Temkin (a customer experience research and consulting company) regularly conducts a number of surveys on customer perceptions of companies based on polls of 10,000 U.S. consumers across a number of industries. For 2017, people were asked about 331 companies across 20 industries. These surveys are then placed into overall and industry rankings.
Click on the links to access specific rankings:
- 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings — “The Temkin Experience Ratings are based on consumer feedback of their recent interactions with companies. We asked consumers to rate three components of the experience, Success, Effort, and Emotion, on a 7-point scale.”
- 2016 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings — “The Temkin Forgiveness Ratings are based on consumer feedback on companies with which our survey respondents have recently interacted. We asked consumers how likely they would be to forgive the companies if those firms made a mistake.”
- 2016 Temkin Trust Ratings — “The Temkin Trust Ratings are based on consumer feedback on companies with which our survey respondents have recently interacted. We asked consumers how much they trust those firms.”
- 2016 Temkin Customer Service Ratings — “The Temkin Customer Service Ratings are based on feedback gathered from consumers regarding companies they’ve recently interacted with. We asked consumers to rate how satisfied they are with recent customer service experiences on a 7-point scale.”
- 2016 Temkin Web Experience Ratings — “The Temkin Web Experience Ratings are based on consumer feedback on companies with which our survey respondents have recently interacted. We asked consumers how satisfied they are with the online interactions with those firms.”
These are the 20 industries encompassed in the Temkin ratings: Airlines, Auto Dealers, Banks, Computers & Tablets, Credit Cards, Fast Food, Health Plans, Hotels & Rooms, Insurance, Investments, Parcel Delivery, Rental Cars & Transport, Retailers, Software Firms, Streaming Media, Supermarkets, TV & Appliances, TV/Internet Service, Utilities, Wireless Carriers.
I find these surveys particularly interesting. I feel that this ties well into our conversation from the previous class in regard to the type of questions are asked and the sentiment behind them. Also, the math that is calculated in order to interpret “goodness” I find to be a bit arbitrary. I also wonder how different the results may have been had these surveys been conducted in person.
Completing surveys takes time out of one’s day. I do not believe that if you were dissatisfied with service or the interaction you had that you would actively answer all questions. I feel that more good or positive responses are given than bad. In addition if the website for the survey is slow or experiences issues, if it is too long, and if the questions repeat themselves too much even a happy customer may become frustrated and end the survey before completed. And then are surveys being completed by those consumers who are idle and have extra time? Once again results can be skewed based on who is responding.
USAA is in the top 10 of several of these surveys. Being a member at USAA I would definitely agree with these results. I’m surprised other companies and industries have not tried to emulate or replicate their business model.