Introduction
In a fast-moving technological world, where everything from shopping to managing utilities can be done online, consumers expect quick and easy access to everything – including customer service.
As a result, companies’ customer service – whether it’s live chat, telephone, email or social media – has to be more efficient and instant than ever before.
With this in mind, our software-comparing experts at SaaSGenius.com have investigated which companies and sectors offer the best help desks and customer support, by looking at the following factors:
- The live chat experience
- The number of alternative contact methods
- How quickly customer support responded via each contact method
- Each company’s Trustpilot rating
Fashion Retailers
With online fashion being one of the quickest-moving industries, it is essential that brands – from high-street to designer – have fast and helpful customer service available.
We contacted ten of the UK’s leading fashion retailers with the question, “How can I exchange or return an online purchase?”
The industry average for customer service quality in fashion is 49.35 out of 100, with some brands including the likes of Nike, H&M, and Next exceeding expectations, to provide the best service for their customers.
Sportswear giant Nike leads the way in providing the most efficient help desk, with a total score of 70.3 out of 100, excelling well above the industry average.
Unsurprisingly, Nike scored 10/10 in multiple categories as the brand’s ‘just do it’ mantra extends to its customer service department. For example, customers can easily access the Nike help desk in just 1 click and can be connected to another human after sending just 1 message.
Whether it’s an incorrect order or an issue with a return, Nike’s customer support was also incredibly quick at answering the phone in a short 37 seconds, whilst those opting to get in touch via social media, also benefited from a speedy reply of 2 minutes on Twitter.
H&M emerges as having the second-best help desk in the fashion retailer category, with a helpful score of 68.6/100.
Whilst H&M was pipped to the post by Nike, the high-street retailer did emerge as having the best live chat experience, scoring a helpful 45.6/50. The easy-to-access helpdesk can be reached in just 1 click, giving the high-street fashion company a pleasing 10/10 in this category. The retailer then goes on to further impress by connecting customers with complaints to another human after just 1 message.
H&M also resolved customer issues in just 1 second via their site’s chatbot and ensured the issues were resolved after just 1 message, scoring the brand highly in these categories (10/10).
The third-best help desk service title goes to Next, with a pleasing score of 67.7/100.
Customers with complaints at Next can access customer support in just 1 click and be connected to a human after 1 message, earning the high-street retailer full marks (10/10) in these categories.
Next also had the most contact methods available out of the top three brands, giving customers 4 ways of contacting their customer service team and scoring the brand yet another 10/10.
Adidas emerged as the fashion house that took the longest time to answer a customer’s phone call, with a wait time of 47 minutes and 17 seconds, scoring the brand an unimpressive 4.4/10.
However, Pretty Little Thing ranked as having a live chat experience score of 0 out of 50, as the brand’s live chat wasn’t working, failing to answer or resolve customer issues.
Delivery Couriers
According to 2023 data from Statista, 80% of the UK population shop online, deliveries have become a frequent part of many people’s daily lives. However, customers are sometimes, unfortunately, facing issues related to missing parcels or incorrect items received.
We contacted ten of the UK’s leading delivery courier companies with the query, “Hi, my parcel hasn’t turned up, and I need to locate it.”
Each delivery courier has its own customer support options in place to deal with any issues that arise. The average score for delivery couriers’ customer support services was 42.27/100, but which companies delivered better than average?
EVRi is the delivery courier with the best customer service help available, scoring 60.7/100.
EVRi had a near-perfect live chat experience score of 49.8 out of 50 due to the super short response time of 1 second, alongside the company’s speediness in resolving any issues in 1 minute. Customers also only need to exchange 1 message in the live chat before being connected to another human.
However, whilst EVRi tops the table for its speedy customer service on their live chat, it’s important to note that this method of contact is the customer’s only way to reach customer service – so the company’s customer service resources are all focused on this.
Joining EVRi in joint-first place is Amazon, also scoring 60.7/100 for its easy-to-use and super quick help desk.
Amazon’s speedy 1 second live chat response time has scored the online retail giant full marks (10/10) in this category, whilst those choosing to use Twitter to contact the courier will be kept waiting for 3 minutes for a response, scoring Amazon 7.8/10 in this category.
Whether it’s a customer complaint or a query, Amazon’s over-the-phone customer service is quick to respond in just 2 minutes 35 seconds, gaining the courier a category score of 7.8/10.
Yodel secures its position in third place for customer service, scoring 58.5 out of 100.
Customers of the Liverpool-based delivery company only need to make 1 click to reach Yodel’s help desk and send 1 message before being connected to another human, scoring the courier 10/10 for both elements.
The customer service team responded to customers in 1 minute (scoring 8.8/10) with issues being resolved in 2 minutes (scoring 8.9/10) – making it no surprise that Yodel achieved a 45.5/50 live chat experience score.
Some brands did not fare quite as well as others, with the likes of APC Overnight failing to respond to a customer email for over 72 hours, showing that speedy customer service is not their strong suit.
Grocery Suppliers
Grocery deliveries are designed to provide complete convenience. However, in some cases, missing items, past their best food or incorrect items, can be delivered, resulting in customers needing to contact customer service.
We contacted 10 of the UK’s leading grocery suppliers with the question, “I bought an item online, is there a store I can return it to?”
With the industry average score for grocery suppliers’ help desks at 42.73 out of 100, some supermarket giants, including M&S, Lidl and Aldi, are massively outperforming when it comes to their customer support.
M&S is crowned the supermarket with the best help desk for customers, scoring 68.4 out of 100.
The fast food giant’s live chat experience scored them a helpful 38.9/50, with customers’ issues being resolved in 3 messages, as well as having the option to be connected to another human after 2 messages – scoring them 10/10 in these categories.
For the customers who prefer to contact the grocery supplier in a different way like via phone, M&S offer 4 methods of contact to suit all customers’ needs – securing them another score of 10/10.
The popular discount retailer, Lidl, secures its place as the second-best customer service provider, scoring 65.6 out of 100 overall.
The company’s live chat experience also scored an impressive 38.1 out of 50. Responses from Lidl took only 1 second, with only 2 messages needing to be sent before being connected to a human, and issues being resolved in 3 messages – scoring them 10/10 across the board in these areas.
For customers who prefer to use other methods of contact than live chat, Lidl offers 4 options in total, with others including the telephone, a contact form and social media.
Scoring 58.4 out of 100 overall, Aldi ranks as having the third-most supportive help desk for its customers.
The German discount supermarket chain offers 4 different methods of contact to its customers, including live chat, telephone, contact form and social media, scoring it an accommodating 10/10.
Aldi’s customer support via the live chat is as speedy as the supermarket’s checkout service, as customers’ first messages are replied to in 1 second, with issues being resolved in 1 minute – bagging the supermarket 10/10 for its service.
Asda, on the other hand, appeared to be less focused on dealing with customer complaints, taking 54 minutes to answer a customer call, giving it a disappointing score of 1.1 out of 10 in this category.
Utility Companies
Customers need to contact customer support at their chosen utility company for many reasons, from bill payments or usage queries to cancelling or changing contracts.
We asked ten of the UK’s leading utility companies, “I have a question about my latest bill amount and was wondering if you could help?”
The average score for customer service in the utility industry is 40.38/100. However, some utility companies go above and beyond to provide the most helpful help desks.
Shell Energy ranks as the utility company with the best customer service, achieving an impressive 80.1/100
Taking only 1 click to reach the company’s help desk and having the option of 4 contact methods available, including live chat, telephone, email and Twitter – Shell Energy scores 10/10 in these categories.
With a live chat score of 36.4/50, it’s unsurprising how speedy the live chat customer service team is, giving a first response in 1 minute and 1 second (scoring 8.6/10). The Twitter customer service team responded in 13 seconds (scoring 7.5/10) and the telephone customer service team took 2 minutes and 14 seconds to answer (scoring 7.8/10).
Utilita secures second place for having one of the most helpful customer service help desks, scoring 54.9/100.
Paying special attention to their live chat customer service, Utilita has an impressive 41.4/50 live chat experience score. In addition, customers using live chat will have their issues resolved within 7 messages and within 11 minutes, with the utility company being the only one in its category to resolve an issue in the live chat (scoring them 10/10).
Ranking as the third-best supplier of customer service is British Gas, with a total score of 44.9 out of 100.
The utility company’s easy-to-use website means that customers can find the help desk in just 1 click (scoring 10/10) and choose from a range of 3 contact methods: telephone, live chat and social media (scoring 7.5/10).
Customers taking the live chat route will receive their first response in 1 second, landing British Gas with full marks in this category of 10/10.
Scottish Power is the slowest of the utility companies to answer the phone, with 30 minutes of waiting time to answer (scoring 0/10). A customer reference number is also essential unless customers are looking to spend even further time on the phone.
Travel Companies
Needing to cancel or make changes to a booking can be stressful for many customers, so it’s vital that travel companies offer their customers the best support to deal with it.
We reached out to ten of the leading travel companies in the UK with the query, “I would like to cancel my booking, but I cannot remember my reference number”.
Whilst the average score for customer support in the travel industry is 44.78 out of 100, easyJet, TUI and Expedia take their customer service to new heights.
easyJet’s help desk and customer service soars above the industry average and leads the way with a promising 65.5 out of 100.
The airline’s live chat experience scored a respectable 37.2/50 overall, with issues being resolved in just 2 messages (scoring 7.5/10) and in 2 minutes (scoring 10/10).
However, for customers wanting to use alternate methods of contact to the live chat – easyJet has 4 methods in total (scoring 10/10) – including telephone, contact form and Twitter.
Following closely behind easyJet, with a score of 61.9 out of 100, is German travel and tourism company TUI in second place, for having the most helpful customer service.
Scoring almost full marks on Trustpilot with a respectable score of 4.4 out of 5, TUI scored 8.8/10 for their customer satisfaction on the site.
TUI’s customer support team also work to resolve any issues within as little as 2 messages (scoring 7.5/10) and in 5 minutes (scoring 7.1/10).
Climbing the ranks to third place for their helpful customer support is travel company Expedia, scoring 58.1 out of 100.
With speedy customer service on social media, customers are replied to in 2 seconds on Twitter, achieving a score of 10/10 for Expedia.
Those using the live chat will have issues resolved in 4 minutes (scoring 8.6/10) and can be connected to a person after 5 messages (scoring 10/10) – gaining the travel company a live chat experience score of 38.2 out of 50.
Scoring 0 out of 10 in a number of categories, British Airways’ customer service team failed to connect customers to another human via the live chat and resolve issues customers had.
Conclusion
Overall, whilst each sector (fashion, delivery couriers, grocery, utilities) had companies providing excellent levels of customer service, some sectors simply outperformed others when it came to their customer support.
The fashion industry emerged as the sector providing the highest level of customer service, with a clear winning industry average of 49.35 out of 50.
Following behind in close proximity to each other is the grocery sector (42.73/50) and the delivery courier sector (42.27/50), whilst the utility sector had the lowest average score of the sectors at 40.38/50.
Methodology
We drew seed lists of the 10 best-performing companies from 5 different industries from the likes of YouGov, Glamour, Retail Selector, Embryo, Byrd, Which? and ADV Ratings.
Given that SaaSgenius.com are known to compare help desk software, the primary purpose of this campaign was to test each of these companies’ on-site live chat customer service.
As such, we established five different factors with which to test each company’s live chat. These were the number of clicks before you get from the website home page to the help desk, the length of time it takes for a first response, the number of messages exchanged before getting to speak to a human, the length of time it takes to resolve the issue and the number of messages it takes to resolve the issue. All of these factors combined determined a score out of 50.
Because not all of the companies offered live chat customer service, meaning it was important to consider the alternative methods of customer service available from each of these companies. The big three being customer service via e-mail, phone and social media (Twitter).
In each of these categories, we contacted each company via phone, email and social media and measured the length of time taken for each company to deliver a first response. Every company was contacted on a weekday and at regular working hours (between 9AM – 3PM) Those times determined a score out of 10 each. Each company was given an extra score out of 10 for the number of different customer service methods available. A company which offered all 4 modes of service would receive a 10/10 score in this category.
In order to take into account consumers’ opinions regarding the customer service offered by each company outside of the study, and so factored the Trustpilot rating out of five for each company and doubled it for a score out of 10.
This took the total score for each company to one out of 100. From there we were able to rank the best-performing companies, as well as compare the scores to establish the average scores per industry and the best-performing industries.