Analysis of Customer Satisfaction in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry in Kenya: a Case of Study of Customers in Mulolongo Area

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is a fundamental marketing construct in the last three decades. In the past, it was unpopular and unaccepted concept because companies thought it was more important to gain new customers than retain the existing ones. However, in this present decade, companies have gained better understanding of the importance of customer satisfaction (especially service producing companies) and adopted it as a high priority operational goal. This study aimed at investigation the overall customer satisfaction of the mobile telecoms industry in Kenya, factors influencing satisfaction and the relationship between satisfaction and demographics. A selfadministered, structured questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents which were sampled out of the 200 customers targeted in the study, there were 160 completed questionnaires representing 80% response and data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Cross tabulation was used to compare the existence of relationship between the firms. Mobile phone companies should think of launching their products according to the need of the customers. Price and network coverage are the two most important components contributing to the customer satisfaction. Customer care service and ease of usage and information access are two other components that are major for satisfaction in the Kenyan industry. This study therefore demonstrates that a successful customer relationship program requires a holisticview of the situation. The service providers in Kenya must realize that apart fromcompetitive pricing; they should vigilantly monitor the core service delivery in term ofsignal quality and network coverage.