Make sure your technology helps in the right way
July 15, 2010Gil Scott Heron and the Net Promoter Score
July 19, 2010
Customer satisfaction is a favourite topic of mine so I was excited when earlier this month the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) published the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), a bi-annual survey which surveys a representative sample of 26,000 UK adults. The sample consumers are asked to rate a wide range of organisations across various sectors on factors they consider the most important in customer satisfaction and, also, on any complaints they’d made and how the organisation handled them. The ICS research found that the top ten priorities for consumers in terms of customer satisfaction are:
- Overall quality of the product or service
- Being treated as a valued customer
- Speed of service
- Friendliness of staff
- Handling of problems and complaints
- Handling of enquiries
- Competence of staff
- Ease of doing business
- Being kept informed
- Helpfulness of staff
The headlines of the latest (July 2010) customer satisfaction survey were:
- The overall customer satisfaction index score rose slightly from January 2010 to 75.6 out of 100
- The utilities sector is at the bottom but has improved the most
- The automotive sector is consistently good
- Retail is the best at complaints handling
- 8% of consumers expect companies to have a Twitter presence, 14% expect a Facebook page
- 55% of customers expect a response to an online complaint within a day, 10% within hours
From the latest research, the ICS found that the heroes of UK customer satisfaction are:
- John Lewis
- Waitrose
- Lloyds Pharmacy
- SAGA Holidays
- Virgin Holidays
- Marriott
- Marks & Spencer (food)
- Boots
- First Direct
- Marks & Spencer (general)
You can find the Executive Summary of the Customer Satisfaction Index results here and you can find the heroes in each sector here.
I think it is important to note that with this Customer Satisfaction survey is consumer focused and does not deal with business to business transactions. However, the general, important lessons for all businesses for me are:
- Not many consumers expect the businesses they do business with to have a social media presence. This is more important for younger consumers than older generations and will become more important over time. It’s all about how your consumers communicate and this will change over time. Be ready to change.
- The majority of people expect a rapid response when they make a complaint. How responsive are you?
- Seven of the ten satisfaction priorities identified can be directly linked to how your team communicates and treats your customers.
Do these results correspond to your experience? Who are your heroes?
Thanks to bizior for the image
6 Comments
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Are your heroes represented in this new UK Customer Satisfaction Research ? http://bit.ly/bZ2cll
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