• December 2, 2011

According to a new study by the American Marketing Association, customers were more likely to leave a wireless provider after their friend (or friends) left. The analysis of the behavior of more than a million cell phone service customers over a year showed that approximately one-third of them saw at least one of their friends leave their shared service provider. The research also revealed that after that friend or friends left, the probability that the remaining customer would leave rose 80%.

Consumers who were closer to one another (as determined by the volume of communication with each other) were more likely to leave than those who only communicated with the defecting customer infrequently. Loyalty, as defined by the length of time and usage level among customers, also played a factor when it came to reducing churn.