International Journal of Informative & Futuristic Research ISSN:

Transcription

1 Research Paper Volume 3 Issue 7 March 2016 International Journal of Informative & Futuristic Research ISSN: A Study Of Customer Satisfaction Towards Cellular Service With Special Reference To Vodafone At Aruppukottai Paper ID IJIFR/ V3/ E7/ 073 Page No Subject Area Commerce Keywords Mobile Communication, Customer Satisfaction, Service Provider, Customer Preference 1 st Dr. K. Uma 2 nd R. Ganesh Kumar Associate Professor Department of Commerce Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai Research Scholar & Assistant Professor Department of Commerce S. B. K. College, Aruppukottai Abstract The mobile communication is the life blood for every business activity. In this competitive business scenario each and every activity starts and ends with the customer. Even in this industry there prevails a stiff competition between the service providers. The objective of the study is to study of customer satisfaction towards cellular service with special reference to Vodafone at Aruppukottai. So it is very essential for the mobile service provider to understand the customer preference and the influence of various Demographic variables behind that influence. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of state of affairs as it exists at present. Simple random sampling method is used to collect data. The size of the sample is 150 Vodafone customers and 150 Reliance customers were chosen for the study. The respondents of the study are part of population of Aruppukottai Town. Both primary and secondary data is used. 1. INTRODUCTION Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing. It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as The number of customer, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services exceeds Available online through Published On: March 29,

2 specified satisfaction goals. The modern marketing concept has recognized this right and this reflected in well-known statements like Consumer is king. It would simply put out best product and services in the world and price it below cost. Mobile Communication Overview First mobile telephone service on non-commercial basis started in India on 48th Independence Day at country s capital Delhi. The first cellular call was made in India on July 31st, 1995 over Modi Telstra s Mobile Net GSM network of Kolkata. Later mobile telephone services are divided into multiple zones known as circles. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. Most of operator follows GSM mobile system operate under 900MHz band width few recent players started operating under 1800MHz bandwidth. CDMA operators operate under 800MHz band, they are first to introduce EVDO based high speed wireless data services via USB dongle. In spite of this huge growth Indian telecom sector is hit by severe spectrum crunch, corruption by Indian Govt. officials and financial troubles. In 2008, India entered the 3G arena with the launch of 3G enabled Mobile and Data services by Government owned MTNL and BSNL. Late from November 2010 private operator s started to launch their services. 2. OBJECTIVE OF STUDY I. To study the customer satisfaction of Vodafone service providers. II. To determine the usage of various services. III. Overall response from the consumers about the company. IV. Consumers expectation from a particular service provider 3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Selvaraj and Ganesan1 (2005) had found that a majority of the cell phone user were quite satisfied with the mobile service but they were of the opinion that the billing pattern was not at a satisfactory level. They had perceived that the mobile service were found to be a cheaper mode of communication they were found to have been satisfied with the advertisement made by the mobile phone service providers. Gloria K.Q, Agyapong2 (2011) in his paper had sought to examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in the utility industry (telecom) in Ghana. 4. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY I. Lack of time happens to be another limitations II. Due to time and cost constraints, the study is confined only to 150 samples of respondents. III. This study was taken only for Vodafone customers 2464

3 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY I. Research Design: This is a descriptive research where survey adopted to collect primary information from the Vodafone customers using different scales, and Secondary information for the analysis. Primary Data A questionnaire was prepared and primary data was collected through survey method. Secondary Data Companies website, books and internet customer database. Sample Size: The population being survey was carried among 150 respondents. Population: Population for selecting sampling units of the study includes the investors of the Virudhunagar district II. Sampling Technique Virudhunagar district is the geographical region selected for the research work. The sampling technique used by the researcher is systematic convenient sampling method. The sample size is 150. III. Source & Tool Of Data Collection The source of data collection is primary nature. For collecting data from the sample respondents, the questionnaire was used. IV. Statistical Tools used for the study The data has been mainly analyzed by using the following methods and tests i.) Percentage analysis ii.) Ranking Methods iii.) Mean iv.) Standard Deviation v.) Chi Square Test 6. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION I. Age wise Analysis Sr. No Age Group No. Of Respondents Percentage 1 Below % % % % % 6 Above % The main users of cellular services are falling in the age group of years. But I have felt that there is lot of scope in below 20 and years. Which need to be explored properly with appropriate marketing strategies? 2465

4 II. Influences consumer for Buying Vodafone Services Sl. No. Factors No. of Respondents Percentage 1 Self 33 22% 2 Family members % 3 Friends % 4 Sales person % 5 Advertisement 2 1.3% Consumer himself and their family members and friends are mostly taking the decision at the time of buying the products. III. Consumer Preferences Sl.no Customer preference No. of Respondents Percentage 1 Brand name 12 8% 2 Connectivity % 3 Coverage % 4 Voice clarity 12 8% 5 Call rate % 6 Value Added Service % 7 2G services % 8 3G services % From the above table most of the respondent prefer the Vodafone service to lower or reasonable call rate and next to prefer network coverage are good. IV. Degree Of Satisfaction Of Over Components Of Vodafone Services Sl.no Components Very Good Good Average Bad Very Bad 1 Network 24.67% 32.66% 28% 10% 4.67% 2 Customer care 16% 20.67% 38% 9.33% 16% 3 SMS pack 42% 17.33% 21.33% 8.67% 10.67% 4 GPRS 11.33% 7.33% 25.34% 40.67% 15.33% 5 Free talk time 12% 13.33% 10% 52.67% 12% 6 Festival offer 2.67% 15.33% 46.67% 24% 11.33% 7 3G 17.33% 31.34% 21.33% 19.33% 10.67% 8 Validity 3.33% 8.67% 35.34% 31.33% 21.33% 9 VAS 13.33% 12.67% 51.33% 22.67% 0% 10 Connectivity 10% 31.33% 24.67% 18% 16% V. Opinion about the pricing of the Vodafone services Sl.no Opinion about pricing No. of Respondents Percentage 1 Very High % 2 High 42 28% 3 Economical 54 36% 4 Low 24 16% 5 Very Low % 2466

5 The pricing of Vodafone services is economical. The most of the respondents to choose particular services preferred is pricing is reasonable. VI. Overall Satisfaction Of Vodafone Services Sl. No Services No. Of Respondents Percentage Rating Total Rating 1 Very Good 24 16% 5 24 X 5 = Good % 4 37 X 4 = Average % 3 49 X 3 = Bad % 2 29 X 2 = 58 5 Very Bad % 1 11 X 1 = Then, total Rating / Total no of Respondents = 484 / 150 = weighted Average = 3.23.this implies Vodafone have an average consumer rating which means the satisfaction levels of consumers are average(32.7%). 26.6% of Consumer rating which means the satisfaction levels of Consumer are Very bad and Bad. VII. Switching the Service Provider Sl. No Opinion No. of Respondents Percentage 1 Very Unlikely 27 18% 2 Unlikely 24 16% 3 Neutral 21 14% 4 Likely 30 20% 5 Very Likely 48 32% From the above chart it is clear that of 78 respondents are likely to switch to other service provider, Above 51 respondents do not prefer switching their service Provider and 21 respondents have a neutral stands when it comes to switching their other service provider VIII. Reasons for Switching Sl. No Reasons No. of Respondents Mean S.D Chi-Square test 1 Network Coverage 27 2 Call Cost 36 3 Roaming Charges 12 4 Internet Speed 69 5 SMS Cost 52 6 Friends and Relatives 39 7 Customer Care Service 47 8 Full Talk Time Offer G Services Value Added Service cost 59 The table value of chi-square for 5 d.f at 5% level of significance is16.9. The computed value of chi-square is much greater than the table value. The Hypothesis is 2467

6 rejected. Switching reasons are 3G services are very high and internet speed very high. 7. FINDINGS i.) Due to best network coverage in the Vodafone Industry, users enjoy clear voice quality from Vodafone. ii.) Peoples are indifferent about setting up a grievance redressal cell for the complaint resolution of customers by Vodafone. iii.) For enjoying the interactive services to customers, Vodafone establishes customer relationship management cell. iv.) Connectivity, coverage, call rate and network quality is the most important parameters now a days, without these the company cannot sustained in the market. 8. SUGGESTIONS i.) From this study I suggested, the Vodafone price is reasonable, service is best when compared to other services, easily contact to other. ii.) Advertising campaigns focusing on family members and friends should be aggressively aired so that they can create new customers for the company among their family members, relatives and friends. iii.) Call tariff is the most influencing factor which induced consumers to buy particular mobile phone operators. Therefore, call rates should be made competitive and affordable in order to capture more consumers. 9. CONCLUSION The coming days are very competitive for tele-communicable sector industries. So the companies in the field must be vigilant and competitive for main training and improving the market. The study also reveals that consumers are satisfied with the services offered by their mobile phone operators. Sometimes consumers face problems of poor clarity, call drop and poor network but overall they are satisfied with the services offered to them. 10. REFERENCES [1] Mobile communications by Jochen schiller Second edition. [2] Marketing Research principles, Application and cases by Dr.D.D. Sharma [3] DOT Report [4] Telecom sector Annual Report [5] Selvaraj, V.M and Ganesan Malathi,(2005), A study of Consumer Behaviour towards towards Cell phone Users in Thuthookudi City, Indian Journals of Marketing, May 2005,pp., [6] Gloria K.Q Agyapong, (2011) The effect of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in the Utility Industry - A Case of Vodafone (Ghana), International Journal of Business and Management, Vol.6, No.5,May, pp., [7] [8] [9]