Retailers Dominate Customer Experience Rankings
Retailers won 9 of the top ten spots in Forrester Research’s 2007 Customer Experience Survey. Bringing up the rear were communications companies, healthcare providers and banks.
Forrester asked nearly 5,000 consumers about their interactions with a variety of companies, gauging the usefulness, usability, and enjoyability of those experiences. Based on these consumer responses, Forrester calculated the Customer Experience Index for 112 firms in nine different industries.
Led by Costco, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, retailers dominated the top of the rankings. The highest non-retailer was “a credit union” (bank account) at number 5. Other firms rated as “excellent” with better than 80% satisfaction were Staples, Old Navy, B.J.’s Wholesale Club, Amazon, Sam’s Club, Walgreen’s, Kohl’s, JCPeney and CVS. Edward D. Jones and Citizens Bank were tied for 15th and judged “very good,” comparable with Office Depot, Lowe’s and USAA.
Firms rated “very poor” with les than 50% satisfaction, included Charter Communications (TV and Internet), Medicaid, Cablevision/Interactive Optimum, Aetna and United Healthcare.
Other findings:
- Costco and Sam’s Club lead in usefulness. Two warehouse stores — Costco and Sam’s Club — led the usefulness rankings. In all, 40 firms received a rating of “excellent.” Although none of the firms received a rating of very poor, three firms — Charter Communications (for TV and Internet), Medicaid, and Citibank — received a “poor” rating.
- Credit unions and Borders come in first for ease of use. Led by credit unions and Borders, 33 firms received a rating of “excellent” for their ease of use. At the other end of the spectrum, two organizations received “very poor” ratings: Charter Communications (for TV and Internet) and Medicaid. Another 10 companies received “poor” ratings.
Interestingly, eight of the 12 firms with a “poor” or “very poor” rating are healthcare insurers.
- Borders, Old Navy, and Citizens Bank top enjoyability. On average, firms scored significantly lower on enjoyability than they did on usefulness and usability: No firm received an excellent rating, and 40 were rated “very poor.” Borders, Old Navy, and Citizens Bank led the 16 firms that received a “good” rating. With extremely low scores for enjoyability, Cablevision/Interactive Optimum and Charter Communications own the cellar.
The Customer Experience Index, 2007 can be purchased here.
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November 30th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
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