Amazon, Asos and John Lewis voted the best for customer satisfaction

Online giant Amazon has topped the charts for customer satisfaction for the second year in the row, according to the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKSCI).

The US giant managed to beat online fashion rival Asos, a new entrant to the chart, who came in second place in the bi-annual survey from the Institute of Customer Service. British department stores John Lewis and Marks & Spencer, together with supermarket Waitrose, all retailers with a "heritage in customer service" rounded out the top 5 respectively.

Amazon and Asos both scored 87.3 and 85.8 points respectively on the UKSCI 100 point index - the strongest scores across all 13 sectors measures for UK customer satisfaction. M&S scored the highest within the foot retail sector, with 85.0 points, while Tesco was highlighted as the most improved supermarket, with an increase in points of 1.2.

"Generally speaking, it’s been a better year for customer service, with consumers telling us that businesses are improving overall experiences by getting things right first time and dealing with complaints faster and more efficiently," commented Jo Causon, Chief Executive of the Institute of Customer Service.

"However, these factors do not necessarily translate into customer loyalty and recommendation. Just being ‘good’ is no longer good enough, and organisations should think about how they can deliver outstanding service at all times. With 51 percent of people saying that it has taken them more than two attempts to get a problem fixed, the evidence suggests that customers still feel that they’re spending too much time and effort dealing with businesses. "

"To turn this around a greater focus should be given to making things easier and less cumbersome for customers." Causon added that retailers should offer better consistency across all channels as well as more engagement through digital methods by ensuring their employees are "highly engaged and highly skilled, as every customer interaction – regardless of the channel it’s on – counts towards business performance."

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon