ICS Awards

In 2011 we joined the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) and in 2012 began working towards achieving the ICS ServiceMark accreditation. This is a national standard which recognises an organisation’s commitment to, and achievement in, customer service measured by colleague and customer feedback and corroborated by an external audit.

What is ICS Measuring?

Step 1: Colleague Feedback. Review and assess whether our colleagues are fully engaged and aligned with the company core values

Step 2: Customer Feedback. Ask customers what they think about our service and benchmark ourselves against the UK Retail Limited sectors to identify any business improvements that could keep our customers engaged

Step 3: Audit. Ensure that we are doing what we say and that the service mark accreditation is deserved.

ICS SERVICE MARK - HOW HAVE WE BEEN DOING?

2018 - Colleague Survey 74%

74%

2018 - Colleague Survey 74%: 74%

2018 - Customer Survey 87%

87%

2018 - Customer Survey 87%: 87%

2016 - Customer Survey 89.8%

89.8%

2016 - Customer Survey 89.8%: 89.8%

2016 - Collegue Survey 78%

78%

2016 - Collegue Survey 78%: 78%

2015 - Collegue Survey 76%

76%

2015 - Collegue Survey 76%: 76%

2015 - Customer Survey 88%

88%

2015 - Customer Survey 88%: 88%

2014 - Winner of the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards - Employee Engagement Strategy of the Year 100%

100%

2014 - Winner of the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards - Employee Engagement Strategy of the Year 100%: 100%

2013 - Collegue Survey 77%

77%

2013 - Collegue Survey 77%: 77%

2013 - Customer Survey 84%

84%

2013 - Customer Survey 84%: 84%

2013 - ICS Accredited 100%

100%

2013 - ICS Accredited 100%: 100%

2012 - Company Wide Engagement Plan - Collegue Survey 58%

58%

2012 - Company Wide Engagement Plan - Collegue Survey 58%: 58%

2012 - Company Wide Engagement Plan - Customer Survey 90%

90%

2012 - Company Wide Engagement Plan - Customer Survey 90%: 90%

2011 - ICS Membership 100%

100%

2011 - ICS Membership 100%: 100%

ICS Awards

Encouraged by great feedback from ICS, in 2014 we decided to enter the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards held in London and judged by a panel of industry experts. The Awards recognise and reward excellence and innovation in customer service, so we were absolutely delighted to win their Employee Engagement Strategy Award for 2014.

Here are a few examples of the colleague schemes that we have all helped to put in place: Customer Experience Weekly Updates, Breakfast Meetings, Voice of the Customer Boards, company-wide suggestion schemes including ‘Great Customer Ideas’ and ‘IDEAS’, ‘Customer Corner’ and regular colleague surveys.

Our latest colleague survey results were our best ever at 7.8 out of 10, – up from 7.6 in 2015. We’re not resting on our laurels though as it’s our ambition to reach at least an 8 out of 10 colleague score.

How do we fair against our competitors in terms of customer satisfaction?

We also carry out regular service benchmarking against our competitors using ICS research. They found that this year Damart UK scored a fantastic d 8.9 out of 10 for customer service. We smashed the combined average score of all our competitors – 8.2 out of 10 – and even beat John Lewis, Next, H&M, New Look, and M&S!!

Our customers are always at the heart of everything we do so we are thrilled that they are seeing the benefits of our continually improving customer service. It’s a testament to all of your hard work and commitment.

Continuing to invest in professional customer service qualifications

Over the last two years more than 120 Customer Service colleagues have also gained professional qualifications by completing our ICS-accredited ‘First Impressions’ training course. This two-day training course has produced lots of fantastic service innovations and improvement ideas.