Released today, KPMG International’s ‘Customer experience in the new reality’ sheds light on new customer experience expectations in a post-Covid reality. The largest survey of its kind, the Customer Experience Excellence Center analysis, supported by customer specialists KPMG Nunwood, reveal the brands that have been the most agile and responsive to changing customer behaviors in light of Covid-19.

KPMG surveyed over 1,000 customers for its Luxembourg study, covering 80 brands across 9 sectors. The ranking of the top 10 Luxembourg brands is being released today, and an in-depth analysis of the Luxembourg market will follow in September. LALUX emerged as the top brand in Luxembourg, while Spuerkeess and Ernster followed in second and third place respectively.

2020’s top 10 Luxembourg customer experience brands

1. LALUX
2. Spuerkeess
3. Ernster
4. Raiffeisen Bank
5. Oberweis
6. Naturata
7. Guichet.lu
8. Colruyt
9.   Post courrier
10. PayPal

Finance sector dominated the local and global rankings

Two financial sector organizations topped this year’s Luxembourg rankings, and almost half of the top 10 firms are involved in finance.

Stanislas Chambourdon, Head of Banking and Insurance commented on this trend:

“Financial organizations are committed to making a difference in their customer’s life, especially during a crisis. The results of this survey indicate that they have succeeded in this, and at a time of great turbulence. Agile and responsive, finance firms have listened to customers as their needs shifted, acting with integrity and resolving issues with empathy”.

Finance firms also featured prominently in the KPMG Global rankings, which included results from 101,162 consumers across 27 countries. 12 of the leading companies worldwide are financial organizations and the majority provide traditional services. Chambourdon here explains:

“None of these finance companies operate in a ‘traditional’ way. They have a single unifying objective to put their customer first. They focus on making a difference to the customer’s life; they are driven by ethical and sustainable objectives and they are harnessing digital technologies to benefit the customer in new and inventive ways”.

Six Pillars of Customer Experience remain essential

This year’s research shows that the Six Pillars of Experience, outlined by KPMG are more relevant than ever. The global study reveals that the top-ranked brand in each market typically outperforms the respective market average score for each pillar by between 10 percent and 12 percent. The Global study also reveals that during a time of crisis, brands that put emphasis on integrity and personalization benefit from a stronger sense of customer loyalty.

While personalization drives customer loyalty in 20 of the 27 markets surveyed, KPMG’s global research also found that integrity inspires customer advocacy in 19 out of 27 markets. This makes sense as customers have a deeper appreciation of family, friendship and health and are keen to see COVID-19 as an opportunity to reset their values in the world while getting value in all they experience.

The customer’s opinion on the environment, society and the needs of a particular group of customers remained steady compared to the previous year and companies with a strong sense of purpose scored highly in integrity. Now more than ever, consumers value companies that are authentic brands with a distinct mission.

Jean-Pascal Nepper, KPMG Partner and leader on Customer Experience Excellence at KPMG, said:

“Organizations have a unique opportunity to really connect with their customers. At the end of the day, we are all customers, and we are all experiencing what is, hopefully, a once in a life-time situation. Brands who show compassion and that they can put their customer before profit will win a life-time supply of customer loyalty when this difficult period is over”.

Nepper explains how brands can succeed in the new reality:

“The Covid-19 crisis has given birth to a new kind of customer, and for brands to succeed in a post-Covid reality, they need to make sure they are able to transform side by side with this new customer. From keeping your customer needs top of mind to remaining agile and resilient, there are many things a brand can do to succeed in the new reality. Focusing attention on new digital solutions will also be a large part of the new reality, but make sure your customers are still being served by humans at the key moments!”. 

To read the full KPMG Global Customer Experience Excellence report: ‘Customer first. Customer obsessed’ please download here: https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2020/07/customer-experience-in-the-new-reality.pdf

The Luxembourg report will be available in September.