A recent Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) study of the telecommunications service provider landscape in Singapore offered up some highly noteworthy points, including just what it is that customers are looking for in telecom services in the country. That in turn is likely to prove quite applicable for telecom providers the world over, and there might even be a couple surprises contained in this report.

The Frost & Sullivan study, titled “Singapore Telecommunications Services Customer Experience”, took a look at the market and discovered that the two biggest factors facing customers in the region were price and subscription plans available. Eighty-three percent of customers responded that service providers were chosen based on these two points.

For those wondering just where customer experience's role in all this was, not to fear; it was indeed a big part of the equation for a lot of consumers; 62 percent of consumers responding noted that the individual customer experience would be the deciding factor in making choices in telecom options.

The survey further revealed that the best customer experience among Singapore telecoms came from M1, followed by StarHub and SingTel (News - Alert). Customer experience ranged, according to reports, from “somewhat positive” to the lower end of “very positive”, and showed—according to Frost & Sullivan partner Nitin Bhat (News - Alert), that there was “ample room” for improvement. Bhat further noted that all companies involved scored at least a three, which indicated that said companies were able to provide “ the minimum levels of customer experience.”

Indeed, there was more room, and the study even offered specifics on how to accomplish that feeling of reward. Only three percent of respondents, roughly, believed that there was sufficiently personalized treatment involved, and companies like M1—which lead the way in customer experience—have offerings involved like special rewards on a customer's birthday or assorted discounts and vouchers. That treatment has paid off in the form of higher customer experience scores, and though customer experience isn't the biggest factor involved in decision making, it's likely to play a substantial role in customer retention.

Some here might wonder how much impact this study might have elsewhere, particularly in the United States, where the choice of telecom provider is often impacted by geographic location rather than customer experience. Indeed, the study illustrates that customers do value customer experience, just not quite as much as the product and its price. A recent study from Convergys (News - Alert) demonstrated this point nicely, showing that customer service—a big part of the overall customer experience—was not the biggest determining factor of customer loyalty. Customers care about what kind of treatment is received from a company, of course, but not quite so much as customers care about getting the best deal and a great product.

That's an important factor to note; in an environment where prices are relatively the same across the entire market, a great place to compete is on the strength of the customer experience. With everyone charging about the same, offering a better product or a better time getting it can make the difference between big sales and shuttered operations.