Continuing the ‘ongoing upward trend’ in satisfaction since 2011, overall customer satisfaction in the telecoms sector has reportedly increased in the last 12 months, according to the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) published by The Institute of Customer Service.

The UKCSI, which analyses customer satisfaction levels across 13 ‘key’ industries, has given the UK telecoms sector a customer satisfaction rating of 72.9 out of 100; 1.2 points higher than its recorded score in the same report the previous year – however still remains the lowest ranked sector.

The Index provides fundamental insights into key metrics – such as complaints, trust and changing channel use — and this year, the sector has experienced improvements in measures including the speed of service for face-to-face contact with customers; as well as the ease in getting through to companies on the phone. Nonetheless, telecom continues to generate the highest number of complaints, with 20 per cent of customers having experienced an issue.

Although this has dropped by 2.6 per cent over the past year, the figure is still much higher than the UK average of 12.5 per cent.

Analysts found a total of eight organisations within the sector have made significant improvements, with only one demonstrating a fall in customer satisfaction. Giffgaff tops the tables as the highest scorer in the industry, with Tesco Mobile considered as the most improved.

CEO of The Institute of Customer Service, Jo Causon, said: “’Getting it right first time’ has to be a prerequisite for any organisation. Customers expect to be dealt with quickly and competently – as soon as they start to feel let down or ignored, their trust is lost. It’s encouraging to see the telecoms sector is making progress, but prevention is always better than cure, so the industry should take note of the areas which need to be focused on. Efficiency, effectiveness and empathy are key, and organisations should always follow up with customers to ensure that the problem is resolved.”

The Index concluded its results on the basis of 10,000 consumer responses, and found that in many sectors, there has been an increase in the score for ‘customer effort’ – meaning customers had to invest more time in dealing with organisations than they did a year ago.

Download the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) here