Verizon is doing something better than its rivals to retain customers, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).
CIRP looked at the carrier usage data from its regular smartphone surveys and found that Verizon is leading in customer retention this year, with 90% of its customers staying put versus AT&T with a customer retention of 84%.
Further, CIRP found that Verizon does a better job at picking up new customers and limiting churn of its existing customers. Verizon picked up 20% of its customers from rival carriers versus AT&T picking up 17%.
Besides offering good service, what is Verizon doing to get these customers?
CIRP found that Verizon's secret is controlling the customer experience. Only 25% of Verizon's smartphone customers sign up for Verizon outside of its stores or its website. AT&T, on the other hand, has 37% of its customers outside of AT&T stores or its website.
Oddly, CIRP's Michael Levin told us that he thinks Verizon got better at selling smartphones to customers, and keeping customers because of the iPhone. For a long time, Verizon didn't have the iPhone. This forced it to be strategic and good at selling itself to customers interested in fleeing to AT&T for the iPhone. As a result of those defensive skills, it now retains customers better than its biggest rival, according to CIRP's data.
Further, AT&T customers got accustomed to walking into the Apple store and buying an iPhone. Apple doesn't really care which carrier you're on. So, as soon as it had multiple carriers to offer, AT&T had less influence over its customers.
