Kuwaitis most critical and least loyal consumers since 2010, reveals Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index

Based on data collected surveying close to 10,000 consumers online over a three-month period on a yearly basis since 2010, the Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index (SHCSI) showed only a slight increase of 1% in customer satisfaction levels for Kuwaitis and an improvement of 2% for males.

Service Hero President Ms. Faten Abu-Ghazaleh said, "The slight increase indicates that companies have started to enhance the quality of their customer satisfaction experience. However, the extent of change hasn't created a significant difference, as these demographics remain the most disgruntled customers."

More positively, non-Arabs scored highest in customer satisfaction this year at 7.95, a 7% increase since 2010, which is the biggest leap between all demographic groups.

Abu-Ghazaleh added, "These results reflect the change in service quality companies are providing, and how non-Arabs have been receptive to them."

Results also show that while the overall loyalty score for Kuwait has stayed at 31% over the past three years, it has shifted dramatically for some groups. Kuwaitis and the most educated customers are the least loyal demographic groups based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

NPS is calculated when consumers are asked whether they would recommend a company to a friend or family member. The more satisfied and loyal customers are, the better the chances to turn them to brand "ambassadors" of the company.

More positively, NPS scores shot up for Non Arabs, females and older customers. These groups remain the most loyal customers, and those who are likely to promote the companies and services they are satisfied with.

When it comes to age group, the least satisfied customers are still those between ages 30-49. This age group is also the one that shows least loyalty, scoring an average of 29% in NPS, which is among the least loyalty levels. Customers aged 50+ still remain the most satisfied, though the decrease in satisfaction levels is notable in the past three years.

For the first time, the SHCSI added education level as a new demographic point to the data to help provide better and more insightful understanding to the data collected. Based on this new information, consumers with the highest dissatisfaction were from two education levels - either those with a very low education level or those holding masters or PhD degrees.

Abu-Ghazaleh said: "This demonstrates that the more sophisticated a customer, the more difficult it is to satisfy their needs. And the reverse is also true, low educated customers require a different service approach to be satisfied. Once companies understand this, then they can adjust their offering to ensure the meet the needs of their most demanding customers."

Customers most unsatisfied with call centers, value for money and speed:

The online survey asked consumers to rank companies on eight major service dimensions, which include staff behavior, quality of products, speed, reliability, location, value for money, website, and call center.

Scores show an overall increase of 2% across all service dimensions, and the highest score of 7.86 since 2010. Location, staff and website remain the highest scoring service dimensions, and speed, call center and value remain the lowest.

Service Hero President Ms. Faten Abu-Ghazaleh said, "Value for money has improved the most in the last three years, with a rise of 5%. This is a clear indication that there has been a change in not just the fees of products and services, but the overall offering given by companies. Value for money still being one of the lowest service dimensions means companies have still not completely been able to improve their fundamental services to meet with look-and-feel components like location, staff and website."

Quality monitoring and assessment:

This year more than 14,000 real customers ranked the customer services they were receiving for around 400 companies across 17 industry categories in the online survey. Assessments were vetted out to close to at 9616 after data quality checks were conducted.

Service Hero has put security measures to ensure authenticity and data integrity with a 95 percent confidence level and an error margin of only plus or minus five, allocating a minimum number of votes per category based on Kuwait's population and category population. The index follows international standards of market research and implements the research protocols of the European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR).

Service Hero, licensed and operated by Khayal Consultants, has recruited an Advisory Council comprising of four academic institutions as well as leading business professionals. As a neutral panel of experts, their function is to supervise the assessment and results to ensure fair and empirical findings. The Advisory Council of academic sponsors and independent members this year includes: Dr. Carol Ross of the American University of Kuwait, Mohammad Al-Bader of the Australian College of Kuwait, Dr. Hassan El-Sady of the Gulf Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Nabil El-Hilali of Kuwait Maastricht Business School, Abdulmajeed Al Shatti, ex- Chairman of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Dr. Reinhold Leichtfuss Senior Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, Nauman Sehgal, Chief Operating Officer of Noor Investment Company, and Yann Pavie, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GulfMerger.

Service Hero will be announcing the top performing companies as ranked by customers in an awards ceremony next month. During the event, Kuwait's best companies in customer service as voted by customers will be revealed and awarded.