First Direct

Financial Services in the UK

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First Direct overall Effort Score

last Quarter

Sector Effort Score benchmark

last Quarter

Brand analysis

First Direct has fallen away from the top spot this wave. Its Overall Effort Score has remained flat vs Q2 2025 while Nationwide added +2.

Diving into the pillars, we see that it is Knowledge & Expertise and Speed of Resolving Problems that are dragging its performance. Both pillars are -1 down on their scores last wave, while Style of Communication and Valuing the Customer remain flat.

Earlier this year the brand announced what the Express described as a “huge change” for its customers, as from April they will no longer be able to use HSBC self-service machines to make deposits into their First Direct accounts. They will have to speak to a member of staff instead.

Style of Communication

last quarter

62% say the politeness of their customer service agents is 'excellent'

67% rate the ability to communicate with them in their chosen language (other than English) as ‘excellent’

Knowledge & Expertise

last quarter

58% rate the expertise of the customer service agent as 'excellent'

58% say the way details were clearly explained to them was 'excellent'

65% rate how well the customer service agent understood their particular problem or question as 'excellent'

Valuing the Customer

last quarter

50% rate this brand as 'excellent' for how they made them feel valued/important as a customer

53% say the range of solutions or options that were suitable was "excellent"

70% say they were 'very satisfied' with the outcome of their communication or contact

Speed of Resolving Problems

last quarter

49% rate how easy it was to find the information they wanted on the website/app as 'excellent'

56% rate how they were able to speak to a customer service agent that can help them with their query as 'excellent'

62% say they made it ‘very easy’ to achieve what they set out to do