Press information - EPSI Rating International Benchmark - Lithuanian customers are the most satisfied and Icelandic the most dissatisfied
- Sweden has a consistent 8 year upward trend in their customer satisfaction
- Banks go up in customer satisfaction internationally, supermarkets go down
- Handelsbanken received the best scores in the Finnish EPSI
- Women are more satisfied customers in all industries, but not in all companies
- Older people give higher scores, but not in all companies
- People in rural areas are more satisfied, but not with their electricity companiesThese are some of the results from the EPSI Rating studies conducted in the Nordic and Baltic countries 2006. All the interviews have been done in September - December 2006. In all countries, the studies have been done similarly. The data is gathered by telephone interviews. Both corporate and private customers have been interviewed in each country. The respondents are selected by randomization procedures to participate in the research. From each major company, usually 250 private customers and 250 corporate customers are interviewed. In all EPSI Rating studies, the customer satisfaction index is the most central measurement. It can take values between 0 and 100 where 100 means that all customers are very satisfied. However, other measurements are included as well. These are known as important drivers and consist of company images, customer expectations, product and service quality, value for money. These drivers together with customer satisfaction result in customer loyalty. Lithuanian customers are the most satisfied in the Northern Europe and Icelandic the most dissatisfied
In EPSI Rating studies, Lithuanian companies received the best average satisfaction score of 77.2 among the studied countries. Next were the other Baltic countries and Finland. See the table below.
Denmark and Czech Republic could not be included in the comparison because only two sectors were studied there 2006. Sweden seems to have a consistent 8 year upward trend in their customer satisfaction
The trends in customer satisfaction in each country from year 1999 are presented below. Sweden seems to have a consistent upward trend. Earlier, the Swedish customers with Norwegians have given the lowest satisfaction scores, but now Iceland seems to have taken that position. 
click for larger image Banks go up in customer satisfaction internationally, supermarkets into the opposite direction
Below are the trends concerning four different industries measured in most countries. Banks seem to have an upward trend concerning customer satisfaction. Supermarkets seem to have an opposite trend. 
click for larger image
Handelsbanken received the best scores in the Finnish EPSI
In Finland, this year five sectors were studied: banks, property insurance companies, mobile and broadband operators, and electricity companies. The ranking order of the studied companies concerning their private customer satisfaction indexes are presented below. 
Banking companies seem to be in top positions and national electricity companies seem to be at the bottom. Women are more satisfied customers in all industries, but not in all companies
On average, female customers are more satisfied than male customers. In Finland, women gave on average a satisfaction score of 70.3 and men 68.6. The difference is 1.7 index points and statistically very significant. In all the studied industries in Finland in 2006 (banks, insurance companies, mobile and broadband operators, and electricity companies), female private customers gave higher scores than men, but not in all companies. The companies where women gave lower satisfaction scores than men were: Fortum, If, Nordea and Nordea Vahinkovakuutus. The difference between women and men is even larger in customer loyalty indexes. The difference is 2.8 index points. Women gave a loyalty index of 73.9 and men 71.1. Older people give higher scores, but not in all companies
Young consumers tend to give lower scores to their companies. In Finland, the difference between the age group over 50 and less than 30 years old was 2.3 index points. But in some companies, young customers gave better scores than old. Those companies were: Fortum, Nordea, and Pohjola. In Fortum, customers who are under 30 years, gave Fortum an index of 60.5 and customers over 50 an index of 51.2. People in rural areas are usually more satisfied, but not with their electricity companies
Usually customers who live in urban areas and big cities are more critical and give lower scores to their companies. But this time, there was no statistically significant difference in that sense when we pooled all the industries together. But when we inspect the differences between rural and urban consumers on industry level, it seems that concerning the electricity companies, there is a big difference between rural and urban customers. While people in the great Helsinki area give a satisfaction score of 70.2 for their electricity company, in rural areas people give their electricity company an index of 59.2. The EPSI Rating study This research is part of European Customer Satisfaction Research, EPSI Rating. EPSI rating study is currently done in all the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Czech Republic, Greece and Portugal. It is coordinated by the Swedish Institute of Quality and the Stockholm School of Economics. European quality organizations are also backing the research. In Sweden, the same methodology has been in use since the year 1984, and it already covers a major portion of the Swedish economy. It is the intention to gradually expand the research to cover all the European countries. The research is coordinated in Finland by Dr. Juhani Kuokkanen. For additional information, please contact:
Dr. Juhani Kuokkanen phone: +358 40 5093401, e-mail: juhani.kuokkanen@epsi-finland.org
Professor Jan Eklöf phone: +46 7069 64185, e-mail: jan.eklof@epsi-rating.com
Dr. Johan Parmler phone: +46 8736 9247, e-mail: johan.parmler@epsi-rating.com
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