John Lewis partnership top dogs at UK Customer Satisfaction Awards

Over 500 business leaders and guests attended the inaugural “UK Customer Satisfaction Awards”in London this week organised by the Institute of Customer Service to witness John Lewis and Waitrose locking out the awards chosen directly by customers

The awards are inspired by, and take as their benchmark, the consumer-led UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) based on the views of 26000 customers. The ICS says the awards are unique because they recognise and reward organisations who are adopting a top-level strategic view of customer service.

Hundreds of organisations from the private, public and third sectors entered these inaugural Awards and the chosen finalists all demonstrated consistent commitment to customers, innovation, sustainability and ethical strategies that build customer trust.
“The calibre of the organisations that entered this year’s Awards is a massive indication that customer service is fast becoming a key strategic business driver”, says Institute CEO Jo Causon.

She added: “We know that organisations who offer world-class customer service have the edge over their competitors and it was wonderful to see some of the UK’s top businesses - who between them employ 975,000 people and turnover £54bn each year - celebrating customer service excellence. “

UK Customer Satisfaction Awards winners and finalists:

Award for valued customer
Winner - Waitrose
Finalists: Bupa, Lloyds Pharmacy, M&S Food, John Lewis

Award for most responsive organisation
Winner – Waitrose
Finalists: Iceland, Bupa, M&S Food, Lloyds Pharmacy

Award for most trusted organisation
Winner – John Lewis
Finalists: Boots, Waitrose,  Bupa, M&S Food

Award for most reliable organisation
Winner – John Lewis
Finalists: Bupa, Lloyds Pharmacy, Waitrose, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Customer satisfaction innovation of the year
Winner – E.ON – Central Networks
Finalists: Shepherds Bush Housing Group, LV=, OCS Group UK Ltd, Balfour Beatty - Construction Northern Ltd

Employee engagement strategy of the year
sponsored by Simplyhealth
Winner – LV=
Finalists: Legal & General Investments, Merseytravel, UKFast, Boots

Eptica customer communication strategy of the year
Winner - CityClean - Brighton & Hove Council
Finalists: E.ON – Central Networks, Prudential, Modern Housing Solutions, Surrey County Council

Best application of technology award
Winner - Skandia UK
Finalists: Aberdeenshire Council, Prudential,E.ON - Central Networks,Santander

Best customer satisfaction strategy award sponsored
by BPA Quality
Winner - Boots
Finalists: Volkswagen Group UK Ltd, Soha Housing Ltd, Scottish Water, RBS International

Award for customer commitment sponsored by O2
Winner - SJD Accountancy
Finalists: Nutricia, RM Education, Homebase, Barclays Wealth Banking Office

Power Train quality service provider of the year
Winner – Chess Telecom
Finalists: Siemens, IT Solutions & Services, Lloyds Banking Group, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Leisure Unit, Teleperformance

Customer focus award
Winner - Homebase
Finalists: Zurich Corporate Risk, Mercedes Benz Retail Group UK Ltd, BMW (UK) Ltd, LOVEFiLM

Customer service leadership award
Winner - Candace Pridgeon, head of customer services, Bottomline Technologies
Finalists: Annette John, customer service director, Nutricia, Jamie McDonald, customer service director, Modern Housing Solutions, Amanda Wilson, human resources manager, The Trafford Centre, Wendy Richardson, divisional director, Boots.

The Awards were held alongside the ICS annual conference where the emphasis was on the business imperative for customer service and where the importance customer engagement, perhaps unsurprisingly, was a theme that ran through the conference. Speakers included John Cridland the new director general of the CBI and Anthony Thomson the chairman of the new Metro Bank whose business model is based on customer service excellence.