Amazon’s done it again. In a survey of more than 7,000 shoppers, the online giant has topped the list of the best brands for overall customer experience.

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What do the winners do best?

Embrace the total customer experience: Many businesses are myopically quick to discount parts of the increasingly complex experience as ‘not their responsibility’. Firms that win big embrace total customer experience, realising even aspects they don’t ‘own’, resting with third parties and other agents, can and must be influenced.

Unified emotional connectivity: Service, brand and people are not separate entities to be internally managed and tracked individually for reasons of administrative convenience. Great organisations manage these in unison. The result is a self-sustaining, trusted and authentic emotional connection with their customers.

‘Smart consumer’ meets ‘smart retailer’: Consumers are more tech savvy, more interconnected and, consequently, more intelligent than they have ever been, resulting in new, more complex buying behaviours – the Top 100 winners understand and capitalise on these.

Source: Nunwood

It was the only one to score more than eight out of 10 from consumers’ overall rating of factors such as price, customer service, product, website and/or store environment.

The other retailers enjoying a top 10 place in shopper insight firm Nunwood’s list are John Lewis, Marks &Spencer and M&S Simply Food.

So what makes these brands stand out in shoppers’ eyes? Everyone knows that John Lewis’ customer service, for instance, is exemplary. But the reasons behind all of these brands’ continuing popularity go far beyond that. It comes down to their ability to deliver, time and time again. As Nunwood head of shopper insight Craig Ryder says: “Shoppers know exactly what they’re going to get, and it’s delivered with absolute consistency.”

You could argue that knowing what you are going to get sounds unimaginative and staid. Far from it. Brand popularity is more about meeting and exceeding expectations and not letting customers down. “Amazon in particular has absolute Focus and it’s created a unique, frictionless experience,” says Ryder.

Ultimately, all of the most popular brands in this top 100 list make things easy. Want to return something via Amazon? It couldn’t be more straightforward. As Ryder says: “There’s no filtering system, no questioning, they just put everything right.”

It’s also about the little things that count. John Lewis has no time limit on returns, providing the product is unused and in good condition. Half the time you don’t even need a receipt. It trusts its shoppers, its shoppers trust John Lewis. 

It’s not just about the top 10, though. The fact that all of the big four supermarkets, as well as Iceland, feature high up the list among the premium food retailers such as Waitrose, Ocado and Simply Food, shows the strength of many UK retailers’ customer experience, whatever the price point and whatever the demographic they are aimed at. You don’t have to have a high end store environment or sell high end product to provide a great customer experience. “Our mainstream retailers are world class, and are snapping at the heels of premium operators. If I was a premium brand, I’d be concerned,” says Ryder.

Nevertheless, just to appear in the top 100 isn’t necessarily a sign that you’re doing a brilliant job. The further you go down the list, the more work there is to be done.

Ryder emphasises the fact that many retailers need to do more to understand the shopping habits and mindsets of often demanding younger shoppers – or Generation Y shoppers – who have product knowledge at their fingertips. “Their view of a service and experience is very black and white, and I’m not sure all retailers are geared up to deal with that,” says Ryder. Examples of brands that are expert at meeting the needs of such shoppers but who aren’t necessarily aimed exclusively at this demographic are the Apple Store and Richer Sounds. Both brands are renowned for an ability to interact with and listen to their customers, and their have a reputation for expertise and reliability.

In an increasingly multichannel age, the retailers who are providing the best possible customer experience are those that consistently keep themselves at the front of people’s minds. Shoppers are becoming ever more informed, and with a bit of online research they could very often go elsewhere and buy the same product for less. What makes them come to you? Being able to answer that question is the secret of a strong brand.