American Customer Satisfaction Index - Sector, Industry and Company-level Findings

Sector, Industry and Company-level Findings

Thirteen years of ACSI data have shown that certain sectors, industries and companies perform well consistently, while others are almost always below average (with the National ACSI score reflecting the average). At the sector level, manufacturing industries — including both durable and non-durable goods manufacturers — have tended to perform well. The comparatively higher satisfaction performance by these sectors is understandable; industries within these sectors tend to be well established, "old economy" industries that have a longer-running focus on quality control procedures (such as TQM and Six Sigma), and perhaps more importantly are also industries that rely less on human intervention in the production and consumption processes. On the other hand, the "new economy" service sector industries, which rely more on customer service and human intervention in the consumption process, have tended to perform below average.

Some industries that have performed well over the years in ACSI include: e-commerce, personal care products, soft drinks, beer, consumer electronics, automobiles and household appliances. Some industries that have tended to perform poorly include: cable television providers, airlines and telecommunications industries. Among government agencies, the Internal Revenue Service has tended to perform below average, while other agencies - such as the Social Security Administration - have performed much better.