Tesco Mobile best telecoms provider in UKCSI report

They ranked fourth out of the top 50 organisations in the country and were ranked among the top ten in four out of five major categories.

Tesco Mobile were the only broadband or mobile provider who made it into the top 50 of the July 2022 research.

Across the telecommunications sector, quality was named as a major attribute that customers are looking for in a provider.

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Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile were named as the fourth best organisation across all sectors in the UK in the latest UKCSI report published by The Institute of Customer Service.

Their overall score of 86.1 marked an increase of 2.2 since the January 2022 update when they ranked as the 22nd best organisation in the UK.

They also ranked in the top ten for the following key UKCSI dimensions:

• Experience
• Customer Ethos
• Emotional Connection
• Ethics

As we explain in our guide to the best mobile provider for customer service, Tesco Mobile customers are also some of the most satisfied according to Ofcom metrics too.

They have consistently low levels of complaints and are the only pay monthly mobile provider to offer a fixed price promise, although they did raise their out of allowance pricing earlier this year.

Telecoms sector

Although no other mobile or broadband companies made it into the top 50 for the July 2022, we still have data on how customers in the sector are experiencing customer service and what their priorities are.

Here are some of the key findings:

• 77% of customers rank quality as one of their top priorities when choosing a telecoms provider, with 50% saying convenience is a top priority.
• Localness was not a priority for telecoms customers, with only 4% saying it was a key attribute while only 14% pointed to ethical reasons as a key attribute.
• 59.5% of telecoms customers said an organisation responded to their personal needs and situation, although 21.5% said they didn't need them to.

We wouldn't expect localness to be a key priority for many customers choosing a mobile or broadband provider, yet 37% still said they chose a provider based on at least one aspect of their local engagement.

The overall score for the telecommunications and media sector was 76.6, an increase of 1.4 compared to the previous year.

Customer service trends

The UKCSI also offered a snapshot of what customers are expecting from companies more generally in the current economic climate.

58% of customers believe low prices will become a more important factor when it comes to choosing an organisation over the next two years, while 50% said choosing a company they trust will become more important.

At the other end of the table, only 24% believe choosing a well-known brand will be important over the next two years, with 14% saying it will be less important. This could represent an opportunity for smaller organisations across all sectors to attract new customers.

There were some other key findings in the report:

• The quality or reliability of goods and services was the leading cause of customer problems with organisations. 42.8% cited this issue in July 2022, an increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year.
• 35% of all customers prefer excellent service even if costs more, while 12% prefer low-cost and no-frills services.
• Customers want organisations to improve on developing helpful and friendly staff. 15.0% of all customers highlighted this, with 29.4% of those who believed an organisation didn't respond to their personal situation pointing this out.
• Knowledgeable staff was also an issue customers wanted to see improvement on, with 13.2% of all customers and 30.5% of unhappy customers highlighting this.

Overall customer satisfaction in the July 2022 was generally flat, and the Institute of Customer Service warn that it is declining in some areas.

They point to the cost of living crisis along with recruitment and supply chain blockages as problems that organisations are going to have to overcome while keeping their customers happy in the next six months.

We've already seen evidence from Citizens Advice that customer service standards in the energy sector have plummeted, suggesting that industry is one to keep a close eye on in the future.