Internode tops 90% in Roy Morgan customer poll
In the latest Roy Morgan Internet Satisfaction data, which covers the period July-December 2009, Internode gained a customer satisfaction level of 90.3 per cent - well ahead of much larger broadband rivals OPTUSnet (78.7 per cent) and Telstra BigPond (66.1 per cent).
Internode was the only broadband provider in the survey to exceed 90 per cent. As well as topping Roy Morgan's February Internet Satisfaction report, Internode's recent customer successes include:
- Being voted Australia's most reliable Internet Service Provider in the 2009 Australian Broadband Survey, which was completed by more than 23,600 consumers (March 2009)
- Selection as the Emerging Broadband Service Provider of the Year in the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Australia Best Practices Awards (November 2009) and
- Topping a biennial ISP customer satisfaction survey by consumer advocacy group Choice (November 2009).
Internode is Australia's largest privately owned broadband service provider, with more than 450 employees and 180,000 customers nationally using its internationally-linked IPv6-enabled network.
Internode CEO Patrick Tapper said this latest success demonstrated Internode's commitment to keeping its customers satisfied. "In a market where the number of new broadband customers is decreasing, success is determined by how happy your customers are with your performance," he said.
"Internode's single largest source of new customers is referrals from existing customers, so it's gratifying to have that internal measure validated by Roy Morgan's research. However, we are not taking this achievement for granted. We have embarked on a four-year $4 million overhaul of our customer care systems, so we are working hard to further improve what customers already like about Internode."
One example of Internode's customer-friendly service is a web-based system that provides callers with real-time access to telephone call wait times for its departments, allowing them to place their calls during low-demand periods.
In a statement on its website, Roy Morgan Research Director Client Services Howard Seccombe said the 25.2 per cent gap in customer satisfaction between the best and worst performers was higher than other service industries measured by Roy Morgan Research. “It shows no signs of decreasing," he said.
"Unfortunately, since Telstra BigPond has dominance and sizeable share of the Internet market, the average industry customer satisfaction will not increase significantly until Telstra BigPond lifts its game or if perhaps the smaller players are able to substantially increase their market shares. It appears these smaller players are doing something right to garner such high ratings and, if they can leverage on this, they just might be able to create a dent in the market leader's dominance."
