Singapore's top brands for customer experience

Singaporean consumers love the service provided by their national carrier, selecting Singapore Airlines as their top brand for customer experience. Customers in the market can be highly discerning when it comes to travel experiences as evidenced by a recent brouhaha over its food packaging. One might argue, however, such 'controversy' only stems from the high esteem customers place on their experiences with the brand.

The ranking stems from Campaign's authoritative list of Southeast Asia's top 50 brands for consumer experience, recently revealed at Campaign360 in partnership with research firm Milieu Insight.

Six markets were involved in the survey (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Philippines) whereby recognised brands across 11 sectors were ranked across five CX metrics: quality, buying experience, customer service, brand touchpoints (ease of use across all digital and offline brand interactions) and advocacy (degree of recommendation) to form their customer experience score.

Singapore's Top 30 brands by customer experience score

Among the top brands, Singapore consumers were fixated on food. More than a third of their top 30 brands for customer experience were those who could satisfy cravings (McDonald's, Haidilao, Din Tai Fung, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC and Swensons). That's not even including food delivery services like Foodpanda and Grab, which along with taxi service Comfort Delgro, round out a small cluster of transport brands. Singaporeans also included more banks (DBS, POSB, OCBC) among their leaders, along with a mix of retailers and apparel brands.  

Aside from Singapore Airlines, all other local brands fell outside the top 10, though seven of the top 30 brands selected were local, with most of them being service providers like the banks, Singtel and Comfort Delgro. 

Let's have a closer look at the top performers.

Singapore's top 10 

1. Singapore Airlines

As an island city-state with only a causeway link to Malaysia, airlines are incredibly important to connect Singaporeans with the wider world. And while there are plenty of airlines to choose from, consumers still hold their own airline in high regard. Other markets agree. The national flagship carrier was the only airline in Southeast Asia ranked high enough in at least three markets to be featured in the overall regional rankings (22nd). In Singapore SIA's consumer experience vastly outperformed not just other carriers, but all other brands, finishing first in terms of service quality, recommendation, and optimisation across both online and offline touchpoints. Only in buying experience was SIA surpassed by one other brand, Tencent's Chinese video streaming service, WeTV.  

2. Uniqlo

Cheap, clean and cheerful with nice design, Japanese fast fashion retailer Uniqlo outperforms in Singapore, ranking second compared to 13th overall in Southeast Asia. The second most recommended brand in the market, Uniqlo rated fourth for its buying experience and managed to tie Apple for its service across various touchpoints. Although its lowest score predictably came in quality, it still managed to rank tied for sixth, finishing ahead of brands like Samsung. 

3. Apple

Apple rates more highly in Singapore, home to a more affluent market and one that appreciates quality. Although it finished second to SIA in the quality category, its score was miles ahead of the rest of the pack following well behind. The online and offline hardware provider with its own retail network was also third most recommended, had the third highest buying experience and tied for second in its seamlessness across touchpoints.  

4. Shopee

As in other SEA markets, Singaporeans rated Shopee as their top online shopping platform for customer experience. Known for its aggressive marketing and offers, Shopee's service quality score was nothing to write home about. But consumers do appreciate its seamless service across various touchpoints and buying experience, also giving it the fourth highest-recommendation score overall. 

5. McDonald's 

Singapore aligns with the rest of the region in ranking McDonald's fifth overall, with its quick and easy ordering service. Its efficient experience across brand touchpoints ranked fourth overall, helping to earn its grade, along with finishing in the top 10 for recommendation. In product quality, however, it trails well behind that of sit-down restaurants like Din Tai Fung and Haidilao. 

6. Grab

Although Singaporeans use Grab for everything from transport to deliveries to gifts and payments, the so-called super app slipped behind its third place ranking in the region overall. But the touchpoints category tends to be where brands make it or break it for customer experience and here is where it landed exactly in sixth. Its other scores were lower and well behind its performance in the Malaysian market.   

7. Watsons

Like in other SEA markets, the drugstore brand is a leading retailer for customer service in Singapore, known for its solid in-store service, but also performing well across all touchpoints. Only its quality scores lagged in a market with lower scores for all brands in that CX category.  

8. Haidilao

The Chinese hotpot restaurant brand is known far and wide for its over-the-top customer service, at times going as far as to offer massages and manicures to waiting customers. That kind of treatment goes down well and Singaporeans rated its quality as top.

9. Samsung

Samsung ranks much higher - first overall in fact - in the rest of Southeast Asia than it does in Singapore, where rival Apple rules the roost. While the Korean electronics giant enjoys high awareness, in this market Samsung trails Apple on every CX score and does not perform particularly well when it comes to its optimised experience across touchpoints or its buying experience. 

10. Din Tai Fung

The Taiwanese dim sum chain is Singapore's highest ranking restaurant for quality and is tied with Haidilao for most recommended restaurant. Not known for its digital experience, it receives a lower optimisation score across touchpoints and although service is quick, its buying experience isn't especially high either. It's primarily the taste and food enjoyment that makes consumers rate their experiences here so highly. 

Methodology