A new report from Ericsson ConsumerLab, the optimal consumer experience, revealed that consumers judge operators according to their standards of service and support, loyalty-building initiatives, and billing and payment services. Cecilia Atterwall, Head of ConsumerLab, said: “This report shows that consumers' expectations of operators will increase, opening up the potential for new types of services that build on individual needs.” The report also noted that different types of people have different needs. For older, more senior and less tech-savvy people, the initial purchase process is the deciding factor in the consumer experience. Career-minded consumers, meanwhile, are most concerned with billing and payments. They expect the billing process to be transparent - regarding the financial aspects of their accounts - with no excessive, unexpected or hidden fees. Young professionals are attracted to loyalty-building initiatives such as proactive suggestions to switch to a service plan that matches their usage patterns. For parents, the billing process is the most important factor. Since they want to be in control, parents want to be able to monitor both their own usage and that of their children - either online or via an app. Stefan Hedelius, Head of Marketing and Communications for Business Unit Support Solutions, said: “This study highlights several unmet consumer needs that can be addressed with the right OSS and BSS capabilities. For operators, there is a great opportunity to meet the demands and expectations on consumer experience and to capture the revenue potential.” In order to fully understand the consumer experience, Ericsson ConsumerLab interviewed nearly 3,000 people from the US, Brazil and Russia. In this way, ConsumerLab was able to gather unique findings that make it possible to measure consumer satisfaction and identify areas in which improvements can be made in order to optimize the consumer experience. ConsumerLab found that the leading reason for a consumer to contact an operator is to either upgrade or downgrade a service plan. Sixty-one percent of the interviewees had contacted their operators in the past six months for this reason. Meanwhile, 58 percent had contacted their operators to resolve a technical service or support problem, and 51 percent because they wanted more information about new services or products.
