The UKCSI is an independent, national benchmark of customer satisfaction published each January and July across 13 sectors of the UK, conducted by The Institute of Customer Service.  The UKCSI measures customers’ experiences and relationships with organisations on 26 metrics which are based on customer priorities. For over a decade it has provided us with a biannual snapshot of how UK consumers are feeling.

Latest Headline Results

The latest UKCSI report was released at the end of July 2023. Here are some of the highlights. The full report, published by The Institute, is available to download free on their website

instituteofcustomerservice.com/ukcsi

For more detail, including scores for all named organisations, it is also possible to purchase in-depth reports on each sector.

The July 2023 UKCSI is 76.6 (out of 100), a drop of 1.8 points compared to July 2022 and the lowest score for 8 years (76.2 in July 2015)

The UKCSI score is based on how customers rate organisations across 26 measures which are summarised in 5 dimensions of customer satisfaction. The Complaint Handling dimension has fallen by 7.2 points compared to a year ago and the Emotional Connection and Ethics dimensions have each declined by at least 2 points.

Each of the 13 UKCSI sectors has lower customer satisfaction than a year ago

The Services Sector has received its lowest ever UKCSI score, down 2.3 points to 74.4.

The 10 highest rated organisations

The adverse impact of bad customer experiences with organisations appears to have increased

The average satisfaction of customers who had a problem or bad experience with an organisation is 60.9 (out of 100), a drop of 6.3 points compared to July 2022. Amongst customers who did not have a problem or bad experience, average satisfaction with organisations is 79.7, a smaller decline, of 1 point, compared to a year ago.

Organisations have taken longer to resolve complaints and more problems remain unresolved

48% of customers who experienced a problem said that it took longer than they expected for the problem to be resolved, compared to 37% in July 2022. Just 17% of problems were resolved quicker than expected: in July 2022 it was 28%.

The number of customers who feel their financial well-being is poor or very poor has increased from 12% in July 2022, to 18%

In the July 2023 UKCSI, 12% of people described their financial well-being as poor and 6% said they feel it is very poor. 41% customers claimed that their financial well-being is either good or very good, down from 53% a year ago. As a result, the number of customers describing their financial well-being as average has grown from 34% to 40% of respondents.

For customers who suffer from poor or very poor financial well-being, the impact of an organisation failing to respond to personal needs and context is stark

These customers’ average satisfaction of 44.1 (out of 100) is 37 points lower than that of similar customers who dealt with an organisation that understood and responded to their personal needs.

Recommendations for organisations