Credit Unions have emerged as the winners for the third year in a row in an annual survey of Irish brands based on customer experiences (CX).

In a Top 10 dominated by retail brands, Lush Cosmetics and An Post retained 2^nd and 3^rd position for the second year in a row in the survey which was carried out by Amarách Research on behalf of the CX Company.

The full report can be downloaded from The CX Company website here.

Today (Tuesday Oct 3^rd) is international CX Day and the survey is being published to raise awareness of customer experience excellence in Ireland.

A spokesperson for the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), which represents over 270 credit unions in the Republic of Ireland, said the organisation was humbled by the result.

“This is a hugely positive endorsement by the general public of the services we offer to members. Credit unions are different from other financial institutions, not just because we are not-for-profit, but because decisions are made at a local level and tailored to the individual needs of members.”

The top ten ranked companies

Brand	Sector	2017	2016	2015	Movement 2017 vs. 2016	Movement 2016 vs 2015	Movement 2017 vs 2015
Irish Credit Union	Financial	1	1	1	0	0	0
Lush Cosmetics	Retail	2	2	NEW	0	NEW	NEW
An Post	Retail	3	3	8	0	5	5
Amazon	Retail	4	28	15	24	-13	11
Boots	Retail	5	7	5	2	-2	0
Parcel Motel	Retail	6	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Penneys	Retail	7	10	9	3	-1	2
Netflix	Entertainment & Leisure	8	38	32	30	-6	24
Marks & Spencer	Retail	9	9	NEW	0	NEW	NEW
Argos	Retail	9	39	NEW	30	NEW	NEW
Sam McCauley Pharmacies	Retail	9	4	13	-5	9	4

Michael Killeen, Chairman of the CX Company described the consistent success of the top three brands as remarkable.

“Customer Experience isn’t something you can switch on and off like a special offer. It’s a constant.  If it’s part of your culture, if genuine care for your customers is second nature to your staff you will earn their trust and loyalty. If it’s not you have to learn it and earn it. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that these three brands are also Ireland’s most trusted brands. In that context, reports that An Post plans to close hundreds of branches will be of great concern to consumers.”

Travel a faller

“Top companies can make CX look easy, but when it goes wrong the results can be frightening. Look at Mytaxi/ Hailo. It was a star performer in the first survey in 2015. Now it’s one of the biggest fallers, tumbling 94 places to 137 and out of the Top 100. They didn’t get the drivers on board with the new app and now with the introduction of new charges and reports of declining service levels they may well struggle to get passengers on board as well.”

“Ryanair is down 38 places and also out of the Top 100 (115). Customers just didn’t believe its explanation of the way seats are pre-allocated. The flight cancellation story is a much more serious affair and will surely see the airline slide further” Killeen said.

Elsewhere in the Travel sector intermittent industrial action on trains and buses left many consumers stranded and undermined trust in brands such as Irish Rail, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus while dissatisfaction with airport delays saw the Dublin Airport Authority fall 55 places to 109. On a more positive note Aer Lingus has maintained its top 30 position while Luas has repaired its reputation somewhat, climbing 38 places and back into the Top 100.”

Retail and the impact of digital

Retail, with 52 companies in the Top 100 and four in the Top 5 was the top performing sector this year. In fact Powercity was the biggest riser this year moving up over 50 places to number 50 in the table. One of the main drivers of Retail’s success and indeed that of the Entertainment sector was the rise of digital brands such as Amazon which jumped to number four. It was followed by a host of others including Parcel Motel, Netflix, Argos, YouTube.com, Google and Adverts.ie Interestingly one exception here was Facebook, whose integrity score suffered pushing them down 15 places to 124.

Killeen believes the Irish consumer has finally recognised digital’s positive impact in our lives. “What makes the digital brands stand out is their ability to humanise the experience they give customers through the use of data, demonstrating they understand their needs and expectations. While this is great news for consumers there is also a warning here for retailers doing business in Ireland.”

“Our research shows that the vast majority of consumers (62%) across all age groups interact in store or inbranch. However in the US many people are buying everything online – from their groceries to their lightbulbs.If we don’t love our customers online then that spend will evaporate out of the country to those, like Amazon, who are investing huge amounts in CX.”

Selected brands

Rank	Brand	Sector	Places from 2016
26	Laya Healthcare	Insurance	40
50	Powercity	Retail	54
56	Maldron	Travel	29
59	Clayton	Travel	29
68	VHI	Insurance	34
73	Electric Ireland	Utilities	22
76	Done Deal	Retail	36
82	Aviva	Insurance	35
85	Allianz	Insurance	51
89	Luas	Travel	38
102	Heatons	Retail	-55
106	Irish Rail	Travel	-30
121	Costa Coffee	Restaurant	-50
121	An Garda Siochana	Public Sector	-24
124	Facebook	Ent & Leisure	-15
131	Dublin Bus	Travel	-25
141	Sky	Telecoms	-20
144	Virgin Media	Telecoms	4
146	Bus Eireann	Travel	-51
148	AIG	Insurance	-2
149	Three	Telecoms	-12
150	Eir	Telecoms	-12
151	Greyhound	Utilities	-12
152	Irish Water	Utilities	-3

Telco’s Travails

The report found that  Telecoms had the lowest consumer tolerance level over any other sector. This is partially due to its absolute complexity and the customer journey involved. When a breakdown in service occurs it causes major headaches and hassle for the consumer. Killeen describes their customer service as dire.

“This sector is guilty of having a fixation with acquisition and ignoring the needs of current customers and in many cases holding them to ransom with inflexible contracts. The sector is a text book case of over promising – via expensive ad campaigns - and under delivering. One exception is Tesco Mobile, the only brand from this sector in the Top 100. It jumped 16 places to 31” he said.

Utilities, Insurance, Financials & Public Sector

Although operating in very different areas, these four sectors face many similar challenges including legacy issues, a challenging market environment and lack of investment.

One of the authors of the report, Cathy Summers who is Head of Insights & Planning at the CX Company says that while many of the companies in these sectors feature at or near the bottom of the table, some are making a concerted effort to break with previous poor past performance.

“While Utilities continue to be our lowest performing sector they are finally getting their acts together by focusing on their existing customers rather than the switching game  and managing customer expectations better. Electric Ireland is leading the way here but new entrants such as PrePayPower, Energia and Pinergy are starting to make headway.”

“It’s a similar story to some extent with Financials and Insurance. In the US and UK banks lead CX delivery and the penny has dropped with banks here that the consumer views CX as the key differentiator. AIB is the largest financial jumper this year joining Ulster Bank in 89^th position in our table”

“The Public Sector has dropped one place in the sector ranking despite marginally increasing its overall CX score. A string of controversies including fake breath tests, financial irregularities and the speeding fine issue has seen An Garda Síochána fall 24 places” Summers said.

Supermarkets and Restaurant Sector

While Irish supermarkets stand out for CX delivery with three brands in the top 15, all of the main players dropped positions with the exception of SuperValu. The situation is more serious for restaurants with very few of them moving in the right direction this year. The sector has suffered greatly over the years due to a lack of investment and constant turnover of staff.

Summers says staff training will be key for both. “Both sectors need to put their employees first if they are to meet challenges from online and indeed from smaller more community friendly offerings. Both might do well to look at IKEA’s CX strategy which is based on ‘treating every customer as a guest’. The Company says its ‘Customer Experience Map’ helps the whole business to walk in their customers’ shoes. That is key to understanding CX” Summers concluded.

International & National Trends

Ireland is still lagging behind the UK and the US when it comes to customer experience excellence.  Ireland is 3% behind the UK and 9% behind the US, although there has been small improvements year-on-year. The US is very much the front runner, having seen a 4.5% uplift in their overall CX score in 2017.

Two brands in Ireland achieved an overall CX score higher than 8 (out of 10) in this year’s survey (Irish Credit Union & Lush). This compares to the most recent UK survey where four brands achieved this high score (First Direct, John Lewis, Lush and Emirates).  In the US 2017 survey 58 brands reached an overall CX score of 8 or more showing that they are global leaders in CX .

CXi

The CXi Report is published annually by the CX Company which is based in Dublin. The Report is based on a survey  of 2,500 consumers which is carried out on the company’s behalf by Amarach Research.  The CX Company offers a subscription based  service for Irish companies who want to grow and improve their business by learning from the experiences of their customers and by studying international best practice. This is the third year the CXi Report has been published. The authors of the report are Michael Killeen, Cathy Summers, Susannah Hewson (all from the CX Company) and Julian Douglas,CEO of Bright Way Up.

The Report

The CX Company helps businesses understand what great CX looks like and enables themto benchmark against the best in Ireland and abroad. Using a Six Pillar framework developed by KPMG Nunwood, the CX Company is able to scientifically score Ireland’s top brands on how successful they are at delivering brilliant CX. This framework and analysis can then be used to address specific business challenges such as brand differentiation, retention, loyalty and driving acquisition through advocacy.

In the last three years the CX Company has collected 115,000 Irish consumer evaluations of 170 brands across 10 sectors. The CX Company also has access to 1.4 million global consumer evaluations across 1,000 cross-sector brands based on seven years of research conducted by KPMG Nunwood.

Top 100 brands

 

Brand & Sector		Ranking			Movement
Brand	Sector	2017	2016	2015	Movement 2017 vs. 2016	Movement 2016 vs 2015	Movement 2017 vs 2015
Irish Credit Union	Financial	1	1	1	0	0	0
Lush Cosmetics	Retail	2	2	NEW	0	NEW	NEW
An Post	Retail	3	3	8	0	5	5
Amazon	Retail	4	28	15	24	-13	11
Boots	Retail	5	7	5	2	-2	0
Parcel Motel	Retail	6	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Penneys	Retail	7	10	9	3	-1	2
Netflix	Entertainment & Leisure	8	38	32	30	-6	24
Marks & Spencer	Retail	9	9	NEW	0	NEW	NEW
Argos	Retail	9	39	NEW	30	NEW	NEW
Sam McCauley Pharmacies	Retail	9	4	13	-5	9	4
IKEA	Retail	12	14	38	2	24	26
M&S Simply Food	Supermarket	12	10	12	-2	2	0
Lidl	Supermarket	14	13	29	-1	16	15
YouTube.com	Entertainment & Leisure	15	57	48	42	-9	33
Smyths Toystore	Retail	15	25	32	10	7	17
Aldi	Supermarket	15	8	4	-7	-4	-11
IMC Cinemas	Entertainment & Leisure	18	33	19	15	-14	1
Google	Entertainment & Leisure	19	31	31	12	0	12
Specsavers	Retail	19	14	13	-5	-1	-6
McCabes Pharmacy	Retail	21	14	41	-7	27	20
Arnotts	Retail	22	22	56	0	34	34
Homestore + more	Retail	22	12	NEW	-10	NEW	NEW
Carraig Donn	Retail	24	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Omniplex	Entertainment & Leisure	25	28	32	3	4	7
Laya Healthcare	Insurance	26	66	71	40	5	45
Aer Lingus	Travel	26	28	21	2	-7	-5
Citylink	Travel	26	5	32	-21	27	6
Hickey's Pharmacy	Retail	29	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Debenhams	Retail	30	33	NEW	3	NEW	NEW
Tesco Mobile	Telecoms	31	47	62	16	15	31
Art and Hobby	Retail	31	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Radisson Blu	Travel	31	74	32	43	-42	1
Adverts.ie	Retail	34	87	NEW	53	NEW	NEW
Dealz	Retail	35	22	22	-13	0	-13
Supervalu	Supermarket	35	41	27	6	-14	-8
Applegreen	Retail	37	50	73	13	23	36
StenaLine	Travel	37	51	55	14	4	18
Dominos Pizza	Restaurants	39	49	43	10	-6	4
Kilkenny Design	Retail	39	45	37	6	-8	-2
Lloyds Pharmacy	Retail	39	14	10	-25	-4	-29
Aircoach	Travel	42	20	17	-22	-3	-25
Passport Office	Public Sector	43	32	NEW	-11	NEW	NEW
Avoca	Retail	43	21	48	-22	27	5
Brown Thomas	Retail	43	45	50	2	5	7
Eason	Retail	46	33	29	-13	-4	-17
Odeon Cinemas	Entertainment & Leisure	47	18	20	-29	2	-27
Lifestyle Sports	Retail	47	75	65	28	-10	18
Topline	Retail	49	71	NEW	22	NEW	NEW
Powercity	Retail	50	104	53	54	-51	3
B&Q	Retail	50	51	88	1	37	38
Littlewoods	Retail	52	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
GameStop	Retail	52	79	66	27	-13	14
Mr Price	Retail	54	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
JD Sports	Retail	54	57	NEW	3	NEW	NEW
Regatta	Retail	56	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Maldron Hotel Group	Travel	56	85	44	29	-41	-12
Next	Retail	58	37	NEW	-21	NEW	NEW
Tiger	Retail	59	26	NEW	-33	NEW	NEW
Dunnes Retail	Retail	59	43	NEW	-16	NEW	NEW
Tesco	Supermarket	59	54	59	-5	5	0
Clayton Hotels	Travel	59	88	NEW	29	NEW	NEW
DID Electrical	Retail	63	39	NEW	-24	NEW	NEW
Woodies	Retail	63	51	67	-12	16	4
Irish Ferries	Travel	63	60	15	-3	-45	-48
Butlers Chocolates	Restaurants	66	26	6	-40	-20	-60
Centra	Supermarket	66	65	64	-1	-1	-2
VHI	Insurance	68	102	114	34	12	46
O'Briens Off Licence	Retail	68	19	47	-49	28	-21
Topaz	Retail	68	79	71	11	-8	3
Dunnes	Supermarket	68	57	70	-11	13	2
Supermacs	Restaurants	72	60	50	-12	-10	-22
Electric Ireland	Utilities	73	95	105	22	10	32
Four Star Pizza	Restaurants	74	60	42	-14	-18	-32
Shaws Department Stores	Retail	74	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Leisureplex	Entertainment & Leisure	76	85	NEW	9	NEW	NEW
Donedeal.ie	Retail	76	112	NEW	36	NEW	NEW
McDonalds	Restaurants	78	66	73	-12	7	-5
Milanos	Restaurants	79	69	56	-10	-13	-23
Peter Mark	Retail	79	6	53	-73	47	-26
Elverys Sports	Retail	79	56	44	-23	-12	-35
Aviva	Insurance	82	117	99	35	-18	17
Eddie Rockets	Restaurants	83	66	56	-17	-10	-27
Mothercare	Retail	83	33	22	-50	-11	-61
Allianz	Insurance	85	136	119	51	-17	34
DART	Travel	85	91	83	6	-8	-2
Harvey Norman	Retail	87	102	NEW	15	NEW	NEW
Energia	Utilities	88	107	107	19	0	19
Ulster Bank	Financial	89	83	108	-6	25	19
AIB	Financial	89	104	111	15	7	22
Abrakebabra	Restaurants	89	84	95	-5	11	6
Chopped	Restaurants	89	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Carphone Warehouse	Retail	89	99	89	10	-10	0
TK Maxx	Retail	89	41	68	-48	27	-21
LUAS	Travel	89	127	22	38	-105	-67
Maxol	Retail	96	81	86	-15	5	-10
AA	Insurance	97	126	105	29	-21	8
Irish Life Health	Insurance	98	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW	NEW
Phonewatch	Insurance	99	60	NEW	-39	NEW	NEW
Insomnia	Restaurants	99	77	68	-22	-9	-31
Prepay Power	Utilities	99	130	NEW	31	NEW	NEW