Over the past year the percentage of businesses who churn and change their ISPs has remained fairly static. 2008 however will be a more interesting time for those operators as a growing number (27% up from 23% in 6 months) of their customers say they are fairly or very likely to change broadband supplier in the next half year.
Top of the list is cost. As broadband charges continue to decline companies are looking to take advantage of their contract cycles to sign up for the more cost effective deals on offer today. Almost 40% of potential churners point to high prices as their single most important reason for moving.
Then come customer service, quoted by 13%, and quality of service at 19% of businesses citing these as the main reasons they want to switch supplier.
According to Point Topic’s data those most likely to change are currently using leased lines, frame relay, satellite and even fibre which have traditionally been at the higher cost end of the broadband scale. Perhaps some cost/benefit analysis models are starting to indicate that upgrading older legacy systems is now a fiscal plus. Business users of these broadband technologies are by far the most likely to churn.
AOL, Be and the Carphone Warehouse group ( including OneTel and TalkTalk brands) have the most restless customer base according to the survey, while at the other end of the scale Orange deserves particular mention for the largest percentage reduction in users likely to churn since the previous survey BBUS: Business Survey 2.