The Philippine customer satisfaction index

SINGAPORE: 31 July 2013 — Having exceptional service advisors as a first point of contact and solid customer-centric processes for new-vehicle owners during vehicle servicing are becoming increasingly important drivers of customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2013 Philippines Customer Service Index (CSI) Study released today. Now in its 13th year, the study measures overall satisfaction among vehicle owners who visit an authorized service center for maintenance or repair work during the first 12 to 24 months of ownership based on five factors (listed in order of importance): service quality; service advisor; vehicle pick-up; service initiation; and service facility. The importance weights of the service advisor and service initiation factors have increased from 2012 (22% vs. 13% and 19% vs. 13%, respectively). In addition, service quality increases importance to 40 percent from 25 percent in 2012. "When evaluating their experience at dealerships, customers are giving more weight to personal interaction," said Mohit Arora, executive director at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Singapore. "Manufacturers and dealerships, therefore, need to focus on communication and soft skills, such as managing customer expectations." Overall satisfaction with authorized dealer customer service in the Philippines is 825 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2013, improving 4 points from 2012. Among the 11 brands measured in the study, Toyota ranks highest with a score of 832. Toyota performs particularly well in the service advisor and vehicle pick-up factors. Following Toyota in the rankings is Honda, which achieves a score of 831 and performs particularly well in the service facility factor. Satisfaction among customers who indicate their service advisor was familiar with their vehicle's service history is 826, compared with 802 among customers who indicate otherwise. "Managing customers by having prior knowledge of the work done on their vehicle is a