Macau ranks lowest in ‘2017 Smiling Report’

The “2017 Smiling Report,” conducted by a Swedish consultancy company, has indicated that Macau was amongst the countries that smile the least in customer service, placing the region as one of territories with the lowest Smile and Greeting scores.

The report focuses on customer service data from evaluations conducted across a spectrum of industries; and provides a summary focusing on Smile, Greeting and Add-on sales metrics in 67 countries and regions in 2016.

Better Business World Wide is currently in its 13th year of publication; with the report compiled from information supplied by “Mystery Shopping Providers.”

At the bottom of the list of smiling countries were Macau and Hong Kong. However, it was not the first for Macau to be at the bottom list as “it has been the case previously,” according to a statement issued by the company.

Hong Kong scored 57 percent, increasing their score by a good margin from 48 percent last year.

Overall in Hong Kong, 79 percent of the customers received a smile, 81 percent were greeted, while only 58 percent received an add-on sale suggestion.

The aggregated scores have decreased, for smiling by -4 and greeting by -6 compared to 2015, the firm stated.

Ireland was placed at the top of the Smile ranking for the third year, with 96 percent, slightly lower than their 100 percent score in the previous year.

According to the study, the highest scoring industries were Health & Beauty with 89 percent and Hospitality with 86 percent, while the lowest was Transport with only 58 percent.

Meanwhile, Macau also stood at the bottom with its lowest greeting scores of 54 percent; below Hong Kong, India and Moldova at 62 percent.

Eight countries in South America scored 100 percent on greeting, including Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico amongst others.

The best European countries were Greece and Ireland with 97 percent, while the best country in Asia was China with 92 percent.

Add-on sales data has historically posted a lower score than Smile and Greeting, but has still maintained a steady increase since the first Smiling Report was published in 2004; it has risen in this time from 45 percent to 58 percent.