Customer happier with service says survey |
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| Management - News | |
| Wednesday, 23 January 2008 | |
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Customers are getting happier with the service they receive according to a major new survey. The study was carried out by the Institute of Customer Service as the first in a twice-yearly series for a ground-breaking UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI). It follows a pilot index launched by ICS last June and asked more than 6,000 people to rate how well or how badly companies and organisations in 12 key sectors perform. They focused on customer priorities such as complaint handling, professionalism, quality, delivery time and competence and friendliness of staff. Service excellence Compared with the pilot, overall satisfaction levels show a “welcome and encouraging” increase from a UKCSI from 66 to 69, ICS says. It puts much of the improvement down to the fact that more and more organisations are realising that service excellence is the key differentiator, with the results of the pilot survey perhaps giving a “powerful wake-up call” to providers by showing a direct link between the effect of service on spend and the bottom line. ICS says the organisations measured by the UKCSI showed strong increases in core service areas such as keeping customers informed, delivering on time and treating people as valued customers. “Higher satisfaction with prices – not surprising in view of the growing competition for customers’ shrinking disposable income – also played a part in the UKCSI increase,” ICS executive director Robert Crawford says. He claims the index is proving to be an economic indicator and will become all the more so as it gets bigger, with more of a track record. “Despite the much-publicised credit crunch, most commentators believe there will still be economic growth in 2008 in the UK,” Crawford adds. Consumer spend He believes that the UKCSI figures support this. They show customers are more satisfied, and the more satisfied they are the more likely they are to spend. Crawford points out that consumer spend has a big impact on the UK’s economic health as the majority of GDP in the UK is service related. He cautions, however, that a similar index in the US universally recognised as a key barometer has fallen for the first time in two years, suggesting the US economy is on the decline. “Is this a warning for the UK on the basis that when America sneezes we catch a cold?” Crawford wonders. He adds that the sectors are in almost the same order as in the pilot, proving the consistency and robustness of the survey. Results of the survey are broken down by nation, sector and individual organisations and companies within. Nationally Scotland, top in the pilot, keeps its lead but bottom-placed Northern Ireland has moved to second and pushed England and Wales into third and fourth places, though the ICS says the four are separated only by fractions. Handling complaints The services sector reinforces its place as the top performing sector, having an index of 76, with retailers, car companies and financial services all performing well in the top half of the UKCSI. Telecoms and local government remain rooted at the bottom of the league table, however, with telecoms on 63 and local government on 58. Both sectors perform particularly badly when it comes to handling complaints, with people grumbling that staff showed lack of interest, were dismissive and too ready to pass them on to someone else. The star individual performer is the Ambulance Service, which still leads the field across all sectors with an “exceptionally high” 92. Audi (87) and First Direct (85) each lead their own sector and John Lewis does particularly well with its stores (89) leading the retail, non-food sector and Waitrose (85) at the top of the supermarkets. Related articles
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