Customer-Perceived Service Quality Level Reflecting Non-Face-to-Face Increases Compared to Previous Years

KSA Announces First Half Results of the '2021 KS-SQI (Korean Service Quality Index) Survey'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The level of customer-perceived service quality of companies reflecting non-face-to-face services has been found to be higher than in previous years. On the 30th, the Korea Standards Association announced the results of the 'KS-SQI (Korea Service Quality Index)' survey, which comprehensively shows the quality level of Korea's service industry and the degree of improvement by company. The survey on service quality levels was conducted with about 29,100 people who experienced services from 104 companies across 29 industries including finance, telecommunications, and retail, revealing that the average score across all industries was 73.9 points (out of 100), down 0.5 points from the previous year.

Since the survey began in 2000, KS-SQI had shown a steady upward trend except for the late 2000s during the global financial crisis. However, due to consumption contraction caused by COVID-19 and stagnation in the service industry, last year's KS-SQI score slightly declined compared to the previous year, showing a pause in the upward trend. Nevertheless, this year, as companies made multifaceted efforts to overcome the COVID-19 situation and deliver services to customers, the service quality perceived by customers increased.

This year, the newly revised KS-SQI 3.0 model was applied, conducting the survey across eight dimensions: accuracy, expertise, sincerity, kindness, proactiveness, ease of use, appearance, and social value. Human service areas such as sincerity, kindness, and proactiveness showed similar or slightly decreased trends compared to the previous year, but accuracy, ease of use, and appearance dimensions increased compared to the previous year. This can be interpreted as a result of strengthening non-face-to-face channel services and focusing on convenience and digital transformation. The social value dimension, surveyed for the first time this year, consists of items connected to the recently emerging ESG (environment, social, governance) and was rated lower compared to other dimensions.

The Standards Association will hold the '2021 KS-SQI 1st Place Company Certification Ceremony' at Lotte Hotel Seoul on the 1st of next month, sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The major first-place companies in this survey include SK Telecom (22 consecutive years), Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (20 consecutive years), Samsung Electronics Service (20 consecutive years), Samsung Life Insurance (19 consecutive years), 11st (14 consecutive years), and SK Telink (13 consecutive years), all recognized for over 10 years for excellence in customer service. GS25, S-1 Corporation (9 consecutive years), Shinhan Bank, and Samsung Card (8 consecutive years) were also continuously selected as first-place companies in their respective sectors.

A representative of the Korea Standards Association said, "Service companies are increasingly focusing on improving actual perceived service quality, including the overall customer experience," adding, "The results of this survey reflect balanced improvement efforts across all service processes experienced by customers, including non-face-to-face touchpoints."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.