[Singapore, 6 June 2013 (Thursday)] – The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) (卓越服务研究所) today released the 2013 first quarter (Q1) Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) results for the info-communications and retail sectors.
Between 2012 and 2013, customer satisfaction for the info-communications sector rose by 1.7-points to 67.7-points (on a 0 to 100 scale). This marked improvement of 2.6% builds upon the previous year’s positive changes. The better showing also brings the info-communications sector’s CSISG score to a record high since tracking began in 2007.
The retail sector, meanwhile, witnessed a similar record-breaking improvement in the CSISG. Its satisfaction score climbed 3.0-points (+4.3%) to 72.2-points.
Ms Caroline Lim (林晓玲), ISES Director (总监) said, “Respondents surveyed have recently experienced the services of retail and info-communications sectors. The significantly higher customer satisfaction levels reflect efforts invested by the service providers in overall customer experience and keeping up with customer expectations. We hope businesses will continue to invest and enhance the competitiveness of their service performance.”
These improvements were led by stronger performances in four of eight measured retail sub-sectors: Departmental Stores improved by 4.9-points (+7.0%) to 75.2-points, furniture stores rose 7.2-points (+10.6%) to 74.9-points, petrol service stations improved by 1.8-points (+2.7%) to 70.6-points, and supermarkets notched up 70.0-points – 2.1-points higher than the previous year, to grow by 3.1%. These individual sub-sector scores were also the highest on record. Particularly impressive was IKEA’s robust 8.1-point (+12.1%) surge to hit 75.5-points.
Within the info-communications sector, the three major telcos collectively pushed customer satisfaction in the broadband sub-sector to a record high 67.5-points, a 3.3-point (+5.2%) improvement. SingTel, in particular, fared well over both broadband and mobile telecommunications sub-sectors and the improvements in customer satisfaction at Singapore’s largest telco helped it top both sub-sectors for the first time since 2007.
A noteworthy trend has also been developing within the mobile telecommunication sub-sector. When segmenting the mobile telco customers by their length of subscription tenure, the CSISG data showed that longer- tenured subscribers (i.e., more than two years) tended to have lower levels of customer loyalty when compared to newer subscribers (i.e., two years or below).
This was not always the case. Customer loyalty ratings with the telcos traditionally moved in tandem, with the longer-tenured customers more loyal than newer customers.
However, this changed in 2012, when new customers’ loyalty scores increased while longer tenured customers registered lower loyalty scores. This trend has continued into 2013.
Assistant Professor of Marketing (Practice) Marcus Lee (李德发), Academic Director (学术总监) of ISES said, “Extant research suggests it is more productive for companies to retain and keep existing customers than expend resources to recruit new ones. Thus, it may be prudent for our telcos to investigate why their longer-tenured customers are becoming less loyal over the years, when compared to their shorter-tenured counterparts”.
The supermarkets sub-sector, with its record-high CSISG score, also revealed that this year’s improvement was contributed by substantially higher customers’ perceptions of service quality, and specifically improved service reliability.
Also of interest were the findings from the touchpoints analysis for departmental stores. Customers’ perceptions of quality were significantly influenced by image-related attributes such as the level of trust they have with the departmental store, as well as their degree of belief in how ethical the store is when dealing with customers and employees. In fact, these attributes were more important to these local department store customers than how competitive the prices were.
Ms Caroline Lim added, “Our findings with these retail sub-sectors underscores the importance for companies to look beyond the operational aspects of customer satisfaction. By focusing on a total and holistic customer experience, businesses can positively influence customer satisfaction and thus differentiate themselves from the competition”.
The CSISG 2013 Q1 survey was conducted between January and April 2013. This face-to-face survey garnered a total of 7,656 unique responses about customer experiences in the info-communications and retail sectors.
Please refer to Annex A for a background on the CSISG and the 2013 study, and Annex B for the detailed scores.
About the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG)
The CSISG is an annual benchmark of customer satisfaction, covering nine key economic sectors in Singapore. The index has a quarterly measure-and-release cycle, covering up to three industry sectors each time. The CSISG serves as an objective barometer of service competiveness across countries, industry sectors, sub-sectors and companies. Companies can tap on the detailed CSISG reports and its unique cross-industry comparison capability to make strategic business decisions.
About the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES)
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.