E-commerce leads customer satisfaction as power sector trails – Report

Nigeria’s customer satisfaction score rose to a record 71 per cent in 2025, despite declining service performance across nine of the 12 major economic sectors surveyed, a new report has shown.

The national score increased from 67 per cent in 2024, compared with 61 per cent in 2023, according to the State of Customer Service in Nigeria: 2025 report released by the Nigeria Customer Service Index in Lagos recently.

The report, powered by the West Africa Association of Customer Service Professionals, ranked e-commerce as the best-performing sector, with a customer satisfaction score of 75 per cent, up 15 percentage points from 2024. Real estate followed at 72 per cent, gaining 10 percentage points, while telecommunications recorded a modest one-point improvement.

“The national NCSI benchmark stands at 71 per cent. Nine of the 12 sectors recorded lower scores than the previous reporting period. E-Commerce led sector performance at 75 per cent, rising 15 percentage points from 2024. Real Estate followed at 72 per cent, up 10 points, while Telecommunications posted modest positive growth of 1 point,” the report stated.

However, transportation, power and the public sector recorded the sharpest declines, with their scores falling by 13, 10 and 10 percentage points, respectively. The power sector had the lowest satisfaction score at 51 per cent, followed by the public sector at 53 per cent.

The findings highlight uneven performance across customer-facing industries, with improvements in e-commerce and real estate contrasting with weaker consumer assessments of essential services, including electricity supply, transportation and public administration.

The third edition of the index, introduced in 2023, assessed customer experiences across 12 major economic sectors. It gathered 21,387 responses covering more than 1,500 organisations across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Respondents evaluated their experiences using several measures, including trust, professionalism, competence, complaint resolution, ease of doing business, processes and procedures, staff engagement, and customer-focused innovation. The index combines these measures through a weighted scoring system intended to reflect the relative importance consumers attach to different aspects of service delivery.

Despite the improvement in the national benchmark, nine of the 12 sectors recorded lower scores than in the previous reporting period, suggesting that the gains were concentrated in a smaller number of industries.

The report did not provide a detailed explanation for the gains in e-commerce and real estate but identified customer trust as the leading priority across all the sectors surveyed.

Trust scores ranged from 71 per cent in the power sector to 90 per cent in e-commerce, indicating differences in the level of confidence consumers placed in businesses and service providers across the industries.

Hospitality recorded the strongest positive public impression at 69 per cent. Negative sentiment was highest in the public sector, at 44 per cent, and the power sector, at 43 per cent, reflecting the challenges these sectors face in shaping consumers’ perceptions of service delivery.

The report recommended that organisations prioritise trust-building, faster complaint resolution and more consistent service delivery, particularly in the public and power sectors. It also advocated combining digital customer-service channels with reliable traditional support to accommodate different consumer needs.

Within individual industries, Slot ranked first in e-commerce, ahead of Jumia in second place and Konga in third. MTN retained its leading position among GSM operators, followed by Airtel and Globacom. In the internet service provider category, FibreOne ranked first, ahead of Starlink and Smile.

Stanbic IBTC topped the banking category, with FCMB in second place and Wema Bank third. OPay led the fintech and microfinance banking category, ahead of Kuda and Paystack.

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In the sports and betting category, BetKing ranked first, followed by SportyBet and 1xBet. Reddington Hospital led private healthcare providers, ahead of Lagoon Hospital and Eko Hospital, while Military Hospital Kaduna topped the public healthcare category.

Eko Hotels retained the leading position in hospitality, while Covenant University topped the private education category. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, maintained its position among public universities, and Ibom Air retained its leading position in aviation.

The Corporate Affairs Commission ranked first among public-sector ministries, departments and agencies, followed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

In the power category, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ranked first, ahead of Ikeja Electric and Enugu Electricity Distribution Company. ABC Transport led interstate transportation, while Uber topped the intra-city transportation category, followed by Bolt and the Bus Rapid Transit system.

The report also identified organisations that had featured in the index across all three editions from 2023 to 2025. They included Jumia, Konga and Slot in e-commerce; Covenant University and Babcock University in education; OPay and Paystack in financial services; Lagoon Hospital in healthcare; and Eko Hotels in hospitality.

Other organisations featured consistently included Reliance HMO in insurance; Ikeja Electric and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in power; the Corporate Affairs Commission in the public sector; Lekki Homes and Gardens and Sujimoto Group in real estate; BetKing and SportyBet in sports and entertainment; and MTN, Spectranet and Airtel in telecommunications.

The report’s findings were based on a survey in which financial services and telecommunications generated the largest response volumes, although participation increased year on year across all sectors.

However, the geographical distribution of respondents presents a limitation when interpreting the national results. Lagos accounted for 9,897 responses, representing 46.75 per cent of the total, while Abuja contributed 2,994 responses, or 14.14 per cent. Combined, the two locations accounted for 60.89 per cent of all responses.

Enugu, Oyo and Rivers were among the other leading locations by participation. The index acknowledged that the concentration of responses in Lagos and Abuja, uneven participation across sectors and unmet sampling quotas in some categories should be considered when interpreting the findings and planning future surveys.

The respondent profile showed that people aged 30 to 34 constituted the largest active age segment. University and polytechnic graduates accounted for 76 per cent of respondents, while those with postgraduate or professional qualifications represented 15 per cent. Middle-to-high and lower-middle-income groups made up 63 per cent of participants, while approximately 15 per cent reported having no income.

The findings provide businesses with a basis for comparing their performance with competitors and identifying areas where service improvements may be necessary. The index said organisations could use the results to guide investments in staff training, more transparent processes, improved complaint-handling systems and more responsive customer-service channels.

It also recommended broader participation from locations outside Lagos and Abuja to strengthen future comparisons and provide a more balanced picture of customer experiences across the country.