AO.com’s position as the UK’s most trusted electrical retailer was boosted this week, after its Trustpilot score reached an incredible 4.9 from almost 750,000 reviews with 94% of customers rate AO as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
The impressive rating not only keeps AO well above competitors including as Currys (4.3), John Lewis (4.1) and Argos (4.0), with more five-star reviews than those three companies combined, it also makes AO the top ranked retailer globally on Trustpilot.
Trustpilot reviews can be used to identify where improvements need to be made and when the company reached half-a-million reviews last year, group marketing director Vicky Monk confirmed that it’s the small volume of negative reviews that drives the company to be even better for its 12 million customers.
When CEO John Roberts founded AO after a £1 pub bet, in 2000, one of his core values was to “treat every customer like your gran” and this remains the case today.
John said: “I’m grateful to every customer who took time to review AO as well as the AO team who got us to 4.9 from three quarters of a million reviews. It’s a proud and humbling moment.
“What we do isn’t easy. We sell, deliver and install products that people rely on daily. When people need them, they need them fast and for everything to work first time.
“Customers put their trust and hard-earned money in our hands, and we should simply exceed their expectations every time you shop.
“But being most trusted today doesn’t entitle us to remain so. We must earn trust every time someone shops with AO, so a 4.9 rating is as much as a wake up call to improve as it is a moment to celebrate!”
Some of the changes made recently include enhanced training for drivers and the introduction of pre-delivery calls, to ensure customers are home and available. A new driver dashboard also gives depot managers instant visibility into route progress, allowing them to intervene before issues arise.
A lot of work has been done with manufacturers to ensure that the product pages on AO.com are as informative as possible, with thousands of technical drawings added, along with explainer videos, to ensure that customers are selecting the right model for them.
Meanwhile, any products that receive consistent negative feedback or higher-than-average returns are temporarily removed from sale, so that the underlying reasons can be investigated.