According to research from CrowdScience when it comes to smartphones, choice is the best way to create loyal consumers.
Unfortunately as CrowdScience points out this also applies to businesses, and the default business phone “the crackberry” may actually be harming the Blackberry brand.
Researcher found that 60% of consumers who had some choice in their smartphone were more likely to be satisfied with the purchase. Only about one-third (35%) whose choice was decided by their company were ‘very satisfied’. Unfortunately for RIM 2 out of 3 companies require their employees to use a Blackberry at work.
“Combine the low satisfaction levels of users of corporate mandated smartphones with the fact that there is a high proportion of these among BlackBerry owners, and you’ve got a key factor in the low overall loyalty we’ve seen in BlackBerry users for the past year,” said Sandra Marshall, Vice President of Research with Crowd Science.
• 45% of all BlackBerry users reported they were ‘very satisfied’ with the device
• 30% of BlackBerry users say they will buy another BlackBerry
• 30% of BlackBerry consumers plan to switch to iPhone
• 20% of BlackBerry users plan to switch to Android or a traditional cell phone
A 45% “very satisfied” satisfaction rate doesn’t sound that bad, until you compare it to the 71% of iPhone and 70% of Android consumers reported being ‘very satisfied’ with the device, and then when you consider that 70% of iPhone and Android users plan to stick with their current brand then it starts to look bad. Then when you look at the number of apps out there for the Blackberry 10,000 – of which only a small percentage (4%) are business related – then you start to despair for the brand.