Customer Retention Strategies by mobile phone Service providers in Zimbabwe: Case of Masvingo City

Abstract

Customer retention is the hallmark of Relationship Marketing, which is the current buzz word and it is the basis of sustainable competitive advantage. In the context of heightening global competition, customer retention is the way to hedge a firm's market from competition. It is five times cheaper to market to retained customers than to acquire new customers. The purpose of this research is to analyze the retention strategies used by the Zimbabwean mobile phone service providers and determine factors that cause customer retention for Zimbabwean mobile service providers. A survey was conducted on 120 subscribers from the three mobile network subscribers using structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS. Likert scales and descriptive data was used to determine frequencies. Chi-square was used to establish the relationship between retention variable factors and the customer category to establish the major determinants of retention.The Chi-square was obtained at 95% confidence level and at 68 degree of freedom. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to establish the relationship between the independent variable (retention factors) and dependent variable (customer satisfaction.)The results confirm that the variable factors observed have a positive impact on customer retention in the Zimbabwean mobile phone industry.