Singapore, 28 March 2018 (Wednesday) – The Institute of Service Excellence (ISE) at the Singapore Management University (SMU) (卓越服务研究院) today released the results for the 2017 Q4 Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) study of the Finance & Insurance and Healthcare sectors, as well as the 2017 CSISG national score.

The 2017 CSISG national score stands at 72.9 points (on a 0 to 100 scale), a statistically significant improvement against the 2016 CSISG national score of 71.8 points. The year-on-year increase in the national score is led by upticks in the Finance & Insurance and Healthcare sectors.

Q4 Finance & Insurance and Healthcare Findings

The Finance & Insurance sector scored 73.4 points, a statistically significant increase of 1.05 points from the 2016 score of 72.4 points. The sector is made up of five sub-sectors including Banks, Credit Cards as well as Life Insurance, Health & Medical Insurance, and Motor & Other Personal Insurance. Among these sub-sectors, Banks, Credit Cards, and Health & Medical Insurance registered statistically significant upticks in customer satisfaction scores while Life Insurance and Motor & Other Personal Insurance did not see changes in customer satisfaction scores from the year before.

Customers Who Used Internet Banking and Mobile App More Satisfied and Loyal

Among customers surveyed for Banks, those who identified usage with Internet Banking or Mobile App reported higher levels of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty compared to those who did not. The satisfaction and loyalty scores among those who used Internet Banking or Mobile App were more than 2 points or 3.1% higher than those who did not use these channels. In addition, customers who used these digital channels also have on average a higher number of products held with the same bank.

“There appears to be a positive relationship between usage of digital channels and higher scores across various customer metrics including satisfaction, loyalty, and number of products held with the bank. This is certainly an encouraging sign for banks that have been pushing for digital adoption,” observed Ms Neeta Lachmandas (妮塔.拉切曼达斯), ISE Executive Director (执行总监)

Life Insurance and Health & Medical Insurance Customers Most Dissatisfied with Contact Centre

Within the Insurance sector, customers were surveyed about their satisfaction with four touch-points including Contact Centre, Customer Service Centre, Website and Financial Advisor/ Sales Representative. Satisfaction with Contact Centre was rated most poorly by customers of the Life Insurance and Health & Medical Insurance sub-sectors. For Life Insurance customers who interacted with Contact Centre, satisfaction score was 69.1 points compared to 73.0 points for those who did not interact with Contact Centre. In addition, those who interacted with Contact Centre also had a higher complaint rate of 7.4% compared to 0.7% for those who did not interact with Contact Centre.

A similar finding was observed among Health & Medical Insurance customers. For those who interacted with Contact Centre, customer satisfaction was scored at 67.8 points compared to 72.2 points for those who did not interact with Contact Centre.

“The lower satisfaction ratings and higher complaint rates amongst customers who had interacted with the contact centre suggest that key pain points may be channelled to the company through this touchpoint. Insurers may wish to consider how they could better resolve customers issues through the contact centre by improving areas such as staff knowledge and professionalism,” observed Mr Chen Yongchang (陈勇畅), ISE Head of Research and Consulting.

Waiting Experience and Ease of Getting Around Improved For Healthcare Sector

The Healthcare sector scored 71.8 points, up 0.85 points from its 2016 score of 71.0 points. The increase is considered statistically significant. Within the Healthcare sector, minor upticks in customer satisfaction scores were observed across the Private Hospitals, Polyclinics and Restructured Hospitals sub-sectors, although these changes were not considered statistically significant.

While the ‘waiting time taken before undergoing a medical test or seeing a doctor’ continues to receive low satisfaction ratings, year-on-year improvements have been observed for other attributes such as ‘ease of getting around’ and ‘waiting experience’.

“Even as waiting time continues to be an issue in the healthcare sector, customers have given higher satisfaction ratings for the waiting experience at hospitals and polyclinics. Healthcare providers may wish to consider enhancing this aspect further. Rather than being merely a comfortable holding area, waiting rooms could be transformed into patient education centres that can teach patients how to improve their health outcomes,” added Mr Chen.

Complaint Handling Can Swing A Company’s Customer Satisfaction Score Markedly

Among customers who said that they had made a complaint within the Healthcare sector, 79.6% said that the complaint was “handled poorly” while 20.4% said that it was “handled well”.

Although the proportion of complaints was small at 1.5% of all 3,540 Healthcare customers surveyed, the difference in customer satisfaction scores given by customers whose complaints were considered well-handled or poorly handled was pronounced. Customers whose complaints were deemed to be “handled well” scored 73.4 points in customer satisfaction compared to only 28.6 points among those whose complaints were assessed to be “handled poorly”.

“Based on insights from the Healthcare sector, complaints are an area that may not necessarily work against an organisation. When complaints are well handled, customers do tend to reward companies with high satisfaction ratings and the level of satisfaction may even be comparable to that of customers who did not have a reason to complain,” noted Ms Lachmandas.

The CSISG 2017 Q4 study was conducted between October 2017 and January 2018, yielding a total of 9,585 completed questionnaires. Prior to this, the Info-Communications and Retail sectors were measured in Q1. This was followed by the Air Transport and Land Transport sectors in Q2. The Food & Beverage and Tourism sectors were measured in Q3. In total, the CSISG 2017 study yielded 30,135 completed questionnaires from Singapore citizens, permanent residents and departing tourists at Changi Airport. A total of 650 distinct entities were measured and 174 entities received published scores.

Please refer to Annex A for a background on the CSISG and Annex B for the detailed scores. A recap of CSISG 2017 Q1 to Q3 highlights is also provided in Appendix 1.

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For media queries, please contact:

Ms Serene Ashley Chen
Assistant Director, Partnerships and Programme Development
Institute of Service Excellence (ISE) at Singapore Management University

DID: (65) 6808 5103
Mobile: (65) 9151 9030
Email: serenechen [at] smu.edu.sg

Mr Teo Chang Ching
Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications

Office of Corporate Communications and Marketing

DID: (65) 6828 0451
Mobile: (65) 9431 8353
Email: ccteo [at] smu.edu.sg