The Temkin Group announced the results of its sixth annual Temkin Experience Ratings on Tuesday, the result of research seeking to recognize industries and brands that are placing focus on providing exceptional customer experience. The top of the ranking includes Publix, H-E-B, Chick-fil-A, and Amazon, while Fujitsu, Health Net, and Spirit Airlines populate the bottom.
Most startling is the fact that average scores across all 20 studied industries have declined since last year. While this may not necessarily show a decline in the brand’s CX efforts, it certainly demonstrates that consumer expectations are growing at a rate that companies are finding difficult to keep up with. Further demonstrating this trend, the percentage of companies rated either “good” or “excellent” dropped from 37% to 18%, while “poor” or “very poor” companies grew from 28% to 46% of the total group.
“Consumers’ expectations are outpacing customer experience improvements, especially in industries with chronically poor customer experience such as TV service providers, Internet service providers, and health plans,” said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group. “This year was particularly telling, as we found a steep decline in customer experience across all industries.”
Of the 20 industries, software firms and wireless carriers exhibited the least significant decline, while auto dealers and health plans saw the steepest drop in satisfaction with their customer experience.
The companies that most improved on their 2015 score were Coventry Health Care and Con Edison, both earning 10 additional percentage points compared to the previous report. Rounding out the group of companies who improved by at least five points are True Value, Consumers Energy, and Fox Rent A Car.
Volkswagen dealers and Fairfield Inn have work to do before the 2017 report, as both dropped 17 points from last year.
The Temkin Experience Ratings look at companies based on three aspects of customer experience: success (can customers do what they want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do customers feel about their interactions with the company?).