Membership ⋆ Institute of Customer Service

Why join The Institute of Customer Service?

Becoming a member of The Institute demonstrates your commitment to customer service improvement and excellence. Established nearly 30 years ago, we are the UK’s independent professional body for customer experience. We set the standards and help you enhance your business performance through better service.

As a member, you receive dedicated support tailored to your requirements. You gain access to independent research, unrivalled training, and pan-sector knowledge sharing. We work with you – as a critical friend – to enhance your customer experience, providing practical tools to embed excellent service throughout your organisation.

We help you set the right strategy and align your culture, people, and processes to boost productivity and create sustainable value.

Membership includes:

Dedicated client support

Benefit from our dedicated Client Development Directors and Client Delivery Managers to support you in setting and achieving your strategic organisational goals

Unrivalled expertise

Access to comprehensive research and thought leadership in customer service, including our widely recognised UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI)

Networking & events

Be part of our wide range of events and networking opportunities, including our Annual Conference and Awards, exclusive member events and webinars

Professional development

Explore our range of professional & management qualifications to develop customer service skills and professionalise your teams

Benchmarking

Leverage our member-exclusive survey tools such as Business Benchmarking, ServCheck and Trust Index, for assessing and improving your service proposition

Insight consultancy

Turn insight into practical action and develop a deep understanding of your customers’ priorities to improve satisfaction and business performance

Training services

Accelerate your career and develop your skills through our extensive training programmes and development opportunities delivered by our Academy experts

Accreditation

Achieve independent recognition through ServiceMark and TrainingMark accreditation for customer service excellence and training standards

Tailored membership to suit your needs:

Trusted Advisory Network

Perfect your customer service strategy

Perfect for multi-site, national or international businesses, focusing on long-term customer service strategies. Usually for those who have 750-50k+ employees.

Our Trusted Advisory Network members include organisations such as BT, E.ON, NatWest, Network Rail, Sky, Virgin Media O2, Croda and more.

Discovery Roadmap

Elevate your CX from the ground up

Ideal for businesses growing and building their customer service frameworks. Usually for those who have one or three sites in the UK, with 50-750 employees.

Our Discovery Roadmap members include organisations such as Bristol Water, Octopus Energy, Quorn Foods and more.

We also offer individual membership for individuals looking to upskill themselves in customer service and accelerate their career.

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What UK Business Leaders say

Exclusive membership benefits include:

Pan-sector influence

With 350+ members across all sectors, our members gain unique insights on what is happening in customer experience across the UK

Proven track record

We have trained over 18k+ individuals through our qualifications, workshops and courses

Benchmarking tools

Our members receive free tools for an instant assessment of customer service performance against national standards, with 550k+ customers and employees surveyed

Service excellence expertise

We have a deep understanding of what constitutes stellar service, guided by our Service Experience Model – an independent framework to help develop, transform and future-proof customer experience

Policy influence

We are highly active in government and regulatory engagement and run the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Customer Service, advocating for the right policies, legislation and governance for sustainable business growth

Network of excellence

Our members join and maintain a vibrant network of leading companies and public bodies committed to customer service improvement

Member-exclusive resources:

We offer our members a wealth of valuable content, templates and research easily accessed through your member dashboard

Custom research support

As a member, we can provide consultancy services for bespoke research needs, helping you answer your big customer questions

Our member stories:

We are very proud of the success of our members who have driven real transformation into their businesses with customer service excellence. Find out more about their journeys below:

The member’s challenge

Sky sought to address issues related to employee attrition, absence, and customer complaints. The objective was to implement a structured training program to improve overall service quality and operational efficiency.

The impact

Sky’s Aspire Training Programme, accredited by TrainingMark, yielded significant results over 12 months, saving £2.5m. It achieved a 12% decrease in employee attrition, a 0.5% reduction in absence, and a 58% decrease in mis-selling complaints.

The member’s challenge

Scottish Water struggled with customer satisfaction, which was at 60% when they began their engagement with The Institute. They aimed to significantly improve customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

The impact

Scottish Water has seen customer satisfaction soar to consistently 90% or more. Their employee engagement survey, ‘Your Voice,’ now boasts an 80% return rate, with engagement scores increasing from 50% to over 70% in the past 5 years.

The member’s challenge

Openreach faced challenges in improving their customer service standards across various departments. They aimed to develop a cohesive strategy to enhance customer interactions and ensure consistent service quality.

The impact

Through the implementation of a tailored strategy, Openreach achieved notable improvements in service delivery. Key initiatives included focused training programmes and process enhancements, leading to a 1.1% increase customer satisfaction and more effective service operations.

See all success stories

For further information, check out the below:

Success stories