Service Hero announced Kuwaits top performing companies, at the 2013 Customer Service Assessment Awards Ceremony, which took place at the Hotel Missoni Kuwait, on 17 February, 2013. The awards were based on a six-month voting drive that collected a record breaking 14,575 direct customer votes collected online.

The 17 industry categories that were rated in the 2013 Customer Service Assessment included cafs, casual dining, car service, clothes, electronics, fast food, fine dining, home furniture, Islamic Banks, ISP, mobile operators, new car sale, private hospitals, regional Arab airlines, retail banks and supermarkets. Each industry category was measured across up to eight service dimensions, which are reliability, speed, product quality, staff quality, value for money, location, call center and website quality.

The table below highlights the winner from each industry category, as announced at the awards ceremony:

Service Hero Category The Best Customer Service Company # of wins
1. Caf Caribou Coffee 4
2. Care Service Infiniti New
3. New Car Sale Chevrolet 2
4. Casual Dining Mais Alghanim 4
5. Clothes American Eagle 2
6. Electronics Eureka 4
7. Fast Food McDonalds 4
8. Fine Dining Sakura Japanese Restaurant - Crowne Plaza 2
9. Home Furniture IKEA 4
10.Islamic Banks Boubyan Bank 4
11.ISP KEMS 4
12.Mobile Operators VIVA New
13.Private Hospitals Royale Hayat Hospital 4
14.Regional Arab Airline Emirates 2
15.Retail Bank National Bank of Kuwait 3
16.Super Market Lulu Hypermarket New

Overall country winners of the Service Hero 2013 Award for Best Customer Service among 320 companies are:
1. Mais Alghanim First place Golden winner for 2nd time
2. Caribou Coffee Second place Silver winner for 2nd time
3. American Eagle Third place Bronze winner for 2nd time

Faten Abu-Ghazaleh, Service Hero President, said: I would like to congratulate the winners of Kuwaits 2013 Customer Service Assessment Awards and in specific, those that have been able to benefit from the index over the years and move to or maintain a leading position in its category. This years exercise has witnessed a 3% increase in the publics general satisfaction levels across 320 reviewed companies, which is considered a major achievement.

I would also like to thank the companies and customers for having faith in the purpose of Service Hero. Their participation motivates us to continuously seek different ways to improve our service.

The guest speaker of the evening was Dr. Forrest V. Morgeson, Director of Research at American Customer Service Index (ACSI), and the most recent member of Service Heros advisory council. As Director of Research, Dr. Morgeson is responsible for managing ACSI's academic research, statistical analysis, and its international licensing program (Global CSITM). Dr. Morgeson will also present Service Hero with valuable guidance and recommendations, which would positively affect the index performance and in turn, its impact on the economy.

Our recent partnership with ACSI is the first step towards taking our services to the next level. By partnering with the leading customer service index, Service Hero will receive world class guidance and will conform to a global benchmark system that will allow Kuwaits companies a comparison to other similar brands in different markets around the world. Added Abu-Ghazaleh
Some interesting highlights from the findings have been listed in the tables below.

Table 1- Service Hero Index data based on 10,719 assessments representing Kuwait population with 95% confidence level and + / - 3% error margin. (Scores are on a ten point scale with ten being the highest score)
Strong satisfaction Score Weak satisfaction Score
Dimension Location 8.07 Value 7.6
Staff 8.07 Call center 7.76
Website 8.16 Speed 7.8
Demographic Non-Arab 8.11 Elementary or < 6.71
Female 8.17 Kuwaiti 7.63
High School 8.24 Male 7.82
Category Casual Dining 8.48 Hospital 7.42
Clothes 8.37 Mobile operator 7.5
Home Furniture 8.33 Health clubs 7.55
Fine Dining 8.24 Fast food 7.58

Table 2 Service Hero Index data based on 10,719 assessments representing Kuwait population with 95% confidence level and + / - 3% error margin (Scores are on a ten point scale with ten being the highest score)
Exceed customer expectations Gap Below customer expectations Gap
Dimension Location + 0.13 Value -0.13
Website + 0.12 Reliability -0.08
Staff + 0.06 Speed -0.07
Product Quality -0.07
Demographic 50+ + 0.17 30-39 -0.10
Non-Arab + 0.10 Kuwaiti -0.18
High School + 0.10 Masters + -0.08
Category Retail banks + 0.06 Mobile Operators -0.26
Home Furniture + 0.13 Hospitals -0.22
Casual Dining + 0.12 ISP -0.19
Electronics -0.18

The Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index is overseen by an independent Advisory Council comprising the American University of Kuwait, Gulf University of Science and Technology, the Australian College of Kuwait and Kuwait Maastricht Business School its academic sponsors, and other prominent businessmen from leading organizations, including American Customer Satisfaction Index, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, the Boston Consulting Group, and Noor Investment Co.
The 2014 assessment is now available on the companys website www.servicehero.com, through social media channels and also as a smart phone application. Customers can now vote throughout the year, providing them with even more time to record and express their experiences and rate the services and products they are using and purchasing.