Apple, Emirates Airlines and Cheesecake Factory top the country as they score highest in the customer satisfaction index CSI

Digital empowerment increases need for consistent and effective customer service

UAE National Customer Satisfaction index scores 75.8

Dubai, UAE, 23 February 2017– Service Hero, the region’s only consumer powered customer satisfaction index, revealed the first ever winners of its Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) for the year 2016, in which Apple, Emirates Airline sand Cheesecake Factory snatched the country’s top three spots as the best service providers in the UAE.

The winners were announced during a special gala dinner award ceremony at the Address Hotel Dubai Mall, in Dubai, the UAE, in the presence of HE Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Commerce, and Ron Kaufman, International speaker and bestselling author. The event also saw the announcements of the winners in the same category in the Kuwait. UAE scored a total of 75.8 satisfaction rate across all categories, whereas Kuwait scored 75.4.

The 14 categories the UAE Index included for this year’s index were: Cafés, Casual Dining, Car Service, Clothes, Electronics, Fast Food, Home Furniture, Islamic Banks, Retail Banks, Mobile Operators, New Car Sale, Private Hospitals, Airlines and Supermarkets. Each industry’s service providers were measured by more than 350 UAE consumers on a 10 point scale across eight service dimensions, namely reliability, speed, product quality, staff quality, value for money, location, call center and website quality.

Others winners from within the top ranking within their categories include: Du in the Mobile Operators category, Honda (Al-Futtaim) in the Car Service and Car Sales, ADCB in the Retail Banks, EIB in Islamic Bank, IKEA (Al-Futtaim) in Furniture, Debenhams in Clothes, Union Coop in Supermarkets, Burjeel Hospital in Health Care, Starbucks in Cafes, and Subway in Fast Food. Local brands are seen to be performing as strong as international franchises, as they lead in sectors such as Airlines, Banking, Healthcare, Supermarkets and Mobile Operators, something which once again emphasises the importance at which UAE companies deal with customer service and the overall customer experience.

“The findings of the customer satisfaction index CSI are crucial in helping businesses prioritize their efforts. Data gathered from customer satisfaction studies provide valuable and accurate information that can help them in assessing the level of service delivered, focus on the dimensions that are more important to customers, and address gaps accordingly. Across all dimensions, reliability and product quality are the most important, having scored more than 25% each based on correlation analysis in driving the overall satisfaction”.

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It is worth mentioning that the results are based on an authenticated dataset of 18,510 records that give a 95% confidence level with a +/- 3% error margin.

Winner from each industry category in the UAE:

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From over 300 brands assessed, only 40 brands scored above 80 on a 100 point scale which suggests exceptional focus on service excellence in these brands.

Talking at the ceremony, Faten Abu Ghazaleh, President of Service Hero, said: “it is not a surprise that customer service is one of the key pillars to a successful business, however, what I would like to highlight today, is that, with the rise of the social media, and us being online 24/7, we are venturing into a new era, businesses need to multiply their efforts in customer satisfaction, to ensure their customers are happy.”

“Just think how many people would have heard that someone’d had a bad experience at X shop in the course of ten minutes. People are snapping, tweeting, and facebooking their experiences all the time. Which means that business in their turn need to be ultra alert, and customer focused. As audience, our opinions and purchasing decisions are highly influenced by what we hear and read both good and bad.”

Commenting on the significance of the index, H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: “This consumer-powered index is an important tool for measuring and improving performance and standards within the private sector. By reviewing its findings, we can identify where service gaps and challenges remain and develop the right solutions to address them.”

H.E. Al Ghurair lauded Service Hero’s efforts in launching an initiative that promotes and encourages customer service excellence in the GCC, adding that it serves as a catalyst for boosting the performance and competitiveness of business communities across the region.

About Service Hero
Service Hero adheres to ESOMAR principles (the European Society of Opinion & Market Research). It aims to collect a robust and rigorous sample exceeding 10,000 validated assessments that reflect key demographic groups. Assessments are predominantly collected online asking 24 questions using a 10-point scale, and it deploys key processes before reporting validated and authenticated data to ensure its integrity. All scores are vetted by the well-respected American Customer Satisfaction Index, who is Service Hero’s partner in the Arab world. Results are also overseen by an independent Advisory Council in each country. In the UAE advisors include the American Customer Satisfaction

Index, the Institute of Social & Economic Research of Zayed University, and Abu-Dhabi University. In Kuwait advisors include the American University of Kuwait, Gulf University of Science & Technology, the Australian College of Kuwait, and the Kuwait Community College as well as neutral professionals from leading organizations, including, the Boston Consulting Group, and Noor Investment Co.

© Press Release 2017