Customer satisfaction at all-time high in S'pore

IN A significantly positive development for the Singapore economy, customer satisfaction has hit an all-time high in the country. This is despite the complaints over slips in customer service that are voiced by some sections of the public from time to time.

New data from the Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University shows that the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) it produced hit 71.8 points (on a scale of 0 to 100) last year. There was a 2.4 per cent gain, over the 70.2 score recorded in 2015.

The uptick in customer satisfaction last year was led by improvements in finance and insurance, and healthcare sectors primarily. Of the 11 sectors of the economy measured in 2016, all but the logistics and private education sectors registered year-on-year increases in score. The results of the finance and insurance, and healthcare sectors, which were studied in the fourth quarter of 2016, were recently released by the institute along with its overall 2016 findings.

"As the CSISG is a GDP-weighted index, the performance of the finance and insurance as well as healthcare sectors has a substantial impact on the final national score," said the institute's executive director Neeta Lachmandas.

Within the finance and insurance sector, banks scored 72.9 points, recording a gain of 1.75 points which was an improvement of 2.5 per cent from 2015. The improvement was underpinned by higher scores in perceived quality and perceived value, she added.

The increase in the score for the healthcare sector was led by improvements in the private hospitals (73.2 points, +1.21 points, or a gain of 1.7 per cent) and restructured hospitals (70.0 points, +1.39 points, or a gain of 2 per cent) sub-sectors. While perceived value improved for both the private and restructured hospitals sub-sectors, restructured hospitals also saw an improvement in perceived quality.

The 2016 full year results for CSISG showed that customer satisfaction with the motor and other personal insurance, life insurance, as well as health and medical insurance sub-sectors remain statistically unchanged from the year before.

"When we investigated the attributes that drive quality and loyalty for finance and insurance, it becomes clear that the sector is highly relationship based. We found that qualities such as responsiveness, empathy, and assurance were key differentiators which these companies should focus on," said Ms Lachmandas.

Of the 11 sectors that the CSISG measured in 2016, nine recorded significantly higher scores year on year. These were, in order of highest scores to lowest scores: public education, air transport, finance and insurance, retail, tourism, healthcare, food and beverage, info-communications, and land transport. Two sectors, logistics and private education, did not register any significant change, the institute said.

In the 2016 second quarter CSISG study, the public education sector improved significantly year on year with a score of 75.7 points (+1.56 points, or a gain of 2.1 per cent). Leading the pack was the universities sub-sector with a score of 77.1 points (+1.43 points, or a gain of 1.9 per cent). This was followed by the ITE sub-sector which saw a statistically significant dip in scores to 72.5 points (minus 1.51 points, or a 2 per cent decline) from 74.0 points the year before. The polytechnics sub-sector on the other hand scored 71.5 points (+1.64 points, or a gain of 2.3 per cent), a change that is not considered statistically significant from the year before.

"Generally, student support services in terms of counselling, career advice and financial assistance as well as quality, dedication and mutual respect exhibited by teaching staff were found to be key quality drivers impacting upon satisfaction ratings for the education sector," said Mr Chen Yongchang, head of research and consulting, at the institute.

Within the air transport sector, improvement was led by a marked increase in the customer satisfaction score for Changi Airport at 81.4 points (+6.28 points, or a gain of 8.4 per cent).

Overall, service improvements have taken place last year due to a customer-centric approach being adopted by some businesses and other organisations.

For instance, within the tourism sector, four sub-sectors including attractions, hotels, travel and tour services and online travel agencies were measured in the 2016 third quarter CSISG study. The attractions and hotels sub-sectors performed better than the tourism sector average at 72.8 points and 72.5 points respectively. Leading the pack in attractions were Sentosa (74.3 points), Singapore Zoo (73.3 points) and Universal Studios (73.1 points). Top ranking entities in hotels include Marina Bay Sands (77.2 points), Shangri-La (75.6 points) and The Ritz-Carlton (74.9 points).

In addition to intuitive hygiene factors such as hotel facilities, in-room amenities and Internet connectivity, efficiency of the check-in and check-out process as well as the ability to accommodate special requests were key attributes impacting perceived quality and loyalty for hotels, the institute said.

As for attractions, ease of getting around, food and beverage options and cleanliness of attraction came up as key drivers of perceived quality and loyalty.

Importantly, a significant addition to the CSISG last year was credit cards as a sub-sector. It scored 70.7 points with Citibank, American Express and DBS/POSB leading the pack in rankings. The study found that the top attributes impacting satisfaction ratings for credit cards include "merchant tie-ups that meet my needs", "ease of reward redemption" and "flexibility of policies such as waiver of charges".

"Out of the touch points that credit card customers interacted with, contact centre was identified as the channel that customers engaged with the most, but were least satisfied with," said Mr Chen.

"When we looked at some of the reasons customers gave for their dissatisfaction with contact centres, we noticed that service related issues such as response time, staff attitude and handling of fee waivers were mentioned," he added.

Overall, the institute's findings show that customer satisfaction with service sector companies is increasingly related to the following dimensions:

It is noteworthy that the healthcare sector registered an improvement of 2 per cent in its score, taking it to 71 per cent, up 1.4 points from a year ago. This increase in score was primarily led by improvements seen in the private hospitals (73.2 points, up 1.21 points or 1.7 per cent) and restructured hospitals (70 points, up 1.39 points or 2 per cent) sub-sectors.

On the other hand, the polyclinics sub-sector at 70.3 points, did not see any statistically significant movement in its customer satisfaction score from the previous year.

"Looking at the customer journey undertaken at private and restructured hospitals, we see parallels in waiting time being singled out as the attribute with the poorest rating," said Mr Chen.

"Yet when we analysed the data further, we found that waiting experience was the attribute that had the most significant imact on customers' perception of quality. This suggests that while shorter waiting times are welcomed at healthcare institutions, it was the waiting experience that was most important in determining how customers rate their satisfaction with healthcare providers," he added.

While the CSISG fourth quarter study focused on the finance and insurance, and healthcare sectors, info-communications and retail sectors were covered in the first quarter. Air transport, land transport, logistics, public education and private education sectors were covered in the second quarter, and food and beverage and tourism sectors were measured in the third quarter.

The institute says that the CSISG is a landmark study that computes customer satisfaction scores at the national, sector, sub-sector, and company levels with the intent of producing a rigorous, objective and comprehensive assessment of Singapore's service levels. The index measures customers' cumulative satisfaction with companies.

Given that the CSISG is the only national customer satisfaction measurement tool with cross sector capabilities, the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU is able to provide organisations with exclusive benchmarking insights about customer satisfaction, as well as use predictive analytics and regression models to pinpoint drivers that would deliver the most impact.