Ireland's credit unions have come out top of 150 brands and business organisations for best customer experience according to a comprehensive survey carried out by Amárach Consulting for Customer Experience Ireland (cexi.org).

The National Concert Hall came in second place, with Dublin Zoo in third - Aldi and Boots complete the top five.

They are followed by Butlers Chocolate and RaboBank who tied in sixth place, and An Post, Penneys and Hailo.

cexi.org

The survey found that the insurance sector was the poorest in terms of customer experience, as measured across a range of factors including value, empathy and personal interaction.

The report comments that there are "no surprises" when it comes to the bottom end of the table with Irish Water coming in last place - scoring particularly poorly in the metric for "integrity."

But it adds, "If Irish Water are with us next year, we would expect a significant jump in their ranking as more Irish consumers will engage with real human staff behind the brand."

Gerard O Neill of Amárach joined Vincent Wall on Breakfast Business - he discussed why the credit unions had performed so well while other financial businesses had struggled:

"They scored highest on the measure 'empathy' - in other words they were seen as people who had got behind their customers through thick and thin. Particularly through the recent years of the economic crisis.

"I think it's fair to say that they've been rewarded if you like, for their loyalty to their members and to their customers, by customers reflecting that back in the attitudes shown in our survey."

He also highlighted that 'low-cost' retailers like Penney's, Aldi, Dealz and Lidl had scored highly in the study - Mr O'Neill says that focusing on customer service has become an important strategy for challenger brands.