Apparently smartphones have topped the list of holiday gift returns according to a 2,000-person survey by Research Now, but that’s not counting the iPhone or BlackBerry. The reason for a wooping 21% return rate from smartphone buyers? Difficulty in set-up. Yep, users can determine pretty quickly if a handheld is something they want to keep or not, and being turned off due to technical issues that early on can apparently wreak huge effects on not only sales, but reputation too.
“Irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation and perception of the company itself is at stake when a product is not easy to setup and use,” [Kevin Wood, VP and Senior Technology Analyst with Opinion Research Corporation] added. “Nearly 16% of the respondents we surveyed indicated that their poor setup experience significantly worsened their perception of the company that manufactured the product.”
Given these results, can we say that BlackBerry set-up is notably easier than other smartphones? I’d be curious to see how much the numbers would change if the iPhone and BlackBerry were included.
Consumer Reports will be busting out their 2008 issue soon, and American carriers are getting less than stellar marks in the customer satisfaction department. The report was based on surveying some 47,000 wireless subscribers across 20-odd major U.S. cities, fewer than half of whom were completely or very satisfied. Service quality, customer service, early termination fees and mandatory contract extensions were all reasons for the dropping rating. Service is supposedly improving, even though carriers, like Sprint who scored the worst, have got a long ways to go.
J.D. Power and Associates, the same folks who did the BlackBerry customer satisfaction survey not too long ago, have put Rogers’ subsidiary Fido as top of the list for customer satisfaction. The study looked at billing, call quality, cost of service, customer service and service plan options to determine the top dog.
“We would like to thank our customers who gave us their vote of confidence and our employees who’ve worked so hard to make us better, because
you can’t receive the J.D. Power and Associates award for “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Contract Wireless Service” without a lot of help,” says Sylvain Roy, SVP and General Manager, Fido. “We believe this award demonstrates that we are living up to our brand promise: Always by your side, with fairness, transparency, helpful suggestions and a rewarding experience from day one,” he adds.
We just took a look at a recent survey from ChangeWave, which puts customers highly satisfied with the iPhone at a whooping 82%. RIM sits at 51% of very satisfied customers, with Sanyo and LG following close behind at 46% and 41% respectively. 16% of those surveyed who didn’t already have one, said they were planning to by an iPhone, which is the highest projected purchase rate out of all the manufacturers listed. It’s nice to say that RIM’s second only to Apple, but let’s face it, that’s a pretty big 31% gap that BlackBerry has to fill. What would it take for you guys to tick off the “Very Satisfied” box on a survey about your BlackBerry?
Apparently smartphones have topped the list of holiday gift returns according to a 2,000-person survey by Research Now, but that’s not counting the iPhone or BlackBerry. The reason for a wooping 21% return rate from smartphone buyers? Difficulty in set-up. Yep, users can determine pretty quickly if a handheld is something they want to keep or not, and being turned off due to technical issues that early on can apparently wreak huge effects on not only sales, but reputation too. 
Consumer Reports will be busting out their 2008 issue soon, and American carriers are getting 
J.D. Power and Associates, the same folks who did the BlackBerry customer satisfaction survey 
We just took a look at a 
