#contactcenterworld, @thecxcompany

Dublin, Ireland, Oct 16, 2018 -- Social media and transport companies have fallen in the rankings in this year's survey of brands based on customer experience.

Insurers and financial institutions have moved up the index, with some brands making big strides.

The Credit Union tops the poll for the fourth year running.

The CXi Ireland customer experience report is compiled for the CX company by Amárach Research.

Gerard O'Neill, Chairman of Amárach Research, attributed the Credit Union's success to its focus on the personal experience.

"The entire financial sector has struggled in the past four years to improve their customer experience, so the success of the Credit Union talks to their focus on a personal, very local and community based service.

"It's worth noting that the top brand in the same poll in the US is the US Navy Credit Union so the movement appears to have some kind of secret sauce when it comes to customer experience."

Insurance companies have generally moved up along the rankings this year with one of them, Laya Insurance, making it into the top 10.

"Sectors like insurance have been at the bottom of the list in years gone by, but within each sector that has performed poorly, one or two brands have pulled ahead of the pack. That differentiation tells us that they are really focusing on the customer experience to differentiate themselves."

Social media companies are moving in the opposite direction, with most recording falls in the rankings this year. The data handling controversy at Facebook likely contributed to a decline in trust.

"One of the critical pillars when it comes to customer experience is trust or integrity. Google, Facebook and You Tube have all seen their rankings plunge because that pillar of trust was impacted negatively."

Gerard O'Neill rejected the suggestion that social media brands might be at a disadvantage when it comes to customer experience because they were at a slight remove from the customer by virtue of the nature of their service.

"That would be true if it was consistent across all digital brands, but Amazon comes in at number two and Netflix have used their ability to personalise the customer experience using technology to compensate for the personal touch. The social brands with a weakness around trust have suffered - it's not just a digital thing," he said.

Ryanair - along with some other brands in the transport sector - recorded big falls in this year's rankings.

"When we started in 2015, Ryanair performed poorly. They improved the following year before levelling off last year, but they've plunged again.

"What we're finding is that consumers are swift to condemn and slow to welcome you back in terms of customer experience. It's a hard road. Some brands do make it back but it's easy to fall again.

Looking at the general picture, the overall excellence score posted a decline of 4% and only 11 of the 156 companies included in the survey here actually improved their scores.

"That's consistent with a fallback that we've seen in other countries. What appears to be happening is we're seeing the onset of generation Tinder - a generation who are less loyal and will swipe left and right through their apps. Their trust and loyalty cannot be taken for granted anymore," he concluded.

#contactcenterworld, @thecxcompany

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://www.rte.ie