Customer service in UK lags the US

US companies outperformed the UK across almost all of the industry sectors analysed by KPMG Nunwood’s Customer Experience Excellence Centre in its survey of more than 7,500 US consumers. Telecoms and the public sector were the only exceptions to this trend, with no organisations in these sectors featuring inside the top 100 in the US.

US brands gained ground on UK ones by focusing on the detail and often offering ‘signature experiences'.

David Conway, director at KPMG Nunwood, said: “UK companies are gaining on their US counterparts when it comes to customer service, but are at least three years away from being their equals.

“This is partly due to the structural barriers which exist in UK organisations and continue to inhibit their progress. The US particularly outperforms the UK when it comes to resolving customers’ problems. They remove management layers, and empower employees to make decisions and deal with issues as the customer’s first point of contact.”

The five lessons from the US for UK companies:

1. The board must set a clear sense of customer purpose
2. Attention to detail is critical in order to provide a consistently high quality experience to customers. Achieving this can give companies the edge over their competitors
3. Ensure the customer purpose is in the brand
4. Have a comprehensive customer experience strategy that clearly defines how customer service will be delivered and how problems will be resolved
5. Set clear organisational priorities to tackle the issues damaging customer service and promote best practice so every staff member understands their role in the business.