Forrester's Total Experience Score: Most Financial Services Firms In Singapore Fail To Match Their Brand Promise With Their Customer Experience

Citibank, HSBC, and Raffles Health Insurance received the highest Total Experience Scores in the banking, investment, and health insurance sectors, respectively

SINGAPORE, Oct. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) has released its inaugural Total Experience Score rankings for financial services firms in Singapore in 2025, revealing a wide disparity between how well banks, investment firms, and health insurers align their brand promises with the experiences they deliver to their customers. Only a handful of financial services firms excel in both areas, with the majority of brands struggling to deliver consistent experiences that build trust and engender long-term loyalty.

The Total Experience Score combines findings from Forrester's Brand Experience Index (BX Index™) and its well-established Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) to generate a composite score that measures the perceptions that both noncustomers and customers form based on their cumulative interactions with a brand. As the only metric that measures brand impact across the entire customer lifecycle, the Total Experience Score empowers CX, marketing, and digital business leaders to identify the key drivers of BX and CX, top levers of trust, and the emotions that most affect brands' ability to win, retain, and serve customers.

Key findings from the Singapore financial services Total Experience Score rankings include:

• Banks:
  Of the six banks evaluated — Citibank, DBS, HSBC, OCBC, Standard Chartered, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) — the sector showed the weakest alignment between brand promise and customer experience. Brand perceptions among prospective customers were low, and experiences for existing customers remained flat. Only Citibank and DBS stood out, earning top rankings due to strong scores across both customer and noncustomer segments. To improve, banks must focus on creating welcoming branch environments and offering competitive interest rates to strengthen brand experience while simplifying account opening and using clear communication to enhance customer experience.
  
  
• Investment Firms:
  Among the five firms assessed — Citibank, DBS, HSBC, OCBC, and UOB — HSBC led with the highest Total Experience Score, driven by strong BX and CX ratings from affluent customers. Brand promises generally resonated well with prospective customers, and experiences for existing customers were relatively solid. Notably, international brands outperformed local ones in customer favorability. To improve, investment firms should offer a diverse range of investment products, maintain transparent fees, and deliver high-quality customer service to elevate both BX and CX.
  
  
• Health Insurers:
  Of the eight insurers evaluated — AIA, FWD, Great Eastern, HSBC Life, Income Insurance, Prudential, Raffles Health Insurance (RHI), and Singlife — RHI led across all metrics, thanks to its integrated healthcare ecosystem and high trust ratings. The sector suffers from a growing imbalance between customer and noncustomer perceptions, however, with existing customers being more critical than noncustomers. To improve, health insurers must offer affordable healthcare plans, ensure clear policy coverage, and provide hassle-free service to boost BX. Enhancing personal data security and improving website capabilities are essential to strengthening CX.

"Singapore's financial services firms must rethink how they deliver value across the entire customer lifecycle, before and after the relationship starts," said Tom Mouhsian, principal analyst at Forrester. "The Total Experience Score reveals that winning new customers and retaining existing ones requires more than just good branding; it demands consistent, emotionally resonant experiences. Total experience reflects the cumulative impact of every interaction across the customer lifecycle and is the most holistic measure of whether a brand is truly able to follow through on its promises, earn trust, and thus ensure sustainable growth and competitiveness."

Resources:

• Learn more about the Total Experience Score and how it can drive growth.
• Read more about the results of Singapore financial services 2025 Total Experience Score rankings, and explore Forrester's 2025 Total Experience Score rankings for banks, health insurers and investment firms (client access required).
• Visit here to learn more about Forrester's BX Index.

About Forrester
Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We empower leaders in technology, customer experience, digital, marketing, sales, and product functions to be bold at work and accelerate growth through customer obsession. Our unique research and continuous guidance model helps executives and their teams achieve their initiatives and outcomes faster and with confidence. To learn more, visit Forrester.com.