Smartphone service centers in India carry out repairs and return it to users within a day for roughly three out of four visitors, according to findings of Counterpoint’s Consumer Lens Study. Typically, users visit service centers for issues related to display, software, charging, and sound. Customer service has become a key factor in purchase decisions for a smartphone. It also helps build long term customer loyalty. Despite this, structured research on the quality of customer service in India remains limited. Discussing the findings, Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, said, “After-sales services have become a key factor to influence the purchase decision for users buying new smartphones. With brands now expanding their channel strategy, having a strong after-sales service will play a major role, not only in targeting repeat buyers but also for ensuring loyal and happy customers. In our study, OPPO led this segment by becoming a leading brand in smartphone after-sale service delivery, which includes submission, turnaround time, and collection of devices at its service centers. This is likely to help OPPO to increase its mind share within its target group in terms of overall after-sales services in India.” OPPO is the quickest in after-sales service delivery with 51% of the issues fixed within an hour. Wait time was the lowest for OPPO’s service centers, both for submission and collection. Three in every four visitors had to wait for less than 30 minutes to resolve their issues, while one in two visitors had to wait for less than 30 minutes to collect their devices.

Exhibit 1: Percentage of Service Completion in One Hour

Resolution of issues at the first go and the least number of visits required for the same issue, are the two main parameters that indicate the efficiency of the service center engineer in correctly diagnosing a problem and providing resolution. This is directly proportional to timely training provided to service engineers for keeping them updated with knowledge of the latest model’s software and hardware variations. It helps them accelerate fault diagnosis and complaint resolution. OPPO emerged as the leader with 85% of current visitors getting their issues resolved. Xiaomi and Vivo tied for the second rank in this metric. Six out of ten respondents said that the parts required for the service were available at the service center. In cases where parts had to be ordered, almost 80% were ordered within three days. Once the product is out of warranty, the service costs can quickly escalate and affect the overall customer satisfaction. Almost 31% of all smartphones submitted were out of warranty, and most of these respondents paid for the spare parts required. In most cases, respondents found it to be cost-effective. Language localization is an important factor when it comes to providing after-sale customer support. After further research on customer support, we concluded that Xiaomi has ten language support, where Oppo has nine language support provided by its hotline call centers. The other two leading brands Samsung and vivo support four and two languages respectively.

Exhibit 2: Language Support by Hotline Call Center

Commenting on future opportunities, Pavel Naiya, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, “There is a huge untapped opportunity for brands to promote their services, like extended warranty, and selling smartphone accessories to existing users during their service visit. Xiaomi took the lead in the promotional offers, as more than half of the respondents received promotional offers from this brand.” Pavel further added, “The customer satisfaction parameter depends on multiple factors. In this study, we also found that the satisfaction level highly correlates with interpersonal skills of service center staff. Vivo led in this metric with more than eight in ten respondents rating the behavior of the service center representatives as ‘very good’ and above. OPPO and Samsung closely follow Vivo, while Xiaomi is a distant fourth.” Disclaimer: This is a sponsored survey, conducted by our Consumer Lens research practice, to help brand measure its service center and after-sales support effectiveness. Counterpoint Research conducted this study across six key Indian cities (Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Jaipur), with a sample size of ~1000 respondents who completed after-sales service by visiting exclusive/authorized service centers of top four smartphone brands. Background: Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in detailed industry analysis of the TMT sectors. It services major technology firms and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects, and detailed analysis of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are experts in the industry with an average tenure of over 15 years in high tech industries. Analyst Contact: Pavel Naiya Tarun Pathak