What is "Most Important" in ISP Marketing?

Most ISPs--whether mobile, fixed or satellite--historically have highlighted speed and price. Whether those attributes are the best ways to compete, or the most relevant attributes of service, is some minor extent debatable. But that is how it often is assumed consumers are evaluating competing offers.

That might not be correct. In fact, one study of U.K. consumers suggests quality and reliability of a broadband connection (36 percent) is the most important factor when selecting a broadband service. That might surprise many observers.

Speed turns out to be the most-important factor for 21 percent of respondents. Price was paramount for just 15 percent of respondents.

A different set of drivers might drive churn, though. “Download speed” is the most important factor for those considering switching.

Some 33 percent of respondents rate “speed”as primary reason for wanting to switch providers.   Fully 64 percent consider it a factor.

But price (47 percent) and service quality (43 percent) also were ranked as key drivers of a desire to change. About 18 percent each said price or service quality were the most-important reasons they were thinking about switching service providers.

So although customer-perceived “service quality” was the single most-important reason for choosing a provider, speed is the single most important element for driving a change of ISPs.

Subjective quality assessments therefore are among the top three reasons for choosing an ISP, or for changing an ISP. Other potential criteria seem seldom used. Few consumers probably buy based on “price per megabyte” or “price per megabit per second.”

It is a truism that products should not be sold on “price alone.” And yet that often happens in markets. Granted, a product must work. But there are many examples of firms leading with price.

Leading with quality is more difficult, as it is hard to quantify in a simple way, and rarely can be evaluated until a single consumer has tried several, or in some times all, the available providers.

Speed has the salient advantage of being quantifiable and easy to understand. Like price, it is quantifiable and easy to understand.

Still, as a practical matter, it is tough to know whether price, speed, reliability, usage caps or other factors are "most important" for an ISP's retail packaging, especially when high speed access is part of a bundle.

Nor is it so clear whether the same attributes are most important for an initial purchase or as drivers of dissatisfaction, leading to churn. In fact, almost by definition, an ISP might agree that price is most important for the "price conscious consumer." Those potential customers might be people who only use the Internet occasionally, and mostly for email, not just budget-minded consumers.

Other consumers--especially those who have used many ISPs in the past, or those experiencing lots of outages--might be especially attracted to a "quality of service" pitch, though it generally is difficult to quantify "quality."

In yet another segment are consumers who have become unhappy with some "speed related" element of their experience.

It is possible a new segment is the "heavy video user," who might need not so much speed, quality or even price but a large usage bucket.

The bottom line is that it isn't so drop dead obvious what the right positioning should be, for any ISP.