Singapore, 11 May 2011 (Wednesday) – The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) ( 卓越服务研究所 ) announces the first quarter release of the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) 2011 for two sectors: Retail and Info-Communications. The Retail sector continued on an upward trend with a significant increase of 2.4 points over 2010 to its highest-ever score of 70.6 points this year. On the other hand, the Info-Communications sector customer satisfaction score saw a slight dip to 64.3 points.
In general, CSISG data showed that customers' expectations were better met this year in sub-sectors within the Retail sector, especially for Motor Vehicles, Jewellery Stores, Fashion Apparels, Furniture Stores, and Supermarkets. Departmental Stores, Petrol Stations, and Clocks & Watches sub-sectors also showed small increments in satisfaction, but not of statistical significance.
The analysis of the Info-Communications sector showed no statistically significant changes at the sub-sector level and for individual companies within the sector. Mobile One Internet services was newly added to the index this year.
CSISG 2011 1Q finding: Focus on quality improvements instead of price-cutting to raise customer satisfaction
Year-on-year analyses of CSISG data reveal that perceived overall quality as opposed to perceived value is becoming more important to customers. What this means is that large increases in perceived value tend to result in relatively small increases in customer satisfaction, whereas small increases in perceived overall quality tend to result in relatively large increases in customer satisfaction. So companies will want to focus their efforts on quality improvements to products and services to raise customer satisfaction, and to rely less on price-cutting measures. Price-cutting measures work well in the short-term but are usually unsustainable in the long run.
CSISG 2011 1Q finding: Stay focussed on the softer aspects of branding and customer relationships
For the Departmental Stores and Supermarkets sub-sectors, a series of questions on company brand attributes and customer relationship attributes were asked to estimate each company's performance on these dimensions. The CSISG aims to capture customer satisfaction at the relationship level (as opposed to the transactional level), therefore relating these attributes to customer satisfaction will help businesses better understand the key drivers behind customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Across both sub-sectors, customers perceive companies to be strong in their media advertising efforts but weaker when it comes to corporate social responsibility initiatives. That is, customers rated companies lower on attributes such as being good corporate citizens and being active sponsors of community events. When it comes to customer relationships, companies in both sub-sectors tend to perform well when it comes to gaining customers' trust in the company. However, they fare poorer in the area of promoting a sense of community amongst their customers. Fostering community bonds amongst customers can help a company foster greater loyalty in their customers for their brand. The importance of these softer aspects of branding and customer relationships is supported by our data, which show strong positive relationships with customer loyalty scores. Therefore it makes sense for companies to work on these areas for long-term customer profitability.
Assistant Professor of Marketing (Practice) Marcus Lee ( 李德发 ), Academic Director ( 学术总监 ), ISES said, “Competing on price-cutting measures alone is no longer sufficient to drive customer satisfaction, instead customers are now looking for better product and service quality.”
Ms Caroline Lim ( 林晓玲 ), Director ( 总监 ), ISES said, “We are now into our fifth year of measure since the CSISG was launched in 2008. Companies are monitoring the results closely, benchmarking their performance against competitors and effecting changes to out-do each other. Most importantly companies found the insights from the CSISG to be relevant, for example, the latest insight shed light on the customer perception of brand on customer loyalty. Going forward, we will continue to share these with companies beyond performance benchmarking.”
CSISG is a benchmark for Singapore's key economic sectors to track their performance over time and a barometer on how Singapore fares globally. Companies can tap on CSISG – through corporate subscription and custom research – as a strategic business tool to gain valuable insights about customer satisfaction, benchmark against competitors and make better business decisions.
Please refer to the following Annexes for details:
About the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU
The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) is the cornerstone of an initiative to raise Singapore's service standards and promote a culture of service excellence. Working in close collaboration with government agencies and business leaders, ISES champions service excellence through an integrated approach that encompasses benchmarking and analysis, research and thought leadership, and industry engagement. www.smu.edu.sg/centres/ises