CGU Insurance, Bupa, CBA, Coles, RSPCA and AGL are among those organisations which provide the best customer experience in Australia.

That’s according to the inaugural Best Customer Experience Companies List 2014.

Presented by Fifth Quadrant, Australia’s largest customer experience strategy, design, innovation and research consultancy, and Flamingo, an Australian customer experience co-creation and analytics software company, in partnership with Oracle and CMO Magazine, the annual list gives national recognition to effective, leading customer experience (CX) organisations in Australia.

The awards were announced following an extensive process which involved a judging panel of distinguished industry professionals and participation from consumers through online voting. Entries were evaluated utilising a rigorous and propriety framework, the Customer Experience Strategy Maturity Assessment Framework, to ensure that the assessment process was robust and objective.

The key attributes of the Customer Experience Strategy Maturity Assessment Framework detail what are considered to be the characteristics and attributes of mature and highly effective customer experience focused organisations that deliver positive business outcomes and improve the lives of their customers.

Organisations were required to demonstrate their achievements across the key areas of business strategy, leadership, customer experience management, customer data strategy, human resources, human centered design, sales and marketing. In addition to completing the Customer Experience Strategy Maturity Assessment tool, organisations were also required to provide customer satisfaction related data to support their submission.

CGU Insurance won Australia’s Best CX Company Award for 2014 while Bupa Australia took home the 2014 Best CX Leading CX Initiatives Award and Inventium was honoured with the 2014 Best CX Organisational Leadership Award.

Several People’s Choice awards were included following a poll of 2,500 consumers who were asked to nominate up to five organisations that they felt provided them with an amazing customer experience in Australia across six industry sectors.

Telstra was awarded Australia’s Best CX Company People’s Choice 2014.

CBA won the 2014 Best CX Company People’s Choice for Finance, Banking and Insurance.

Telstra won the 2014 Best CX Company People’s Choice for Telco, Paid Media and Internet Providers.

AGL won the 2014 Best CX Company People’s Choice for Utilities.

RSPCA won the 2014 Best CX Company People’s Choice in Human and Animal Health.

TAFE won the 2014 Best CX Company’s People’s Choice in Government and Education.

Coles won the 2014 Best CX Company’s People’ Choice Retail and Wholesale.

Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant, said, “Customer Experience (CX) is a mega trend driving organisational transformation at the highest level. Fifth Quadrant has found that Australians are prepared to pay 14 per cent more for good, consistent customer experience. At the same time, organisations without a CX strategy churn customers and have higher costs. Nine in 10 Australians switch to a competitor because of a poor experience and eight in 10 actively advise friends and family to avoid companies that have provided a poor service.

“Great progress has been made by board and C-level executives, yet there’s no comprehensive process recognising CX leadership, capabilities and maturity. The Best Customer Experience Companies List is a great opportunity for organisations from all sectors of industry, including the public, private and third sectors, to demonstrate their excellence in providing consumers with a fantastic, compelling, market leading customer experience which ultimately benefits their brand and overall ability to prosper.”