Nominations for scientific Customer Performance Awards 2012 announced

How do clients evaluate the 100 largest Dutch service enterprises? Compared with a year ago, customer appreciation for enterprises has declined only slightly, with clients attaching more importance to the relationship. This is the conclusion of the Customer Insights Center of the University of Groningen, MIcompany and MetrixLab, which will shortly be presenting the annual Customer Performance Awards for the third time. The nominations – based on scientific measurements – for seven different sectors have just been announced. An overall winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on 2 February 2012.

The following companies (in alphabetical order) have been nominated for each sector:

Retail: Bol.com, Ikea, Kruidvat
Financial services: De Friesland Zorgverzekeraar, Inshared, Univé
Energy: BP, ENECO, Shell
Transport: KLM-Air France, NS, QBuzz
Supermarkets: Albert Heijn, Dirk/Bas/Digros, Jumbo
Travel: Booking.com, Landal GreenParks, Sunweb
Telecommunications: Tele2, Vodafone, XS4ALL

Jumbo, Inshared and XS4ALL striking newcomers

When compared with last year, various companies continue to do well and have been nominated again, for example Bol.com, Albert Heijn, Shell, Univé, Ikea, Tele2, Landal Greenparks and KLM-Air France. However, there are also some striking newcomers, such as Jumbo in the supermarket sector and the new online insurance company Inshared. XS4ALL was included in the survey for the first time this year and immediately earned a nomination in the telecommunications branch.

DCPI: Scientific index for customer performance

The scientific Dutch Customer Performance Index (DCPI) measures the customer performance of companies on the basis of ten criteria, including price-performance ratio of the services, the value attached to the relationship and the degree to which the company is recommended to others.

Two dimensions are considered important:
1) the value provided to the customer (V2C: Value to Customer)
2) the future value of the customer for the company (V2F: Value to Firm)

On the basis of a major survey among more than seven thousand Dutch consumers, the performance on these two dimensions for the top 100 Dutch service enterprises was calculated. The results per sector were then compared with those from last year.

CIC, MIcompany and MetrixLab

The Customer Insights Center of the University of Groningen is responsible for the academic underpinning of the research. This research centre is the Dutch knowledge platform for professionals and shares customer knowledge from recent and relevant marketing research.

Within the research project, the intelligence bureau MIcompany establishes the value that companies are able to create for themselves from their customers. MIcompany is specialized in identifying growth opportunities for companies on the basis of customer behaviour data.

Market research bureau MetrixLab is responsible for data collection and benchmark design in the field of Customer Performance and is a specialist in the field of online market research in more than 44 countries worldwide.

Award ceremony

Date, time and place: 2 February 2012, 1–8 p.m., Beeld en Geluid in Hilversum

Registration for free press tickets: via www.rug.nl/feb/cic, under Seminars.

Programme:
13.00: RECEPTION
13.30: Opening (Joep Stassen, chair)
13.45: The Dangers of Getting Close to Your Customer (Prof. Rajesh K. Chandy, Professor of Marketing, London Business School)
14.30: Waar zit de complimentfunctie? [Where is the complimentary function?] (Pieter A. van den Ban, Director of distribution Univé-VGZ-IZA-Trias)
15.00: BREAK
15.30: Sportmarketing ROI voor Nivea for Men [Sport marketing ROI for Nivea for Men]
- (Ellen van Lemmen, Manager Communication & Marketing Services Nivea &
- Jeroen J. Boesmans MBA, founding partner MIsportscompany)
16.00: Nieuwe Inzichten uit DCPI : Prestatieconsequenties en Klantwaarde-driver [New insights from DCPI: Performance consequences and Customer-value driver] (Prof. Peter C. Verhoef, University of Groningen)
16.30: Presentation of the Customer Performance Awards 2012 (Joep Stassen, chair)
17.30: Conclusion (Joep Stassen, chair)
17.45: DRINKS & BUFFET

The full results of the measurements will be announced after the presentation of the Customer Performance Awards 2012 on 2 February 2012. An article will be published with the overall results of the research. In-depth reports per sector will be available on www.dcpi.nl after that date.

Note for the press

For more information:
- Prof. Peter C. Verhoef

- Dr Marnix Bügel, 020 715 52 90; MBugel micompany.nl

- Dr Jelle Bouma