POTRAZ enhancing consumer wellbeing through Customer Satisfaction Surveys

The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) is using customer satisfaction surveys in a bid to enhance consumer well-being by availing products and services that meet their needs and wants.

This was revealed by Dr. Gift Machengete, the Director-General of POTRAZ during the organisation’s launch of the 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey in Chitungwiza yesterday.

Dr. Machengete said the importance of customer satisfaction should never be doubted. Consumer satisfaction surveys are a form of research in which you ask your customers for their views on issues that indicate how well or how badly your company is performing.

Satisfaction surveys are a valuable tool for businesses, helping them gain a better understanding of customers’ requirements and concerns. By monitoring customer satisfaction and responding to problems, you can improve customer loyalty and protect revenue and profitability. Consumer satisfaction surveys can assist in determining how consumers feel about an organization’s client service, products, web experience, etc. They can also help organizations get to know their consumers better to effectively communicate with them.

Dr. Machengete said the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) commissioned a nationwide Consumer Satisfaction Survey 2022 for the postal, telecommunications, and courier sectors.

“The survey’s main objective is to help us as POTRAZ to understand how satisfied postal, courier, and telecommunications consumers are with the service they receive from their service providers and The Regulator. This has resulted in the computation of Consumer Satisfaction Indices for the various services that we will use for regulatory interventions aimed at enhancing consumer well-being,” he said.

Below are the results of the survey:

• For courier services, there has been an increase in use by corporates from 38% in 2018 to 60% in 2022. However, there has not been any change in the uptake of these services by households. This calls for aggressive strategies to entice households to embrace courier services. It is important for the sector to note that both households and corporates view delivery time as their top service expectation. FedEx may need to pay more attention to its consumer complaints resolution strategies.
• We learnt that for postal services, the key service expectations are delivery time, pricing, and undamaged parcels. In particular, corporates value speed of service and reliability. Although there are low incidences of complaints, 30% of the raised complaints go unresolved and ZimPost is urged to address this as well as on other key indicators considering that its Consumer Satisfaction Index declined by 0.33% and 5.69% in the household and corporate segments, respectively.

• The use of the internet/data increased in both urban and rural areas. However, household consumers are concerned about connectivity. Network coverage, affordability, and download speed are the top service expectations. For corporates, speed of service, reliability, and attendance to faults are more important. Although Household Consumer Satisfaction Index for Data and Internet Service Providers increased by 10.31 percentage points, the Corporate Consumer Satisfaction Index declined by 5 percentage points between the two periods under review.
• In Fixed Telephone Services, network coverage and quality, affordability, and call success are the top service expectations. TelOne is commented for the positive ratings on voice quality and less call dropout frequency. Engagement with the service provider increased from 53% in 2018 to 70% in 2022 and has witnessed an increase in its Consumer Satisfaction Indices.
• Engagement with Mobile Network Operators increased reaching almost 100%. However, the study has revealed that there is an outcry from household consumers over network performance and call dropout frequency. This is also reflected by the decline in both the MNO’s household and corporate satisfaction indices.
• Awareness of POTRAZ among household consumers declined from 23% in 2018 to 8% in 2022. However, it increased among corporate consumers to 76% in 2022 from 64% in 2018. All the same, there is need for us to do more in Matabeleland South. All in all, POTRAZ Household Consumer and Corporate Satisfaction Indices increased to 59.7% and 63.9%, respectively.

Given these findings, Dr. Machengete said operators are encouraged to revisit their service delivery processes.

“As the regulator, we will work more on increasing awareness campaigns through the various channels as recommended. This, like other activities, would require close collaboration between sector agencies, and ample support from our stakeholders, especially the public, whom we greatly depend on to provide feedback on how we are performing as a sector. Today, we pause to reflect on the results of this study, celebrate what we’ve accomplished, and renew our focus as we seek ways to work with the public to better serve them. I encourage you all to use this feedback to strengthen good practices for our sector.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me finish by emphasising that, as with any other industry, the success of the postal and telecommunications sector depends on a solid foundation based on understanding the people we serve and valuing their feedback. I hope the feedback we have received from the market through the results of this year’s Consumer Satisfaction Survey will offer us a glimpse of what our industry expects of us. As the adage goes: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it. If you cannot control it, you cannot manage it. If you cannot manage it, you cannot improve it”, he added.