Every company in the United States likes to promise an exceptional customer experience. Polls show that at least some corporations do an excellent job keeping their promise — these companies provide great customer service.
In order to find those companies that truly stand out by creating positive customer experiences, 24/7 Wall St. collaborated with research survey group Zogby Analytics, which polled more than 1,500 adults about the quality of customer service at 151 of America’s best-known companies in 17 industries, asking if the service is excellent, good, fair, or poor.
The companies with the highest share of poor ratings make up the Customer Service Hall of Shame, while those with the highest share of excellent ratings make up the Customer Service Hall of Fame. E-commerce company Amazon tops the list yet again — for the seventh year in a row. Phone and electronic device manufacturers Apple, Samsung, and Sony; restaurants Chick-fil-A and Starbucks; and mail carriers FedEx and UPS also made the Hall of Fame this year. Hospitality companies Hilton and Marriott as well as Internet companies Youtube, Netflix, and Google also made the list.
This are the top seven of 24/7 Wall St.’s Customer Service Hall of Fame; go to 24/7 Wall St. to see the rest.
1. Amazon
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 61.2%
Amazon is again the No. 1 company on the Customer Service Hall of Fame, with 61.2% of survey respondents reporting an excellent experience. A sign of the changing consumer landscape, there are few, if any, customer-facing Amazon locations. While this is not necessarily an advantage in terms of customer service, it means unlike other retailers, Amazon is not associated with long lines or interactions with employees.
Amazon’s highly praised customer service is likely a reflection of its priorities. Recently, the Internet retailer has put customers before profits. While Amazon was profitable in 2015, it lost money in 2014. Amazon’s business model is frequently described as providing a wide variety of merchandise at a low-cost with an emphasis on convenience — all to preserve customer loyalty. The first of the company’s guiding core principles is: “customer obsession rather than competitor focus.”
2. Chick-fil-A
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 48.9%
Nearly half of survey respondents consider Chik-fil-A to have excellent customer service, the second largest share of any major company. The restaurant chain employs a number of strategies to ensure quality customer service. Chick-fil-A spends more than $1 million each year in evaluating its service and honing the four elements the company believes are important for customer retention: taste, speed, cleanliness, and courteousness. Intended to create a more personal experience, employees end transactions with the phrase, “It’s my pleasure,” instead of “thanks,” or “you’re welcome.” When a new store opens, Chick-fil-A invites regulars from nearby locations and other Chick-fil-A fans to a free dinner before the grand opening. The restaurant also gives these customers 10 free meal coupons and asks them to spread the word about the new store.
High customer satisfaction has helped Chick-fil-A become incredibly popular in the past few years with current annual sales nearly double what they were in 2009. The average store earns roughly $4.2 million each year — more than McDonald’s, Starbucks, or Subway — despite doing business only six days a week.
3. Apple
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 45.4%
More than 100 million Americans currently have an iPhone, roughly 43% of the U.S. smartphone market. Unlike the Android, the iPhone’s iOS is a closed system, meaning developers cannot make changes to the device’s source code and have limited freedom when developing applications. The closed system is fundamental to the simple design and user interface that has won Apple so many loyal customers — but also may make some Apple customers more dependent on company support services.
Apple’s in-store customer service is hosted at its Genius Bars, where trained staff members offer product support and guidance. Apple also has 28 customer service call centers with approximately 19,000 employees. Although outsourcing its call centers would have been cheaper, Apple keeps its call centers within the U.S. to ensure quality assistance. The strategy is likely working as 45.4% of customers believe Apple’s customer service is excellent, the third largest share of any company.
Apple’s products and product support have managed to create some of the most loyal customers of any company. On a recent survey conducted by RBC Capital Markets, 83.4% of iPhone owners claim their next smartphone purchase would be an Apple product. Meanwhile, 64.2% of Samsung Galaxy owners claim the same about Samsung. In the fourth quarter of 2015, 30% of new iPhone purchases were by customers switching from Samsung to Apple.
4. Marriott
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 44.7%
Roughly 45% of surveyed customers consider the customer service at Marriott to be excellent, the largest share of any hotel and the fourth largest of any company nationwide. On the same survey, respondents cite having a friendly and knowledgeable staff as the most important elements in quality customer service. This is likely the case at Marriott, where employee satisfaction is among the highest of any company. Writing on Glassdoor, Marriott staff frequently note abundant learning opportunities and great coworkers as major benefits of working at the company. The average tenure of a hotel manager at Marriott is 25 years, far longer than the average tenure across all hotels. Employees who are with the company for longer than 25 years are eligible for free weekend hotel stays for life.
Marriott guests are also some of the most loyal in the hotel industry. The Marriott Rewards program has roughly 55 million members and more business travelers than any other rewards program. According to a recent study by market research firm J.D. Power, members of Marriott Rewards are more satisfied with their rewards program than the members of any other hotel loyalty program.
5. Samsung Electronics
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 43.2%
This year, 43.2% of survey respondents rated Samsung Electronics’ customer service as excellent. Samsung is a manufacturer of consumer electronics, and its customer satisfaction largely depends on the quality of its products as well as its support services. Unlike its competitor Apple, Samsung manufactures smartphones with an open operating system, meaning developers can make changes to the device’s source code without the assistance of a Samsung representative.
While Samsung is still behind Apple in customer service, it does slightly better in product quality. The Samsung Galaxy Note5 ranks highest on American Customer Satisfaction Index list of top smartphones by customer satisfaction. It is followed by the iPhone 6s Plus, which is trailed closely by Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note 4. High regard for Samsung products and customer service is likely driving sales. Samsung phones made up 22.3% of all smartphones shipped worldwide in the second quarter of 2016, the largest global market share of any company.
6. Sony
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 41.1%
More than two in five survey respondents consider Sony’s customer service to be excellent, the sixth largest share of any company. As a manufacturer of consumer electronics, Sony not only needs to produce quality products, but also provide helpful support services. Sony has 534 customer support offices in the United States and receives roughly 1.8 million customer inquiries a year through either e-mail, phone, or chat services. Some of Sony’s flagship products include the Handycam camcorder, Xperia smartphones and tablets, and the PlayStation gaming console.
Sony’s customer satisfaction remains high despite a string of security issues with its online PlayStation Network. The incidents began in 2011, when a massive hack caused a month-long outage and a leak of tens of millions of users’ account details, including credit card information. The hack was one of the largest cases of data theft in history. As a result, Sony agreed to a $17.8 million settlement with affected users. Sony also gave victims access to free game downloads for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.
7. Google
> Pct. “excellent” ratings: 40.9%
Public holding company Alphabet, formed in August 2015, now controls Google, by far its largest asset. Google generates revenue primarily from online advertising. According to the company, Search, Android, Maps, Chrome, YouTube, Google Play, and Gmail have more than 1 billion active users each per month.
Google’s services, which are completely free for non-business users, are very popular and apparently also quite lucrative for its advertising clients. Google’s mobile operating system Android powers the vast majority of all new smartphones. In the most recent quarter, Alphabet reported a 24% jump in profits, attributing the strong growth to Google’s focus on mobile advertising.
The Internet behemoth operates at such a large scale that even the U.S. government appears to be a satisfied customer. To help President Barack Obama’s administration facilitate the restoration of diplomatic relations, for example, Google dramatically improved Internet access in Cuba. Also, Google partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to bring Google Fiber to public housing.
See the rest of the Customer Service Hall of Fame:
24/7 WALL ST.
Customer Service Hall of Fame
Methodology:
24/7 Wall St. commissioned Zogby Analytics to conduct an online national survey of more than 1,500 randomly chosen respondents to rate customer service at 151 of the best-known companies in the country. Seventeen industries are represented in the study.
Respondents were asked to evaluate customer service quality as “excellent,” “good,” “fair,” or “poor.” Of the 151 companies, 112 had at least 500 valid responses. We did not consider companies with fewer valid responses.
When a company with multiple divisions scored as one of the best or worst for customer satisfaction, we listed the company only once in our rank.
The 15 companies with the highest percentage of “poor” responses represent our Customer Service Hall of Shame. Using the same methodology, the 15 companies with the highest percentage of “excellent” responses became our Customer Service Hall of Fame. This is the third year 24/7 Wall St. has conducted this study.
More on the Customer Service Hall of Fame
Most of these companies serve thousands of people every day, and bad customer service experiences invariably occur. It is for this reason that branding and customer service go hand in hand, according to Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Calkins explained, “With positive feeling for a brand, [customers] are inclined to both appreciate positive experiences and be forgiving of negative experiences.”
In other words, if consumers like the product, and the overall experience with the brand is positive, they are more likely to rate customer service well — even if there are occasionally bad experiences. When asked to rate the overall experience with a company as positive or negative, 75% or more people gave a positive rating to 14 of the 15 companies in the Hall of Fame.
Healthy competition within an industry also tends to improve the quality of customer service. “When customers have choice then there is more pressure to deliver a great experience,” Calkins said. While this is specifically not the case for the cable and Internet service provider industry, which is represented by multiple companies on this year’s Hall of Shame, competition largely explains the high customer service ratings at companies such as Hilton and Marriott. Calkins added that UPS competes with FedEx, Samsung competes with Apple, and for each of these companies, “there is competitive pressure to keep up.”
In addition to competition, some of these companies succeed at providing stellar customer service by focusing intensely on this aspect of their business. Customer service expert and consultant Shep Hyken described Hilton, Marriott, and other members of the hospitality sector as having “a culture of service.” Similarly, Amazon’s nation-leading customer service rating is likely due largely to its focus on the customer. The company’s first of four guiding core principles is “customer obsession rather than competitor focus.”
From 24/7 Wall Street and Douglas McIntyre: The 2016 customer service hall of fame, looking at 151 companies in 17 major customer-facing industries.
Technology companies like Amazon, and hospitality companies like Hilton share this customer focus. In an email exchange with 24/7 Wall St., Praveen Kopalle, professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, highlighted the importance of creating not just a good customer experience, but a unique one. These companies, he wrote, “strive to create a personalized environment for their customers—be it Apple or Victoria’s secret. For personalization to work smoothly, customer service has to be top notch.”
While large Internet companies on this list such as Amazon, Youtube, and Google do not have customer facing brick-and-mortar locations, interactions of customers with employees are a key factor in customer satisfaction in most other businesses. Friendly and knowledgeable staff matter most in customer service to more than half of survey respondents. Unsurprisingly, satisfied employees often translates to higher customer satisfaction. Many of the companies on this year’s Hall of Fame — notably Apple, Chick-fil-A, and Starbucks — score especially well in employee satisfaction on employee review website Glassdoor.
