NEW YORK

SpeechCycle, the leading provider of customer self-service solutions for service providers, today announced the results of a survey of more than 1,000 smartphone users across the United States that solidified the importance of customer service in today's competitive service provider market. The study also uncovered significant consumer interest in using self-service mobile applications for customer care. Conducted by Echo Research, the study revealed that customers are likely to make both positive and negative decisions about their relationships with service providers based on customer service alone.

In today's competitive service provider marketplace, consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to selecting a vendor for their mobile phone, Internet or cable/satellite services. With these providers becoming increasingly equal in terms of price point and technology, customer service has become the differentiator that often sets providers apart.

To this point, the SpeechCycle sponsored study found that based on a positive customer experience, consumers are likely to become brand ambassadors for their service providers:

• Over two thirds (67 percent) of consumers would likely be willing to spend more money with their service provider if they consistently received exceptional customer service.
• Further, two thirds (65 percent) of respondents would be very likely to recommend their service provider to others if they received great customer service on a consistent basis.

In contrast, a negative customer experience can have a dramatic and detrimental impact for service providers:

• Three in five consumers (60 percent) stated it would take only two or three instances of poor customer service from a mobile phone, Internet or cable/satellite TV service provider before they would consider switching providers.
• Nearly one in five (18 percent) would consider switching providers immediately after an initial poor customer service experience.

You can read the full article on www.marketwatch.com