As part of its new Make Every Conversation Count report, FM Outsource asked 1,000 people about their experiences with and attitudes towards customer service in 10 business sectors including utilities, travel, banking, insurance, hospitality, logistics, fashion retail and grocery retail.
When respondents were asked to rate the quality of customer service delivery from good to poor based on their experience, the grocery retail sector topped the poll, being the most likely to be rated as good or very good (50% vs average of 42%). In comparison, the utilities sector was most likely to be rated poor or extremely poor (25% vs average of 17%).
Similarly, when consumers were asked about their customer service interactions with grocery retailers in the past 12 months, respondents were most likely to say they’d had a positive or multiple positive experiences with the grocery sector (36% vs average of 30%).
This in turn is having an impact on the grocery sector’s reputation, with 45% of shoppers believing it has a positive reputation for customer service, the highest reputation score out of the sectors analysed.
Martin Brown, CCO at FM Outsource, said: “As far as UK consumers are concerned, grocery retailers currently offer the highest standard of customer service.
“Throughout the pandemic, grocery businesses were forced to increase home deliveries and digital services. Despite this, they have managed to keep customer satisfaction high. In fact, the research found that 34% of shoppers think the grocery sector has improved in recent years.
“In other research we completed earlier in the year, the grocery sector again scored highly, with the best response times to customer enquiries. The quick response times will be a significant contributor to the overall rating of grocery retailers as the best for customer service, highlighting the importance of response times to customers.
“Businesses in other sectors can learn from the success of grocery retailers and ensure that customer wait times are kept to a minimal to increase overall customer satisfaction. This can be done with the help of a professional, highly trained customer service team and the combination of the right communication channels.”
