irc’s international journal of … impact of telecom marketing strategies on customer satisfaction...

IRC’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013

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IRC’s INRTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

www.ircjournals.org ISSN: 2320-8236 78

The Impact of Telecom Marketing Strategies on Customer Satisfaction

Ms. Anuradha Bhandari

Research Scholar,

Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia,

New Delhi, India

Ms. Prabhjot Kaur

Rayat & Bahra Institute of Engineering & Bio-Technology,

VPO Sahauran, District Mohali, Punjab, India, 140104

Abstract Customer is the ultimate consumer of services and this is exactly whom the organisations strive to satisfy to keep

their businesses going. The underlying reasons as to why a customer is associated with a particular brand is of

utmost importance to companies as it answers the question of his/her satisfaction and contentment. This study

attempts to explore various factors and marketing strategies that various telecom companies in India, Chandigarh,

Mohali and Panchkula (Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, etc) adopt to influence the satisfaction levels of their

customers. This paper investigates a sample of 170 telecom users of various brands where service quality, price,

brand image, value offered, trust switching costs and customer loyalty have been taken as the predicting factors

towards customer satisfaction. The research involves a cross-sectional survey design utilizing a questionnaire to

fulfill the research objectives. The results reveal that majority (43.5%) of the respondents had a preference for

Vodafone telecom and multiple regressions between marketing strategies and customer satisfaction were calculated

(.747).

Keywords: Marketing Strategies, Customer Satisfaction, Telecom

Introduction The emergence of telecom industry can be traced back some time in history where people were unaware of the need

of such technology in times to come. With society being the central point of any invention, telecommunications

emerged. In India, the telecom network was made fully state owned in 1943 with the taking over of the few

licensees that existed at that time. The system was expanded rapidly after independence. Until 1980s, the

telecommunications services were regarded as natural monopolies and were the exclusive preserve of their

respective national carriers (Purkayastha, 2012). In 1997, came up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) which aimed at the regulation of telecommunications in India and reduced the interference of the

government with respect to policy making. Although the first mobile phone was launched on a non-commercial

basis in 1995 in Delhi, the government became liberal henceforth and the role of private players enhanced. Many

players like Tata, Airtel, Vodafone (earlier Hutch), Idea etc entered the market and currently have a large customer

base in India. Today, the Indian telecom network is amongst the 10-12 largest networks in the world (Purkayastha,

2012).

Literature Review The nature of telecommunications is profoundly changing due to revolutionary, ongoing technological

developments. India has not remained unaffected by these global changes both in the nature and purpose of

telecommunications and the reforms and restructuring of the communications services industry (Choudary, 2001).

With the increase in the cost of acquisition of new customers, cellular mobile companies continually seek new ways

to acquire retain and increase their subscriber base. Thus the ability to retain existing customer is increasingly

crucial in this industry (Joshi et al., 2010).

Previous studies have revealed that price and service quality are closely related to customer satisfaction with service

providers and have examined the direct impacts of price and service quality on a firm’s profits and market share and

on consumer purchasing behavior (Zeithaml, 2000). In addition, Kotler and Lane (2009) proposed that there is a

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THE IMPACT OF TELECOM MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

*MS. ANURADHA BHANDARI, **MS. PRABHJOT KAUR ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013



positive relationship between perceived price fairness and satisfaction. Further, service quality is a measure of how

well the service level delivered matches customer expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1988). According to Reichheld

(1996), Lee and Cunningham(2001), perception of a customer affects his judgment and it turns his loyalty towards

the product or services.

Also, consciously or unconsciously customers use their preferences to project their own self image. According to the

Belk’s theory of extended self, people define themselves by the possessions they have, manage or create (Belk

1988). Consumers prefer brands with personality traits that are congruent with the personality traits that represent

their self schemas (Aaker, 1999) brand loyalty is also influenced by attractiveness of the brand personality (Kim et

al., 2001) and the extent to which it enhances the self image (Tidwell and Horgan, 1993).

Morgan and Hunt (1994) hypothesize that trust is a major factor that influence relationship commitment in

continuum brand trust leads to brand loyalty. According to Chauduri and Holbrook (2001) brand trust is directly

related to both purchase and attitudinal loyalty. Trust shown by the customers is an important factor that helps the

organization to sustain even during the time of uncertainty (Moorman et al., 1992; Doney et al., 1997; Dwyer et al.,

1987).

According to Reichheld (1996), Lee and Cunningham (2001), perception of a customer affects his judgment and it

turns his satisfaction and loyalty towards the product or services. Customer satisfaction is defined as an "evaluation

of the perceived discrepancy between prior expectations and the actual performance of the product" (Tse and

Wilton, 1988, Oliver 1999). Satisfaction of customers with products and services of a company is considered as

most important factor leading toward competitiveness and success (Hennig-Thurau and Klee, 1997). Customer

satisfaction is very important in today’s business world as according to Deng et al., (2009) the ability of a service

provider to create high degree of satisfaction is crucial for product differentiation and developing strong relationship

with customers.

Methodology

Aims & Objectives The broad aim of the study was to find out the impact of various marketing strategies of different telecom companies

on customer satisfaction. Other secondary objectives are as mentioned below.

To identify the most preferred telecom player in the market.

To identify the major factors that lead to delighted and satisfied customers

To uncover results and suggest remedial measures to the companies under study.

Sampling & Data Collection The sample consists of 170 people who were contacted individually and were that the existent customers of one of

the aforementioned service providers. Questionnaires were distributed to the customers and were asked to contact

the researcher whenever they encounter any difficulty in responding to the questionnaire. Convenience sampling

was adopted to select customers from various service telecom providers. Respondents in the Tricity (Chandigarh,

Panchkula and Mohali) were asked to assess their perception about various items (service quality, price, brand

image, value offered, trust switching costs and customer loyalty) that affected customer satisfaction. India’s

telecommunication network is the third largest in the world and for this purpose, the sampling has been done taking

into consideration the diverse market of telecom providers.

Consumer satisfaction Measurement items for consumer satisfaction were adapted from the work of Mouri (2005), Oliver (1997) and

Forhel (1992). This variable was assessed with four items. Higher score indicated a higher degree of customer

satisfaction. The scale has a coefficient alpha of 0.76 . The responses were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1

(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Marketing strategies Marketing strategies have been assessed with the help of standardized questionnaire in seven areas namely service

quality was developed by Peng & Wang (2006) , Parasuraman et al. (1988) with six items, price was assessed with

the help of questionnaire developed by Peng & Wang (2006) , Cheng at al. (2008) with five items , brand image was

assessed with help of scale developed by Ravald & Gronroos (1996) with three items, value offered was assessed






with the help of scale developed by Peng & Wang (2006) and Zeithame (1998) with four items, scale on trust was

given by Chu (2009), Tian et al. (1998), and Morgan & Hunt (1994) with five items, switching cost was determined

with the help of scale given by Keaveney (1995) and Aydin & Ozer (2005) with four items and customer loyalty

was determined by the scale developed by Aydin & Ozer (2005) and Morgan & Hunt (1994) with seven items. The

Cronbach Alpha of Service quality, Price, Brand image, Value offered, Trust, Switching cost and Customer loyalty

was found to be .76 , .77 , .79 , .80 , .77 , .83 , .77 respectively.

Results Table 1 shows the distribution of respondent’s age, gender, academic qualification and company preferred for

telecommunication. Data reveals that the age of majority of the respondents lies between 20-25 years. 43.5 % of the

respondents had a preference for Vodafone telecom whereas they have a least preference for BSNL. The ratio of

male and female respondents was found somewhat same for the study.

Table 2 represents the mean, standard deviation and correlation among the variables. Results reveals that the mean

values range from 21.58 (service quality) to minimum value of 11.98 (Brand Image).

Table No. 2 mean, Standard deviation and correlation between dimensions of telecom marketing strategies and customer satisfaction

Dimensions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mean S.D

1 Service Quality 1 21.58 2.75

2 Price .451** 1 17.04 3.23

3 Brand Image .419** .282** 1 11.98 2.34

4 Value Offered .494** .432** .087 1 13.07 2.07

5 Trust .500** .388** .403** .196** 1 18.41 2.45

6 Satisfaction .632** .570** .352** .360** .555** 1 14.56 2.29

7 Switching Costs .071 .326** .126 .071** .204** .084 1 13.95 2.50

8 Customer Loyalty .538** .400** .411** .273** .514** .627** -.046 1 21.52 3.45

**Correlation is significant at 0.01 level, *Correlation is significant at 0.05 level

From the correlation, it is clear that telecom marketing strategies are positively related with customer satisfaction.

Multiple regressions between marketing strategies and customer satisfaction were found to be .747 (Table 3).

Table 2 represents the mean, standard deviation and correlation among the variables. Results reveals that the mean

values range from 21.58 (service quality) to minimum value of 11.98 (Brand Image). From the correlation it is been

cleared that telecom marketing strategies are positively related with customer satisfaction. Multiple regressions

between marketing strategies and customer satisfaction were found to be .747 (Table 3).

Table 1: Demographic Profile of Consumers

Gender Male 49.4

Female 50.6

Age (yrs.) 20-25 89.4

25-30 2.9

Above 30 7.6

Educational Qualification U.G. 50.2

Graduation 43.7

P.G. 3.2

Ph.D. 2.9

Telecom Company Preference Vodafone 43.5

Airtel 24.1

Idea 4.7

Tata 9.4

Reliance 15.9

BSNL 2.4






*Significant at p<0.01 level

The beta value table reveals that service quality, price, trust and customer loyalty emerged as the significant

predictors of customer satisfaction. Service quality, price, trust and customer loyalty is positively related with

customer satisfaction with values (r = 3.94, r = 4.54, r = 2.87, r = 4.19 respectively).

Discussion The present study is designed to finding relationship between telecom marketing strategies and more purposely with

different components of marketing strategies and customer satisfaction. Analysis of the study reveals that marketing

strategies are positively and significantly influencing the consumer satisfaction. Favorable marketing strategies will

not only help the telecom industry to satisfy and obtain the customers, but also help to succeed in acquiring the

strong competition in present competitive era.

Price is very important determinant of deciding the customer satisfaction. Consumers typically select the telecom

company on the basis of price they charge. Every consumer has their own capacity to pay. It is very interesting to

state that while purchasing the product of the particular telecom company, they compare its price with the telecom

company. Higher price may negatively or positively influence the employee to go for purchasing the product.

Consumers are likely to be attracted toward high-quality services at reasonable prices. Furthermore, the study

reveals that switching costs is not significant related with customer satisfaction because consumers do not much care

about switching cost while staying with the same or shift from one to another.

Trust is been considered as an important drive profitable, long-term customer relationships as well as in increasing

the employee satisfaction. Study reveals that customers’ trust is a significant role in maintaining the relationship

with the company and achieving consumer satisfaction.

Customer loyalty is been considered as a main variable of establishing the employee satisfaction, which can lead to

profitability. Loyalty has been two parameters that may be attitudinal and behavioral. Attitudinal loyalty is

concerned with customer’s attitude toward loyalty by considering their buying intention, preference and supplier

prioritization, whereas behavioral loyalty relates to shares of purchase and their purchasing frequency. During the

study, it is been found that in telecom it is essential for operators to offer impressive valuable to customers in

service interaction process, that may be reward refund activities and promotional offers, in order to gain consumer

loyalty .

In each of the scenario, an employer persists in a relationship in which his customers are not satisfied. It is logical to

assume that in this situation employer should not put many efforts to make things better, come out with new

schemes, and try to improve marketing strategies in order to enhance consumer satisfaction.

Conclusion

When the companies are struggling to survive against two dimensional terrorizations: the competition from external

companies and the lack of satisfaction among the customers, this research will help to deal with both the threats. It is

indeed a good to know that marketing strategies are the great determinants of employee satisfaction. Positive

marketing strategies enhance consumer satisfaction. Results also reveals that marketing strategies positively

Table 3: Multiple regression for marketing

strategies as a function of customer satisfaction

Multiple R .747

R Square .557

Adjusted R Square .541

Standard error 1.55

F-value 34.21

Level of significance .000

Table 4: Beta Value

Dimensions Standardized Beta

co-efficient

t- value Sig.

Service Quality .280 3.94** .000

Price .290 4.54** .000

Brand Image -.029 -.487 .627

Value Offered -.009 -.151 .880

Trust .183 2.87** .005

Switching Costs -.051 -.919 .359

Customer Loyalty .278 4.19** .000






influencing the consumer satisfaction. So telecom industry needs to make efforts to create and sustain

complimentary marketing strategies to ensure the desired results include satisfaction level among customers.

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