A STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF AIRTEL SERVICE IN MANNARGUDI TOWN

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1 A STUDY ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF AIRTEL SERVICE IN MANNARGUDI TOWN R.SUBHA.,M.Com.,M.Phil., Department of commerce, Prist university,thanjavur, Mail Dr.R.SELVARAJ, M.Com, M phil,phd, Head of the department of commerce Prist university,thanjavur. ABSTRACT The project entitled a study on customer satisfaction towards Airtel in Mannargudi town " is carried out with an objective to determine the consumer preference and satisfaction. A descriptive study was conducted to achieve the objectives. In total 100 respondents filled a well-structured questionnaire having a list of statements pertaining to products, services & facilities provided by the service provider. The main objective of the study was to know how the customers of AIRTEL Broadband perceive its Services in Mannargudi are satisfied with the services provided by AIRTEL and also to identify the factors affecting the preferences of the customers Results reveal that the dimensions which influence the satisfaction level of customer s are: Core services (like good coverage, good connectivity and network quality) and call rate. Further results show that there is a significant relation between the brand name and the preference of customers. Hence, it has been recommended that telecom companies should focus on connectivity, call rate, coverage and network quality. KEYWORDS: Airtel, Comparative study, Customer satisfaction, Mobile connection. theory, but is a very crucial economic fact.in the current business scenario the use of customer Relationship Management (CRM) is quite common and critical and customer retention is the primary goal in firms that practices. In the light of the important of customer relationship and customer retention,it is very crucial for the companies in any business domain to know what actually drives the customer satisfaction.as the cellular industry in India is one of the fastest growing sectors it is important and interesting to explore the drivers of customer satisfaction in this industry. MARKETING: Marketing is process of planning and executing the conception,pricing,promotion and distribution of ideas,goods and services to create exchange that satisfy individual and organization. DEFINITION: Marketing is specifically concerned with now transaction are created stimulated, facilitated and valued. INTRODUCTION Telecommunication companies also talk of CUSTOMER & CONSUMER: their customer being most important assets, just like A consumer is the most important visitor in companies in other business domains but rarely are business premise /service institution. this reflected in a company s strategy and operations He is not dependent on the businessman or.the customer of telecom services,like cellular person rendering services we are dependent telephony are moving ahead with times and have on him started buying cellular services just like daily house A customer is a person who brings us his hold items such as tooth paste. Therefore it is wants.it is our job handles them profitably necessary in today s business scenario to understand to him and ourselves. the fact that the idea of customer being a company s most important assets is not just a management 1

2 6Types of customers Customers can be classified into two main groups: internal and external. Internal customers work for the organization, possibly in another department or another branch. External customers are essentially the general public. Internal customers People working in different departments of the vendor s organization. People working in different branches of the vendor s organization. External customers Individuals Businesses or business people, including suppliers, bankers and competitors. NGOs, Government bodies, Voluntary organizations. Customer satisfaction is a business term which is used to capture the idea of measuring how satisfied an enterprise s customers are with the organization s efforts in a market place. The organization provides products (goods and/or services) of some kind to its customers through the mechanism of a marketplace. The products that organization provides are subject to competition whether by similar product6s or by substitution products. The reason an organization is interested in the satisfaction of its customers is because customers purchase the organization s products. Te organization is interested in retaining its existing customers and increasing the number of its customers. General model A general model of the buyer decision process consists of the following steps: Want recognition; Search of information on products that could satisfy the needs of the buyer; Alternative selection: Decision-making on buying the product; 2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 1. To study the socio demographic characteristic of the respondent. 2. To identify the customer satisfaction of Airtel services in Mannargudi town. 3. To study the customer s awareness regarding life time prepaid mobile connection. 4. To analyses the customer opinion regarding product, price and promotion activities an variousschemes. 5. To give suitable suggestion to Airtel service. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The present research analysis his a wide scope.it covers various aspects which are useful in several ways to various people. It helps to find out the leading cellular service provides in Mannargudi at present. It show the various for selecting a particular cellular service. METHODOLOGY PRIMARY DATA: With the aim of formal questionnaire with personal face interview the researcher had gathered the data for this project.this first part of the questionnaire deals with the personal characteristic of the respondents.the second part of the questionnaire deals with the respect to cellular services. SECONDARY DATA: The secondary data are these data or information collected from the secondary sources.there secondary sources. There secondary sources may be both internal as well as external in chapter.the internal source refers to information that already exists within the company or unit studied.the sources may consist of both private and public document.it may be published or unpublished in nature. RESEARCH DESIGN:

3 Descriptive research studies are these studies which are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual or of a group whereas diagnostic research studies determine the frequency with which something occurs on its association with something else. In descriptive as well as diagnosis studies, the research must be able to define clearly what he wants to measure and most. Find adequate methods for measuring it along with a clear cut definition of population he wants to study.since the aim is to obtain complete and accurate information in the studies the procedure to be carefully planned. In this research the research her has adopted descriptive cum diagnostic research design. Area of the study: The selection of the study area is Mannargudi town.this study is conducted in Mannargudi Town.it is a historically renowned town in thiruvarur District. The town has a population of about and an area to 04.6 square miles as per the municipal records.it has a large number of commercials establishment, educational institutions and offers, nationalized and scheduled bank. People of different religious and caste live in this town. The research realized more primary data 100 respondents were selected of random sampling techniques so as to give representation to different classes of people.the collected information from the respondent s interview schedule was used.the collected data were scrutinized, edited and tabulated for presenting the data in an orderly manner. LIMITATION OF STUDY: 1. The study is confined to 100 respondents only. 2. The study is restricted to Mannargudi town only due to cost and time constraints. 3. The information provided by the respondents is spontaneous and they may not be consistent. CHAPTER SCHEMES: First chapter deals with introduction of the study. Second chapter deals with review of literature. Third chapter deals with the company profile Fourth chapter deals with data analysis and interpretation. Fifth chapter deals with findings, recommendation and conclusion. LITERATURE REVIEW Debarun Chakraborty (2013), in his article determined the customer satisfaction & expectation towards a telecommunication company in West Midnapore which is a district of West Bengal. A descriptive study was conducted to achieve the objectives. In total 250 respondents filled a wellstructured questionnaire having a list of statements pertaining to products, services & facilities provided by the service provider. Further results show that there is a significant relation between the brand name and the preference of customers. Hence, it has been recommended that telecom companies should focus on connectivity, call rate, coverage and network quality. J. Pakola, M. Pietila and R.Svento12 (2003) in their article titled, An Investigation of Customer Behaviour in Mobile Phone Markets in Finland have indicated that price and properties are the major influential factors affecting the purchase of a new mobile phone, whereas audibility, price and friends are regarded as the most important in choice of the mobile phone operators. He has stated that customers with prior experience about a product can be able predict their choices relatively well but tend to overestimate the importance of a monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile rates and connection fees. P.Chandiran17 (2005) in his article entitled, Product Life Cycle and Promotion Strategies in Cellular Telecom Industry brings to light the various promotion strategies followed by the cell phone services during the growth stage. Brand building, emotional bondage and mass media are the effective advertising strategies adopted as promotional tools. 3

4 As sales promotion strategies, the schemes, tariff plans, event sponsoring, special package for the corporate world, and co-promotion should be given importance during the growth stage of the cell phone services. In the personal selling process, the suitable strategies to be followed are focused personal selling and corporate accounts strategy. Munnukka and Juha23 (2005) in their article titled, Dynamics of Price Sensitivity among Mobile Service Customers have stated that customer satisfaction is a multi-dimensional nature and viewed overall satisfaction as a function of satisfaction with multiple experiences with the service provider. He has discovered that price sensitivity is one of the key factors affecting companies choices of prices. Yet in mobile services sector business, practitioners are facing problems in deciding prices as they are short of knowledge on their customers' price sensitivity levels and dynamics. Mobile service customers differ significantly in their price sensitivity levels and customers with moderate usage of mobile services are least price sensitive. Debarun Chakraborty (2013), in his research investigated the customer satisfaction & expectation towards a telecommunication company in West Midnapore which is a district of West Bengal. A descriptive study was conducted to achieve the objectives. services & facilities provided by the service provider. Results reveal that the dimensions which influence the satisfaction level of customer s are: Core services (like good coverage, good connectivity and network quality) and call rate. Further results show that there is a significant relation between the brand name and the preference of customers. Hence, it has been recommended that telecom companies should focus on connectivity, call rate, coverage and network quality. Seth et al (2008) analyzed that there is relative importance of service quality attributes and showed that responsiveness is the most importance dimension 1. Mobile Services followed by reliability, customer perceived network 2. Airtel Telemedia Services quality, assurance, convenience, empathy and 3. Enterprise Services. tangibles. Customer satisfaction is a personal feeling Company history of either pleasure or disappointment resulting from As soon as the telecom industry opened to the evaluation of services provided by an private sector investment beginning 1994,a large 4 organization to an individual in relation to expectations. Service providers frequently place a higher priority on customer satisfaction, because it has been seen as a prerequisite to customer retention. Buvaneswari and R. PrakashBabu67 (2013) in their article entitled, Study on Customer Satisfaction towards Cellular Service with Special Reference to Aircel at Mannargudi Town have found that telecommunications companies also talk of their customers being their most important assets like companies in other business domains. Aircel cellular service in Mannargudi Town the subscription by the people is satisfactory and is steadily increasing. The company has wider scope in the market of cellular service by extending its value added services, according to preference of the respondents. COMPANY PROFILE Bharti Airtel Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group, has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU s)

5 number of Indian companies entered the segment with varying force, different strategies, and assorted aspirations; Bharti Airtel was one of the first comers, which in times to come was going to be the Numero Uno storywriter of The Great IndianTelecom story. Bharti Airtelsince its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services Bharti Airtel Limited ( Bharti ), Asia s leading telecommunications service provider announced that it has entered into a legally binding definitive agreement with Zain Group ( Zain ) to acquire Zain Africa BV based on an enterprise valuation of USD 10.7 billion. Bharti Airtel makes Facebook s mobile site free for its 130 million plus customers. Analysis And Interpretation Table 1 Of Education Qualification Qualification Illiterate 4 4% SSLC/HSC 4 4% Degree 84 84% Professional 8 8% This table reveals that 84% of respondents are degree holders, 8% of the respondents are professional, 4% of the respondents are SSLC-HSC levels, 4% of respondents are illiterate are used airtel mobile connection. It can be understood that degree holders are using airtel service higher than other levels Chart 1 Of Residence Locality Table 2 Classification Of The Respondents Prefer The Mobile Connection Prefer Mobile Easy connection 52 52% Economical 4 4% High quality & compact 28 28% Mobility 16 16% 16 This table reveals that 52% of respondents are prefer easy connection, 28% of respondents are prefer high quality & compact,16% of respondents in the mobile. Airtel connection prefer mobility,4% of respondents economical connection. It can be observed that the 4 5

6 airtel service are preferred by more due to respondents its easy connection. Above 5 year 20 20% Table 3 Of Preferring The Airtel Brand Preferring The Airtel Brand Brand image 32 32% High storage capacity 20 20% Wide coverage 16 16% Easy recharge method 32 32% From the above table tells with is preferring the brand name of the Airtel, 32% of the respondents preferring this brand image, 32% of the respondents preferring this easy recharge method, 20% of the respondents preferring this high storage capacity, 16% of the respondents of them wide coverage Table 4 Of Year Using The Brand Airtel Using The Brand Below 1 year 12 12% 1-3 year 40 40% 3-5 year 28 28% The table reveal that 40% of respondents are using this brand of Airtel 1-3 years, 28% of respondents are using 3-5 years, 20% of respondents are using above 5 years, 12% of respondents are using this brand Airtel below one year. Chart 3 Classification Of The Respondents By Nature Of Airtel Mobile Connection Facility Table 5 Classification Of The Respondents Based On Preferring The Airtel Connection Preferring The Airtel Connection Tower facility 48 48% SMS 20 20% Minimum cost 16 16% 6

7 Customer care 16 16% This table reveals that 48% of respondents are prefer this airtel tower facility, 20% of respondents are using SMS facility, 16% of respondents are prefer this airtel minimum cost, 16% of respondents are Customer care airtel services. Most at the respondents prefer this service because of its tower facility. Chart 4 Of Continuation Of Airtel Service Female Total Null Hypothesis(HO): There is no significant difference between the opinion Gender and satisfied for using Airtel service of the respondents (O) (E) (O-E) (O-E 2 ) (O-E 2 ) / E Yes 8 No CHI-SQUARE TEST Association between gender and satisfied for using airtel service of respondents Null Hypothesis: There is no different Gender Highly Moderately Dissatisfied Total TOTAL Satisfied Satisfied Source: Complied by the researcher Male Chi-square test (O E)2 E 7

8 O-Observed Frequency E-Expected Frequency Degree of Freedom (V) = (R 1) x (C-1) = (2-1) x (3-1) = (1) x (2) = 2 Chi-square table value at signification level for 2 degrees of freedom ins 5.99 Result: Since the table value is higher than the calculated value the null is less than the calculation value the hypothesis is rejected. so it is true that there is no significant association between gender and satisfied for using airtel services. FINDINGS 1. Majority (84%) of the respondents are degree holder. 2. Majority (80%) of the respondents are from rural area using Airtel mobile connection. 3. Majority (52%) of the respondents are prefer this mobile easy connection best network and effort able tariff. 4. Majority (32%) of the respondents are of friends Airtel services. 5. Majority (32%) brand image and easy recharge method the respondents prefer this collection of them used Airtel brand. 6. Majority (40%) of respondents are using Airtel brand for more than 1-3 years. 7. Majority (68%) of respondents says prepaid scheme is better and it is convenient. 8. Majority (48%) of the respondents prefer this connection for its maximum service with tower facility. 9. Majority (52%) of the respondents feel that the Airtel mobile connection is good quality. 10. Majority (92%) of respondents are willing to continue with the present mobile connection in future also. SUGGESTION Airtel mobile company has to improve the awareness of its service. If the Airtel company wants to get more market share, it has to adopt required marketing strategy to overcome, Airtel, and BSNL and Reliance. More numbers of Airtel user feel that starter pack amount for getting a mobile connection is average but in the case of Airtel it is high so the Airtel company has to reduce its starter pack amount to increase its customer. Some respondents feel that the scheme available in Airtel mobile service is at its satisfactory level. So the Airtel mobile connection should maintain its brand image, strategy and polices. From the study I suggested the Airtel price is low service os best when compared to other cell connection easily contract to other. The Airtel services is given low price offer to contract another phone and also given friends number they get more sales in the market and improve more service is better in the marketing. CONCLUSION From the study on this report it is seen that launch of Airtel cellular service in mannargudi town the subscription by the people is satisfactory and steady increasing. Majority of subscribes have expressed better service provided by Airtel cellular service but the service by the franchisee is average. The sales executives should be motivated to improve the service and get tough with the respondents. The rate of income respondents is lower than the rate of outgoing respondents. The company should take several steps to eliminate the default which results in loss of respondents. The company has wider scope in the market of cellular service by extending its value added services, 8

9 according to the preference of the respondents. The market in mannargudi is still in an expending phase. The market is not saturated, however the changing of tariff rates and low awareness level is making it difficult for the company to maintain a constant growth rate. It has been also observed the Airtel can gain more number of customers by widening its area of coverage. From this study of them given the conclusion the price is low service is best so we likely to by Airtel connection. REFERENCE 1.Kotler, Philip (1999); Marketing Management, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. Saxena, Rajan (2003); Marketing Management, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi. Kazmi & Batra(2008); Consumer Behaviour, Excel Books, New Delhi. Ravi Shanker (2007) "Services Marketing: The Indian Perspective", Excel Books, New Delhi. Pratibha B. Munot (2002), Study Of Telecommunications Structure In India, Oklahoma State University, M.S. in Telecommunication Management Program. Shanthi N.M. (2005), Effectiveness of Predictive Churn Models for sustaining market share in telecom industry An Appraisal, ICFAI Journal of Services Marketing, September Bebko and Charlene Pleger (2002), Service Intangibility and Its Impact on Consumer Expectations of Service Quality, Journal of Service Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 2, Carsten Fink, Aaditya Mattoo and Randeep Rathindran (2001), Liberalizing Basic Telecommunications: The Asian Experience, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper