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Sky broadband boasts high customer satisfaction levels in survey

Analyst firm Strategy Analytics today released the results of a broadband satisfaction survey from the fourth quarter of 2008.

The poll questioned “500 UK broadband decision makers” on customer satisfaction levels, churn (how likely they were to defect to another provider) and perceived obstacles to defecting. The survey included results from BT, Carphone Warehouse, Virgin Media, Sky, Tiscali, and Orange.   Other ISPs were said to be used but are not named in the press release.

It found that the majority of Sky broadband customers were either “very” or “somewhat” satisfied, with an overall 87% satisfaction level.

For most customers, the hassle of installation when switching providers was a factor in them sticking to their current provider.

With customers needing some way of differentiating broadband packages, speed was found to be important to customers. The research found that 70% would switch providers for a higher speed package.

Ben Piper, an analyst and Director at Strategy Analytics believes that speed will continue to be a factor in choosing a broadband provider.

“This is particularly relevant in light of Virgin’s recent launch of its 50 Mbps product. In order to stay in the game, competitors will need to quickly and nimbly match or beat the Virgin offering,” said Piper.

Recently, Ofcom released the results of research into broadband performance with 1500 users, which showed that the average broadband speed was often half of the headline speed that was advertised. However, it also found that overall a large majority of consumers were happy with their broadband speed, with only 9% expressing dissatisfaction.

This would seem to indicate that most consumers do not care what the actual speed they are receiving is, rather the most important thing is whether they can do what they want online satisfactorily.

“By and large, people understand the limitations of what they are buying,” says Rupert Wood, Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason.

“They understand that the maximum speed available in their area is dependent on how close they are to an exchange, and/or how many people are online in their area at any time.”

“There are of course ISPs that provide a materially better service than others, but the overall low level dissatisfaction would suggest that accusations of mis-selling have been somewhat over-hyped,” added Wood.