New iGR Study Analyzes the Causes of Churn for U.S. Mobile Consumers

Study Identifies Those Mobile Consumers Likely to Churn, the Reasons They Do So, and How Churn Can Be Triggered


AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - January 05, 2016) - Churn rates, which indicate the percentage of subscribers that end their service, are an important metric used to rate the performance of U.S. mobile operators and are regularly reported in mobile operators' quarterly results. Because the overall number of mobile subscribers is no longer growing in the saturated U.S. mobile market, service providers must lure subscribers away from another provider if they want to grow their subscriber base, and when a subscriber moves from Operator A to Operator B, the churn rate of Operator A obviously suffers.

As churn rates are very important, many in the industry want to know why mobile subscribers churn. How do advertising and promotions, price, customer service, network quality, retail locations, and other non-mobile services offered by a provider affect subscribers' likelihood to stay with or leave their mobile service provider? iGR, a market research consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile industry, has released a new market study that answers these questions.

In addition to looking at the possible causes of churn, iGR's latest market study also analyzes the churn rates for the major U.S. mobile operators, the current churning behaviors of U.S. mobile consumers, such as how long they have been with their current and previous providers, and U.S. consumers' perceptions of the network quality, pricing and customer service of the major operators.

"One of the most important questions surrounding the often-analyzed churn rates is why do consumers churn," said Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR. "Through this study, we wanted to identify trends and specific causes of churn by analyzing mobile consumers' past behavior, as well as look at possible scenarios that might cause churn in the future. In a saturated market like the U.S., mobile operators can only grow their subscriber base by churning customers from competitors."

iGR's new market study, U.S. Mobile Consumers and Churn: Who churns and why? provides an analysis of the causes of churn, a comparison of the major U.S. mobile operators' churn rates, and an overview of the current behaviors of U.S. mobile consumers, such as how long they have been with their current and previous providers. The study also identifies U.S. consumers' perceptions of the network quality, pricing and customer service of the major operators and analyzes how these perceptions might affect their likelihood to churn. The data in the study is based on a web-based survey of more than 1,000 U.S. mobile consumers that iGR fielded in November, 2015.

The following key questions are addressed in the new research study:

  • What are the churn rates of the major U.S. mobile operators?
  • What percentage of U.S. mobile consumers have been with their current service provider for less than one year? More than one year? More than two years?
  • What percentage of U.S. mobile consumers have been with only one service provider?
  • How do advertising and promotions affect U.S. mobile consumers' likelihood to switch providers?
  • How do bundled services, such as AT&T U-Verse and DirecTV, and Verizon FiOS, affect U.S. mobile consumers' likelihood to switch providers?
  • How do U.S. mobile consumers perceive the network quality, pricing and customer service of the major U.S. mobile operators? How could this perception affect their likelihood to churn from their current provider?
  • Why did U.S. mobile consumers who switched operators in the last year do so?
  • Why do U.S. mobile consumers who have stayed with their operator for more than one year do so, and is there anything that might make them change in the future?

The information in this market study will be valuable for:

  • Mobile network operators
  • Wireless and Mobile advertising agencies
  • Mobile service retailers and distributors
  •  Financial analysts and investors.

The new report can be purchased and downloaded directly from iGR's website at www.iGR-inc.com

About iGR

iGR is a market strategy consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile communications industry. Founded by Iain Gillott, one of the wireless industry's leading analysts, in late 2000 as iGillottResearch, iGR is now in its sixteenth year of operation. iGR continuously researches emerging and existent technologies, technology industries, and consumer markets. We use our detailed research to offer a range of services to help companies improve their position in the marketplace, clearly define their future direction, and ultimately improve their bottom line.

iGR researches a range of wireless and mobile products and technologies, including: smartphones; tablets; mobile wearable devices; connected cars; mobile applications; bandwidth demand and use; small cell and het-net architectures; mobile EPC and RAN virtualization; DAS; LTE; VoLTE; IMS; NFC; GSM/GPRS/UMTS/HSPA; CDMA 1x/EV-DO; iDEN; SIP; macro-, pico- and femtocells; mobile backhaul; WiFi and WiFi offload; and SIM and UICC.

A more complete profile of the company can be found at www.igr-inc.com.

Contact Information:

Contact iGR
Iain Gillott