Online customer complaint response strategies and customer satisfaction: case study of Kenyan telecommunications companies

Abstract

This study sought to establish the influence of online customer complaint response strategies on customer satisfaction among telecommunication companies in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to; evaluate private responses, timely responses, and online presence on customer satisfaction among telecommunication companies in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population for the study consisted of 200 employees who work in the morning shift in the customer care department of three telecommunication companies in Kenya namely Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom. The choice of the three companies was due to the fact that they were amongst the first companies in the industry and have a large customer base. This study used a stratified sampling method. The sample size of 30% was used as the sample population. Hence, the number of respondents presented with the questionnaire was 60. The study used primary data collected using a questionnaire since it had the ability to reach a wider number of respondents in less time. A pilot study was conducted to establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The research utilized both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study concluded that online customer complaint response strategies influenced customer satisfaction in the telecommunication industry. Specifically, the study concluded that private responses, timely responses, and online presence were the strategies that influenced customer satisfaction in the telecommunication industry. The researcher further suggests that studies can be conducted to study the various complaints raised by the Kenyan market and calculate the actual response time companies take to respond to the various forms of customer complaints. Further studies can look at the impact of automated responses on customer service compared to personalized responses in the Kenyan market.