There is a potential $53 billion of revenue at play in the market represented by the so-called switching economy in Malaysia, according to research released by Accenture.
The company said this was due to most Malaysian companies' failure to keep their customers from switching service providers even if 98% of consumers are using at least one digital channel to search for information via highly-influential corporate sites.
The findings are published along with the ninth annual Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Survey, which covered 12,867 customers in 32 countries and across 10 industries, including 1,027 industry respondents from Malaysia.
Results show that in the past year, 79% of Malaysian consumers switched service providers due to poor customer service experiences. For these customers, both "price" and "customer service" are the main factors when selecting new providers.
Also, just 19% are satisfied overall with their existing service providers and only 17% of customers find that their providers are very effective at delivering convergence between traditional and digital interactions.
Further, 73% of switchers are driven by price when considering new providers, putting Malaysia well above the Asia-Pacific average of 67%.
Additionally, 72% of consumers who switched say companies could have done something to prevent them from switching - with contact resolution being a significantly influence on their decision to switch (52%).
Moreover, about 94% of the consumers read about companies' products and services on social media sites and close to 46% do it several times a week.
"Low levels of customer satisfaction and changing customer behaviors in the digital marketplace are driving the switching economy that presents opportunities as well as threats," said Joon Seong Lee, managing director of sales and customer services at Accenture ASEAN.