’s performance is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures how customers discuss and promote a brand with their friends and family. This year, Vodacom scored highest in the likelihood that customers would recommend the network to their family and friends. Vodacom also emerged as the leader when it came to customer expectations, quality of relationship, value added service, customer support and access to brand information.

“We are delighted with this year’s report and want to thank our customers for once again voting us number one,” says Van Graan. “They have inspired us to do even more by improving on those areas in which we have not met expectations while we remain focused on connecting people for a better future.”

South Africa’s telecommunications sector, as a whole, also compared favourably against the US and Singapore’s wirelesss telephone industry average. SA-csi is a global partner with the American Customer Satisfaction Index used in 23 countries to measure customer satisfaction around the globe.