The automotive industry has the best service delivery in SA

The automotive industry has excelled in terms of their service delivery with Toyota taking second place, and being the most consistent automotive performer over the last 10 years. The financial sector was not far off with Capitec coming third. These awards were presented at a ceremony at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Sandton on Friday, 14 November.

The Ask Afrika Orange Index^® is a unique South African customer satisfaction benchmark, established in 2001 and now measures 32 industries and 155 companies. The Ask Afrika Orange Index^® is the broadest and most widely-referenced service excellence benchmark in South Africa, and not only measures service within industries, but across industries.

It includes 10 of the most relevant service benchmarks and enables a 360 degree view of a company. This helps companies identify landscape changes, and it provides insights into the mass consumer trends informing service improvement strategies. The results of the Ask Afrika Orange Index^® survey are audited by BDO and sampling expert Dr Neethling.

“Volkswagen is honoured and delighted to have nominated as the winner in the 2014 Ask Africa Orange Index^®. We are grateful that our customers saw fit to rate our service experience so highly enabling Volkswagen to come out at the top of the survey for 2014. Whilst we do commission our own research it is heartening to see that another credible independent research survey corroborates our own research into what our customers expect from our brand.”

“The information provided to us by the research results of the Ask Africa Orange Index will help us to further improve our service levels, which is delivered through our independent dealer network. Our dealers are also to be commended for the excellent job that they are doing in terms of satisfying our customers. Being the leading passenger car market brand in South Africa with nearly 19% market share, means that we need to be vigilant at all times and avoid complacency when it comes to providing outstanding customer service,” says Matt Gennrich, general manager Group Communications, Volkswagen Group South Afrika.

The trends show service improvements, with service levels having increased by 1.7% across industries. The highest delight and satisfaction ratings ever were achieved this year, as well as the lowest dissatisfaction ratings ever. The data showed the research findings to be the most consistent ever. Expectations still exceed the transactional encounter. Maintaining customer satisfaction levels is about an overall positive experience, and honouring commitments.

“We are seeing the best service levels to date, but this doesn’t necessarily equate with success. The winning companies performed significantly better on reputation and fairness. Service today is values based and has to be authentic, differentiation requires innovation and pro-activeness. Service in itself contributes only 11% to loyalty. Emotional satisfaction, meaningful engagement, and trust yield customer commitment,” says Sarina de Beer, MD of Ask Afrika.

There has been a steady increase in the proportion of consumers that perceived the service they received as exceptional. In 2014, just over 50% of consumers rated their service as exceptional compared to just under a quarter in 2001. Companies achieved this by performing well on what is important, and building more integrated and consistent experiences.

New awards have been introduced this year: Best Call Centre Index (CCI) – MTN Mobile, Five Years in a Row - South African Airways and GloCell, Biggest Leap - Dial Direct, Best Newcomer - SunCoast Casino , Reputation - Makro, Customer Effort - Makro, Treat Customer’s Fairly (TCF) – Makro, and Social Media - FNB.

There are 11.8 million South Africans on Facebook, 7.2 million on YouTube, 6.6 million on Twitter, 3.8 million on LinkedIn, and 1.1 million Instagram users. Social media is an enabler but also puts brands at considerable risk. Social networks online embrace the same fundamental social principals that govern offline relationships: conversation, authenticity, trust, and sharing.

“Brands that performed well have resourced their social media teams effectively, have been engaging for a number of years already, understood that social media is not just a marketing tool, but a way to connect and understand today’s consumers,” says De Beer.

The Ask Afrika Orange Index measures transactional performance, overall service, effort, treat customers fairly (TCF), first call resolution (FCR), emotional satisfaction, reputation dimension, trust, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). It also measures emotional responses and not only rational experience, as emotions are typically more accurate and less ‘packaged’, and these responses correlate better with word-of-mouth, or a typical call to action. Loyalty is measured through the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Also included in 2014 is a Call Centre Index benchmark that provides extensive information about call centres and measures channel performance.

10 new industries have been included in the Ask Afrika Orange Index^®: Building Retail, Children Toys and Games Retail, Estate Agents, Funeral/Burial Services, Gyms and Health Clubs, Mass Retail, Private Hospitals, Stationary and Bookshops, Travel Agencies, and Tyre, Exhaust, Shocks Retail Outlets.

There were seismic gains in the Furniture Retail, Car Tracking, Car Rentals, Petrochemical, and Online Shopping industries. The top performing companies performed significantly better on effort, reputation, and fairness. The biggest challenge and the poorest performing areas for companies were empathy, product benefits, value for money, first call resolution (FCR), and effort.

“Satisfaction levels are still challenging when differentiating service experiences, customers are expecting the unexpected. They expect the same innovation they experience on a product and marketing front to filter through to the service environment,” says De Beer.

Great service is not sufficient for loyalty and commitment. Strong emotional satisfaction is imperative. Poor performing companies are still missing the basics. Happiness has become more polarised, with 50% seriously happy South Africans, and 20% unhappy. Both ends of the happiness spectrum shape expectations and experiences. Context matters, customers expect to see what companies do for them and for South Africa.

“Over the years, we see a change in ordering of service drivers. However, on the whole, the important service drivers are far removed from processes and output. It is really down to the one-on-one interaction with the representative of the company, and whether they are investing in understanding and empathising with a customer on an individual level,” says De Beer.

The service delivery levels for both government and the private sector are going in the same direction, but the gap between them remains. Public sector responsibilities are shifted onto private sector, and too often private sector challenges become the customer’s problem. As public sector migration continues, one can easily underestimate the customers’ reaction to this and it is prudent to expect a push back, there was a 9% performance drop. Despite a growing understanding of the interrelatedness between private and public sector, customers believe that corporates are losing traction on the critical issues they prioritise.

Ask Afrika examined the demographics of the Orange Index^® survey results and discovered that Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, and Eastern Cape received the highest ratings across all of the measured benchmarks. The Western Cape, Gauteng, and Limpopo are generally the most dissatisfied. Gender differences are falling away. The Indian population are still the most critical, rating most of the measured dimensions significantly lower. Those over 50 seem more critical, the retired population, and those working full time also showed more critical and lower ratings, whilst housewives were the most positive. Call Centres and Direct Telephone Contact were the poorest performing touch points, while self-help channels are still performing best.

Globally there is increasing sophistication in service delivery strategies, there are broader service expectations, new technology and data that is available about consumers is quickly transforming the service delivery landscape, and simple responsiveness and friendliness are no-longer going to be enough.

“In this fast changing landscape as researchers will need to critically reflect on what we measure, and on where consumers invest, with regards to customer service. The game is still about consistency, but it does not necessarily translate into loyalty,” says De Beer.

“The key to the future is in understanding context – the trends, impacts and relationships between a business and the wider world, a resilient strategy is one that is in step with a company’s wider context, allowing the business to thrive for years to come,” says Roger Trapp in an article in Forbes.