Avis Rent a Car, South Africa’s leading car rental company, has recorded its highest ever Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) score from market researchers MRM Support. At a record high 91.8, Avis attributes this score increase to an unquestionable dedication to customer service in all facets of its business.

Keith Rankin, chief executive of Avis Rent a Car Southern Africa says, “We try harder is the Avis ethos. By continually raising the bar we encourage ourselves to push the limits of customer service. We are proud of this latest CSI score as it reflects the effort we put into this business and our customers’ satisfaction on a daily basis.”

Measuring CSI for a business like Avis brings together the combined product of all interaction between Avis and its customers. This is not limited to the main rental business (although that is the largest study), but all other points of interaction and business units are included, such as Van Rental, Regional countries, Reservations, Customer Care, Breakdown and Emergencies, Receivables, Point 2 Point, Luxury Cars and Avis Car Sales. The weighted average of all these scores is indicative of the overall Avis CSI score for the month.

Albert van Wyk, managing member at MRM Support, says, “After 12 years Avis’ overall weighted average for the group is now consistently over 90, and outperforms any other brand that we measure”.

In order to accurately measure Avis’ customer service, MRM receives monthly lists of all the interactions with customers during the previous month from every Avis division. A random sample is drawn and interviewed monthly, from call centre agents to chauffeurs. This allows for a more accurate representation of trends and levels of service across the group.

Interviews are then conducted using Computer-Aided-Telephone-Interviewing, which involves teams of trained fieldworkers sitting behind computers with an on-screen questionnaire, which is connected to a live database. The questionnaire is divided into ‘hard issue’ and ‘soft issue’ questions. Hard issues are more tangible variables like vehicle cleanliness, on-time delivery, resolved queries, and so on. Soft issues are anything that involves customer emotions and perceptions of the brand formed during interaction with the brand, which is predominantly created by employees when engaging with customers.

“Soft issues impact actual purchasing decisions and customer behaviour more powerfully than most companies think. Avis is one of the first companies in SA to focus its CSI on the human dimension – measuring the impact of employees on customers’ feelings and perceptions when interacting with them,” says Van Wyk.

Like all rental companies, Avis initially focused and competed on measurable hard issues. It made sure it had the right vehicles and the right infrastructure. These scores have always been relatively high as Avis was already a successful competitor in the market.

“The real differentiator came when Avis started to develop the human component, or soft issues, of doing business – focusing employees’ attention on, and then actively measuring, their personal impact on customers every time the company delivers a service,” says Van Wyk.

When samples were large enough to be statistically significant, Avis started to link CSI scores of individual employees to their KPAs and even their salaries.

“In Point 2 Point, for instance, a chauffeur’s salary is heavily dependent on the customer’s experience of being chauffeured. Over time, the best chauffeurs earn above-average salaries and remain loyal to Avis and its customers.”

To increase its customer centricity Avis also introduced a greater focus on the Emotional Quotient (EQ) of potential employees when recruiting, looking at not only the technical skills and experience, but also on the natural tendencies of the candidate to provide a positive experience to customer interactions.