Nigeria Customer Satisfaction Reaches 71% as Online Retail Outperforms Power Services

Nigeria's overall customer-service benchmark reached 71% for 2025, improving from 67% a year earlier and 61% in 2023, according to the latest Nigeria Customer Service Index assessment. The headline improvement, however, masks weaker results across most of the industries examined.

The survey covered 12 major sectors and received 21,387 responses relating to more than 1,500 organisations across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Nine sectors performed worse than in the previous assessment, showing that the rise in the national average was driven largely by stronger results in a smaller group of industries.

Online retail produced the highest sector score at 75%, representing a 15-point increase from 2024. Real estate followed at 72%, after gaining 10 points, while telecommunications improved by one point. At the other end of the table, electricity services recorded 51%, the lowest result among the sectors measured, while the public sector stood at 53%. Transportation, power and public services suffered the largest year-on-year declines, falling by 13, 10 and 10 percentage points respectively.

The index assessed several aspects of customer experience rather than relying on a single question. Participants rated service providers on areas including trust, staff professionalism, competence, complaint handling, ease of doing business, internal processes, employee engagement and customer-focused innovation. Those measures were combined using a weighted scoring system.

Trust emerged as an especially important factor. E-commerce achieved a trust score of 90%, compared with 71% for the power sector. Hospitality generated the strongest positive public impression at 69%, while negative sentiment was most pronounced in public services at 44% and electricity at 43%.

Individual company rankings also varied by industry. Slot placed first among e-commerce businesses, followed by Jumia and Konga. MTN led the GSM category ahead of Airtel and Globacom, while FibreOne ranked highest among internet service providers. Stanbic IBTC led banking, and OPay topped the fintech and microfinance category. In power, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company ranked ahead of Ikeja Electric and Enugu Electricity Distribution Company.

The report advised organisations to concentrate on building customer confidence, resolving complaints more quickly and maintaining consistent service standards. It also recommended combining digital support channels with dependable traditional options so customers with different needs can still access assistance.

The findings come with an important sampling limitation. Lagos produced 9,897 responses, or 46.75% of the total, while Abuja contributed 2,994, equivalent to 14.14%. Together, the two locations accounted for 60.89% of all participants. The index itself acknowledged that this geographic concentration, uneven sector participation and unmet sample targets in some categories should be considered when interpreting the national results.

The respondent profile was also concentrated among relatively educated participants. People aged 30 to 34 formed the largest age group, while university and polytechnic graduates represented 76% of respondents. The report recommended broader participation outside Lagos and Abuja in future editions to produce a more geographically balanced picture of customer experiences across Nigeria.