To 'caller name' or not to 'caller name'?

The ability to see who is calling, either by caller ID or better yet caller name service, is a key component in overall telecom customer satisfaction, according to a new study.

The study – conducted by The Paisley Group and trumpeted by caller name ID data provider TARGUSinfo – evaluated and measured caller name services from the consumer’s point of view. Not surprisingly, customers were most likely to be satisfied if their service displayed the correct calling name while being highly dissatisfied with "out of area" or "unknown" message displays. Consumers typically used the caller name ID to decide whether to answer the call, with younger demographics relying on the service and being even more demanding of its performance than older customers, according to the study.

With all of the advanced services carriers are talking about today, it’s easy to forget the primary importance of caller ID/caller name services. Pressure to cut costs is also high, with many carriers opting for a “just good enough” approach to caller ID services.

That’s not a smart approach, said George Moore, CEO and chairman of TARGUSinfo. “A lot of local exchange carriers and cable companies are making very good money with voice services, but for many legacy incumbent LECs who used to own the landline business, they are cutting service levels to reduce costs, and they’re losing customers," he said. "It’s a shame that landline customers are limiting [caller name] service.”

The fact that younger users and, in particular, mobile users like caller name ID means that carriers that cut corners with the service risk losing their potentially most valuable customers, Moore said, adding that TARGUSinfo’s value proposition is to provide a lower-cost yet still high-quality caller ID data service to help carriers get the best of both worlds. The vendor counts wireless operator MetroPCS among its customers, along with large numbers of cable operators and voice-over-IP providers. Overall, it says it delivers 410 million caller name/phone combinations to more than 200 providers.

While smartphones and other devices with more sophisticated address books are fulfilling a similar caller name ID function for many mobile users, such an approach relies on users to keep those address books up to date. In addition, many service providers are looking to pop up caller name on more devices – such as on the PC or TV – which requires such services be network based.

“We think legacy landline companies are abandoning [caller name] services too soon,” Moore said.

More information on The Paisley Group "2010 Competitive Caller Name Customer Satisfaction Survey" can be found at www.TARGUSinfo.com/CNAMsurvey.