WHAT S ON THE LINE? The Cost of Keeping Cable & Satellite Customers on Hold and The Mobile Opportunity

Transcription

1 WHAT S ON THE LINE? The Cost of Keeping Cable & Satellite Customers on Hold and The Mobile Opportunity

2 INTRODUCTION Your call is very important to us. To anyone who has ever called customer service, these words could not be more familiar. Americans spend hours on hold, so much so that this frustration has become a shared cultural experience. And who are we waiting for? Oftentimes, a cable or Internet service company. The Cable & Satellite industry will likely service over 36 million sales phone calls this year to acquire new customers 1,2. And an estimated 28 million of these of these calls 78 percent will come through mobile connections 4,5. But to capitalize on this growing market, the industry must overcome its reputation for notorious hold times. Yet consumer demand remains high. Once customers are on the line with a representative, they ask questions. They engage. During two weeks in January leading up to the Super Bowl one of America s biggest cable-watching days the average duration of calls from potential subscribers was 43 seconds longer than the average duration from the month of December 6. Given the massive increase in mobile phone calls, we asked the question: What does it truly cost a cable company to keep customers waiting? We found: It could cost more than $100 million per year in lost subscription value.

3 SUMMARY The Cable & Satellite industry fiercely competes for new subscribers across all advertising channels, with most service initiations or changes conducted over the phone. When the phone rings, customers are knocking. The proliferation of mobile devices and the resulting rise of mobile advertising have further fueled the number of mobile phone calls to Cable & Satellite companies. We estimate the mobile performance advertising market for Cable & Satellite companies in 2013 is more than $130 million 7 across all mobile channels, such as search, display and apps. In this study, we aim to help Cable & Satellite service providers understand the opportunity of acquiring new customers through mobile phone calls. We also provide a profile of Cable & Satellite customers and their behaviors so that companies can understand how to better serve them. Key Findings: We estimate the Cable & Satellite industry will receive more than 36 million sales phone calls from prospective customers 1,2. An estimated 28 million of these of these calls will come through mobile connections 4,5. Of these sales calls, we estimate 12% are abandoned due to hold times 3. That implies 4.3 million annual sales calls 3 go unanswered, costing the industry roughly $100+ million potential annual subscription value in a year 5. When customers call, they are invested. The average customer on a sales call may hold for 25 seconds and may talk with a representative for an average of 8 ½ minutes 4. The aggregate modeled profile of Cable & Satellite callers is likely a middle-aged customer living in his/her own home in the suburbs 8. In this competitive industry, consumers actively seek price breaks. 15% of the calls in our sample contain the word discount. THE LOST OPPORTUNITY Marchex found that 12% 3 of Cable & Satellite calls are abandoned due to hold-time roughly THREE times the rate from other verticals, according to a study based on our sample database of 455,600 customer phone calls in 2012 for over 10 advertisers in the Cable & Satellite vertical. ABANDONMENT RATE: CABLE & SATELLITE vs OTHER VERTICALS The combined Cable & Satellite subscriber base is estimated at 140 million+ 1. At the same time, the average monthly churn rate for the industry can be approximately 1.5% to 1.6% 2. This implies that more than 2.1 million subscribers will be looking for new services on a monthly basis. 5% Travel 4% Home (e.g. Pest) 2% Auto 4% Education 12% Cable/Satellite 36 MILLION 4.3 MILLION SALES PHONE CALLS UNANSWERED CALLS Nearly all of these customers will be making phone calls to switch service providers. And about 20% of them call multiple times, according to the Marchex study 4. Marchex estimates that the monthly calls from these 2.1 million switchers would be north of 3 million 4. This implies that the industry will likely service over 36 million sales phone calls this year to acquire new customers. Remember, though, that 12 percent or an estimated 4.3 million of these calls will be abandoned. That s a huge loss for the industry. 3

4 HOLD-TIME DEMYSTIFIED Volume & Hold-time by Hour of Day Our data show some Cable & Satellite customers hold as long as 9 minutes. The average hold-time, however, for sales calls was 25 seconds. For 36 million calls, that would be a total of 10,426 days (or 28 years) YEARS OF HOLD TIME Hold times were more or less consistent across days of the week, with Sunday and Friday seeing slightly longer hold-time. However, contrary to popular belief, we found that callers who dialed up during daily peak-volume hours actually experienced the shortest Indexed Call Volume Seconds hold times. It is likely that call centers are better staffed and better equipped at those times to handle the surge. During the peak-volume hours of 1pm-2pm and 4pm- 5pm, hold-time was only 21 seconds and 22 seconds versus the 25 seconds average Service providers should further study their own customers call center behavior to provide better customer experience during peak hold-time hours and days am 5-6am 6-7am 7-8am 8-9am 9-10am 10-11am 11-12pm 12-1pm 1-2pm 2-3pm 3-4pm 4-5pm 5-6pm 6-7pm 7-8pm 8-9pm 0 In the world of phone-based customer service, each second counts. Number of Calls Avg. Hold Time KNOW THY CUSTOMER Once Cable & Satellite customers are connected to a representative, rich interactions happen. Indeed, a wealth of information flows into the call database. These insights can bring unparalleled opportunities to improve marketing strategies. 1) Who is calling 8? The aggregate modeled profile of Cable & Satellite callers is a middle-aged customer living in his/her own home in the suburbs 8. 2) When do they call and how long do they talk 4? 79% of all the Cable & Satellite calls happen on the weekdays. The daily call volume on the weekdays is 1.5 times the daily call volume on weekends. 74% of all Cable & Satellite calls happen from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Peak-volume hours are from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m 4. On the other hand, the average call duration on the weekends is slightly longer than on the weekdays. For high-quality calls, the average duration is about 8 ½ minutes. 55% are male 50% of the Cable & Satellite calls are from the suburbs At least 41% of the calls come from homeowners 53% of the Cable & Satellite calls come from customers age % PEAK PEAK CALL VOLUME Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat While at least 20% calls come from households with children, 37% come from households without children. 4

5 3) What do customers call about 5? Marchex s proprietary Call Mining technology analyzes product needs and purchase intent. For the Cable & Satellite vertical, we identified a set of keywords to indicate purchase intent and needs. In particular, the presence of appointment or order in the conversation signals high level of intent to purchase. The presence of price or quote signals deep interest. Discount helps advertisers identify the level of need around price discount for services. Customers are typically highly engaged on these sales calls. In our study, 40% of the calls contained either the keyword appointment or order. These calls have a high likelihood of conversion. Meanwhile, 33% of the calls contained either price or quote. These were customers who were seriously considering the service and were possibly price shopping. The word discount appeared in 15% of the calls. Customers are often interested in seeking discounts in order to sign on. THE MOBILE GATEWAY The top channel to drive sales calls for Cable & Satellite industry was Mobile Search, followed by Mobile Display, Voice Search, and Directories. 78% of potential subscriber phone calls come through mobile connections, based on Marchex Call Analytics 4,5. This implies that 28 million of the 36 million potential sales calls this year can be ringing from mobile phones. Therefore, it is crucial for Cable & Satellite companies to have a solid marketing strategy to acquire new subscribers via mobile phone calls. PRICE APPOINTMENT Speed Kindle Bundle Sports Movies ORDER QUOTE DISCOUNT Monthly ipad THE OPPORTUNITY Channels Networks Upgrade Connection Contract Cable & Satellite is a huge and competitive market. Yet its established footprint is under increasing threat from alternative forms of news, entertainment and telecom services. Taking steps to understand customers better is critical for increasing conversions and operational efficiency. Based on Marchex s data insights from this vertical, phone calls are more likely turn into sales when: Customer service representatives on the line are ready to address the benefits of the service and can compare the service provider against competitions and alternatives 5. Customer service representatives proactively identify discount and cross-sell/bundling opportunities for customers i.e. create win-wins rather than lose customers to competitors. Customers can and do price shop 5. Call centers anticipate the peak call volume times and days, and staff appropriately to ensure the best caller experience 4. 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Phone Call Connection Type 78% Channels and lead-generation sources are targeted to match service providers ideal demographic segments. IVR is optimized to identify new acquisition leads separate from existing customer service to increase the rate of conversion and operational efficiency. 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Mobile 22% Non-Mobile If you would like to discuss how to be more efficient in acquiring new subscribers via mobile phone calls, call us at

6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Chen Zhao is a Principal Analyst at the Marchex Institute, the research arm of Marchex, and is an expert in digital advertising analytics. Prior to joining Marchex, Zhao worked on the publisher side at Amazon as well as on the client side at Microsoft. While at Amazon, Zhao led the product management team responsible for Targeting and Analytics products for Amazon s Display Advertising Platform. At Microsoft, she managed end-to-end audience research, analysis and measurement for multi-million dollar global advertising campaigns in the Central Marketing Group. Zhao holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland and an M.A. in Mathematics from Dartmouth College. She lives in Bellevue with her husband and two boys. About Marchex Institute The Marchex Institute is a team of senior analysts and scientists dedicated to improving the digital call advertising industry and mobile advertising campaigns. About Marchex Marchex, Inc. delivers customer calls to businesses and analyzes those calls so companies can get the most out of their mobile advertising. Marchex supports its customers through a unique technology platform that has three primary components: (1) Call Analytics, which powers all of our advertising solutions, and allows partners to leverage data and insights that accurately measure the performance of mobile, online and offline call advertising; (2) Digital Call Marketplace, which annually connects millions of consumer calls to our advertisers from a range of mobile and online sources on a Pay For Call basis; and (3) Local Leads, a white-labeled, full-service digital advertising solution for small business resellers that drives quality phone calls and other leads to their small business advertisers. Notes and References 1. Sources and references for subscriber base estimate: a) There is an estimated total of 60 million cable video customers, 50 million HSI customers and 26 million cable phone customers in the US (SNL Kagan, as of Sept. 2012). b) Cornell University estimated 112 million cable subscribers in Nielson estimates that 90% of Americans have some form of cable subscription. (Cornell University Study The Cable & Satellite TV Industry by Garrity, Newman, Shei and Sordillo) c) Comcast has 50 million cable customers (per 10-Q filing 2012 as of September) with market share of 32% (per Cornell). This also puts total Cable subscriber base at north of 140 million. d) Satellite has a total of approximately over 34 million DBS subscribers (with DirecTV s 20 million subscribers and DISH Network s 14 million subscribers.) [Based on Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association s data] 2. Sources for estimation of Cable & Satellite Churn Rate: a) While DirecTV reduced its monthly churn rate to 1.53% - compared to 1.59% FierceCable, July b) Our average monthly subscriber churn rate for the three months ended June 30, 2012 was approximately 1.6%. As of June 30, 2012, we had approximately 14 million subscribers in the United States. DISH SEC 8-K filing. a _1ex99d2.htm c) DirecTV average monthly churn 2011 in US: 1.56%. SEC S-4 filing. a zs-4.htm d) Multichannel News, May 22, doc/1g html e) Inside Market Research, June, comparison-of-churn-rates.html f) Comparison of Churn Rates. comparison-of-churn-rates/ 3. Based on Marchex proprietary Call Scoring of Cable & Satellite calls, 12% of calls were abandoned due to long hold-time. 4. According to the Marchex Cable & Satellite Industry Analysis based on a sample database of 455,600 customer phone calls for over 10 advertisers in the Cable & Satellite vertical in Based on Marchex internal Call Analytics from 2012, and Marchex proprietary Call Mining tool. 6. Based on Marchex Call Analytics December 2012 and January 2013 for Cable & Satellite vertical. 7. Based on Marchex estimates from all mobile fulfillment channels. 8. Based on modeled demographic profile aggregated at zip code level. Marchex is based in Seattle. To learn more, please visit Marchex Investor Relations Trevor Caldwell, ir(at)marchex.com or MEDIA INQUIRIES Marchex Public Relations Sonia Krishnan, skrishnan(at)marchex.com 6