Customer service, digital engagement drive brand reputation: Survey

The PR firm and market-research company sought to understand consumers’ perception of trend-leading companies in Singapore. They polled more than 800 respondents in Singapore with questions related to the reputation of companies and attributes that drive that reputation. Reputation was measured on five attributes: brand image, customer engagement and transparency, employer branding, corporate social responsibility, digital/online behaviour and online interaction.

The top five trend-leaders that are perceived to be on the way up include Samsung, with 89 per cent of those polled believing it to be moving upwards. Mercedes Benz, Apple, OCBC Bank and BMW all registered improvement among approximately 70 per cent of the respondents. Samsung overtook Apple, which slid from first place to fifth.

However, the survey revealed that trend-leading companies were not necessarily perceived as great places to build careers. “Success can be a double-edged sword,” said Jamie, Morse, managing director of H+K Strategies Singapore and Malaysia. “The relentless focus on driving product innovation and new launches might have a role to play in fuelling these perceptions.”

“Whilst many companies have used career development, money and work-life balance to attract and retain talent, they have missed the opportunity to really deepen employee engagement by bringing their brand to life internally,” said Neel Banerjee, director of customer experience and loyalty, TNS. He stressed that companies that successfully use this “internal branding” and connect it with their “external branding” will be able to establish distinctiveness and have the best chance of maintaining growth.

The survey found that international brands outperform local brands with a reputation index of 73 versus 50. Although Singapore consumers are more familiar with local brands, international brands score higher on individual reputation components. On the overall reputation metric, 68 per cent rated international brands as excellent or very good, while 52 per cent said the same for local brands. On the favourability front, 62 per cent preferred international brands while 50 per cent polled in favour of local brands.

As for trust, 71 per cent of respondents trusted international brands while 65 per cent said they trusted local brands. On balance however, as the study revealed, the overall reputation score for Singapore companies at 68 lies well within the top 33 percentile of TNS’ reputation benchmarks for Southeast Asia (61) while international brands in Singapore perform close to the top 10 percentile (76).

According to Banerjee, the survey also validated the growing influence of the digital space among general consumers. International brands differentiate themselves by using technology to their advantage better and receiving more positive coverage in digital, online and social-media than local brands. “Brands that are actively engaging with their customers on these platforms—building communities, responding to posts and demonstrating transparency—are deepening their relationship with customers and really encouraging bonding with the brand,” Banerjee said.