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IRC’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013
www.ircjournals.org
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
THE IMPACT OF TELECOM MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
*MS. ANURADHA BHANDARI, **MS. PRABHJOT KAUR ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013
IRC’s INRTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
www.ircjournals.org ISSN: 2320-8236 79
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
THE IMPACT OF TELECOM MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
*MS. ANURADHA BHANDARI, **MS. PRABHJOT KAUR ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013
IRC’s INRTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
www.ircjournals.org ISSN: 2320-8236 80
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
THE IMPACT OF TELECOM MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
*MS. ANURADHA BHANDARI, **MS. PRABHJOT KAUR ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013
IRC’s INRTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
www.ircjournals.org ISSN: 2320-8236 81
*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
THE IMPACT OF TELECOM MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
*MS. ANURADHA BHANDARI, **MS. PRABHJOT KAUR ISSN:2320-8236 VOLUME:1,ISSUE:3 JULY-SEPTEMBER2013
IRC’s INRTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
www.ircjournals.org ISSN: 2320-8236 82
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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