It was a pleasure to welcome many of you to the in-person launch of our latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) this week. Hearing about the work that goes on across our member base to drive forward the service agenda is always inspiring.
Thank you to Sainsbury’s for hosting us and to our fantastic panellists – Sainsbury’s CEO, Simon Roberts, and CEO of first direct, Chris Pitt, for sharing their insights and experiences around leading through service and demonstrating the value a genuine passion for the customer can bring. I hope this new event left you full of ideas for your own organisations, too!
Turning to our discussion, the latest UKCSI paints a mixed picture. On the one hand, we’ve seen a welcome fall in the number of customers experiencing a service-related problem with an organisation. However, across the UK economy, service levels remain below where they need to be. Flat performance is the headline, while service failures continue to be a drain on budgets and a drag on productivity.
So, against a challenging and largely stagnant economic backdrop, what do our latest findings tell us about the state of the Service Nation and the relationship between customer satisfaction, productivity, growth and sustainable business performance?
The state of the Service Nation
Customer satisfaction remains largely unchanged at 76.1 out of 100 – just 0.1 points higher year-on-year. Failures to get service right first time still present a significant challenge, costing businesses £7.3bn per month – an average of 4 days in lost productivity for each full-time employee.
As we all know, budgets are under severe pressure. And with that, understandably, comes a temptation to prioritise short-term savings over long-term investment.
However, according to this month’s UKCSI, over 20% of customers have increased their spend with an organisation because of the service they received, while nearly a third (31%) of customers prefer excellent service, even if it costs more.
This shows us that thoughtful investment in enhancing our service offering and customer experience can be a key factor in curbing the cost of these failings and, consequently, in driving sustainable business growth.
Improved service levels for stable economic growth
Improving service levels is not only crucial for businesses – it’s vital for the economy. With that, getting issues fixed swiftly and limiting service failures must be a priority for organisations.
This means taking a holistic approach to the customer experience, ensuring that technology is integrated thoughtfully and deployed as a tool to augment the role of our service professionals, help them personalise experiences and resolve queries quickly and effectively.
Perhaps more importantly, organisations must show that they care about their customers – the importance of which we discovered first-hand earlier this week. The strongest correlation with high levels of customer satisfaction relates to the emotional connection a business makes with its customers.
Every step counts, from equipping frontline staff with the necessary skills to engage empathetically and effectively with customers, to putting the end consumer at the heart of critical business and boardroom decisions.
Because ultimately, delivering for customers at a human level (with tech enabling that in the background) will allow organisations to raise trust, satisfaction and, therefore, spend – boosting not only the bottom line, but the economy too.
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