The 2017 UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) has just been published and Amazon has once again retained its overall top position for the third consecutive year in the poll of more than 10,000 shoppers. The Index is published each year by the Institute of Customer Service.
Amazon was followed by First Direct,
John Lewis and Jet2holidays.com, while Subway and Next were joint fifth.
But interestingly,
the cut-price supermarket Aldi has now overtaken Marks & Spencer and
Waitrose as the best performing supermarket for customer satisfaction. The
report noted that Aldi had made the biggest gains among the supermarkets in
sales and market share, while the three supermarkets with the lowest customer
service levels (Tesco, Asda and the Co-op) saw small drops in market share.
Eight of the 20 ‘most improved’
organisations were utilities companies, but the biggest improvement was from
train operator London Midland, which rose 9.1 points to score 80.3 out of 100.
The UKCSI report found that more than
one in four consumers (28%) favoured excellent service, even if it meant paying
more, compared with 15% who always wanted the cheapest deal. This provides
further proof of what we have been saying for a long time on this blog, that
people are prepared to pay more for a product or service if the seller also
provides exceptional customer service.
Jo Causon, CEO of the Institute of
Customer Service said: “Many organisations have woken up to the need to respond
to more savvy, confident customers, who are clear about what they want and what
they will pay for. However, in many cases relationships are too transactional
and organisations are failing to create the sort of relationship that leads to
loyalty, advocacy and sustained business growth.”
“Business leaders need to reflect on
the fact that customer priorities are changing. Failure to do so increases the
risk that organisations will sleep-walk into a situation where the investment
they make in customer service no longer delivers the sort of return that is
necessary for long-term business success.”
The
Top 10 organisations for customer satisfaction according to the 2017 Index are:
1. Amazon.co.uk
2. First Direct
3. John Lewis
4. Jet2holidays.com
5= Subway
5= Next
7= Aldi
7= Greggs
9= Nationwide
9= M&S Bank
9= TheTrainline.com
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2. First Direct
3. John Lewis
4. Jet2holidays.com
5= Subway
5= Next
7= Aldi
7= Greggs
9= Nationwide
9= M&S Bank
9= TheTrainline.com
To see hundreds more articles click here to visit our archive