Analysis of Customer Satisfaction for Ufone

Abstract

Pakistan is a developing economy where technological advancement has created high potential for investment in various sectors, cellular industry being one of them. The cellular industry that emerged in Pakistan two decades ago now has a number of players, each striving to maintain its position and boost its share, the key to which is attaining customer satisfaction. The cellular service providing firm Ufone, the launch of which began competition in the Pakistani cellular market in 2001, has been chosen for the study. The study is designed to provide an understanding of the process of customer satisfaction and the variables influencing it; to gauge the satisfaction level of Ufone customers, figure out the attributes important for them, determine their behaviors arising out of satisfaction/dissatisfaction; and to find out how customers view Ufone in relation to its competitors. A survey has been conducted with non probability convenience sampling in a non-contrived setting with a sample size of 50 in which all the respondents were current users of Ufone. The study has revealed that half of the Ufone subscribers fall below the age of 25 years. It also showed that Ufone’s ability to retain its customers has improved over the past 3 years, its customers hold a favorable attitude towards it, 80% of the entire consumer base intend to continue its use, and around half of them will probably recommend it to others but still it does not enjoy a high degree of spread of favorable word of mouth by its customers. Moreover, around a quarter of its customers are using other cellular connections as well. According to the study Call connection time, Call completion ratio, Voice quality, Network/Signals and Customer service have found to be the key drivers of Customer Satisfaction. Findings of the study depict that despite intense competition, Ufone has maintained its position among its customers and on the whole enjoys a satisfied consumer base. It is recommended that the technical setup should be upgraded to overcome the existing shortfalls in the functional quality of the services provided. The executives’ directly interacting with the customers must be trained and empowered to resolve customer queries and address any upcoming problems. Moreover, employee performance must be judged on the quality rather than the speed of problem resolution, with rewards tied to team performance instead of individual evaluations.