Customers Rate Their Experiences With Companies Mostly The Same As They Did Last Year

March 4, 2014

TemkinGroup-Customer-Experience-Ratings-2011-2014-Mar2014The latest annual customer experience study [download page] from the Temkin Group finds that among 268 companies measured, 37% achieved an “excellent” (7%) or “good” (30%) rating on the Temkin Experience Rating scale, a figure unchanged from last year, but skewing slightly more to the “excellent” side of things. Only 1 in 4 were rated as “poor” (20%) or “very poor” (5%).

That’s down 3 points from last year, when 28% were poorly rated. Though the upward movement was modest this year, it represents continued improvement over the past few years. The 2011 edition of the study, for example, rated only 16% of companies measured as excellent (1%) or good (15%), compared to 48% that were “poor” (38%) or “very poor” (10%).

To quantify customer experience, the researchers asked consumers to rate companies on a 7-point scale across the functional, accessible, and emotional aspects of their experiences. Average scores across the functional and accessible components of the ratings stalled after growing the past couple of years, while the average rating for the emotional aspect increased again this year. (See here for Brand Keys’ determination of the brands currently doing best at meeting their customers’ emotional expectations.)

On an industry-wide level, the Temkin Group study finds that 5 of the 19 tracked could be classified on average as “good.” Four of those also attained that status last year – fast food chains, parcel delivery services, and retailers (see here for their customer satisfaction ratings via the ACSI) – and they were joined this year by banks. In fact, 9 of the top 10 organizations by Temkin’s metric belonged to the fast food or grocery categories, with the only other to crack that list a bank (in fact “A credit union.”)

Faring worse were TV service providers, health plans, and internet service providers, each of which received “poor” ratings again. That list also expanded this year to include rental cars.

Some industry leaders included:

  • Computer maker: Apple;
  • Hotel chain: Best Western;
  • Internet service provider: AOL;
  • Retailer: Sam’s Club; and
  • TV service provider: Bright House Networks.

Laggards in those industries were:

  • Computer maker: Compaq and Sony;
  • Hotel chain: Motel 6 and Super 8;
  • Internet service provider: Comcast;
  • Retailer: RadioShack; and
  • TV service provider: Comcast.

Other Findings:

  • H.E.B. took the top overall spot this year with a Temkin Experience Rating (TxR) of 88%. Trader Joe’s (84%) was in the top 2 for the second consecutive year.
  • ACSI customer satisfaction darling (see above link) Publix ranked 4th with a TxR of 83%.
  • USAA managed to top the charts in two industries, credit card issuers and insurance carriers.
  • Health plans occupied 4 of the bottom 5 organizations by TxR, with Coventry Health Care worst of all. Its TxR of 41% was less than half of H.E.B.’s score.
  • 243 of the companies were included in both last year’s and this year’s reports, and of those, 48% increased their ratings by at least a percentage point compared to 32% that declined by at least a percentage point.

A complete list of the company ratings, industry leaders, and fastest movers can be found in the report, which can be accessed here.

About the Data: The data is derived from the Temkin Group Q1 2014 Consumer Benchmark Survey, an online study of 10,000 consumers completed during January 2014. Survey respondents were representative of the US Census based on quotas for age, income, ethnicity, and geographic region. More methodological details can be found in the report.

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