Reports Highlight Customer Experience Leaders in Financial Services, Telecommunications, Technology and Online Services
SAN MATEO, CA–(Marketwire – March 30, 2009) – Satmetrix, the Net Promoter® company and leader in customer experience programs, today released its 2009 Net Promoter Score (NPS®) rankings in financial services, telecommunications, technology and online services industries. Leaders included well known brands such as Adobe, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Charles Schwab, Google and Verizon. Niche players also stood out, including USAA for banking and credit card service and Vonage for voice over IP telephony service.
The ratings are based on survey responses from U.S. consumers who had purchased products or services from each company within the previous 12 months. A company’s Net Promoter Score is based on customers’ likelihood to recommend the company’s product or service. NPS is calculated as the percentage of customers who are Promoters, minus the percentage who are Detractors. Consumers also rated each company on eight aspects of customer experience including product or service features, customer service and overall value, allowing Satmetrix to analyze drivers of loyalty and performance gaps for each company.
“With the economy in turmoil, companies are focusing on customer experience and retention more than ever,” said John Abraham, general manager of Net Promoter programs at Satmetrix. “These benchmarks give companies a way to compare themselves against other companies in key industries and understand who is best-in-class when it comes to customer loyalty and organic growth potential.”
Highlights from the 11 reports across the four sectors include:
— Telecommunications: Vonage was the breakaway winner in the local and long distance sector with a score of 45 percent, in one of the poorest performing industry segments with an average of negative 7 percent.
— Cellular providers were the only telecommunications segment with positive NPS averages, and Verizon Wireless led with an NPS of 40 percent, almost double the industry average. Verizon’s new FiOS fiber optic TV service direct to the home also stood out with an NPS of 28 percent in the cable TV category. Among Internet service providers, only three of the nine providers received positive scores, with AT&T topping the list at just 11 percent. As these industries continue to provide converged services, the NPS leaders will have a strong competitive advantage in customer loyalty and positive word of mouth.
— Financial Services: Banking institutions saw declines in NPS over the previous year, showing the impact of the current financial crisis on brands that compete in this industry. Banking had an average NPS of approximately 15 percent, with USAA leading at more than 100 points above the sector’s laggard, Citigroup. Charles Schwab maintained its leadership position in the brokerage and investments sector with an NPS of 36 percent, while troubles at Merrill Lynch placed it in last position. In the credit card sector, American Express and Discover maintained their strong performance year on year, while USAA stood out as a leader in this segment.
— Technology: Apple, with an NPS of 77 percent, continues to demonstrate its loyalty leadership as the top performer in the computer hardware segment and number two performer out of more than 90 brands studied. Adobe led consumer software with an NPS of 46 percent, while Microsoft trailed and security software leader Symantec showed significant improvements over the previous year on the back of major product and service enhancements in its Norton product line.
— Online Services: This sector achieves the highest average NPS of all industries studied with eight out of the top 10 highest scoring companies coming from the online market. Google led the way in online search and information with a score of 71 percent, outpacing rival Yahoo! by 30 points. Social networking sites also ranked high, with Facebook’s higher NPS reflected in faster growth in monthly unique visitors than rival MySpace. Amazon.com led the online shopping sector with an NPS of 74 percent, but was followed closely by Costco.com.
“Since NPS is based on asking customers about their likelihood to recommend a product or service, it is a strong predictor of repurchase behavior and referrals through word of mouth,” said Deborah Eastman, CMO of Satmetrix. “We continue to see word of mouth impact customer retention and acquisition across all industries. Companies that build the right business processes to listen, learn and act on customer feedback will be better positioned to emerge as market leaders.”
The reports are available for purchase on www.satmetrix.com or www.netpromoter.com.
About Satmetrix
Satmetrix, the Net Promoter Company, delivers customer experience programs that increase retention, repurchase and referrals. We are the only company to combine innovative technology and proven expertise to mobilize your organization to act on customer feedback at every touch point. While most programs focus on measuring satisfaction, Satmetrix focuses on creating loyal customers by delivering real-time customer feedback to every employee, developing business processes that create a differentiated customer experience, and identifying key areas for improvement. Some of Satmetrix global clients include Experian, Orange Business Services, Symantec and Virgin Media. In addition to more than 700 enterprise deployments in 40 languages, we offer a range of services for Net Promoter professionals and maintain the online community netpromoter.com. For more information, visit www.satmetrix.com, or call 1-888-800-2313 in the US or +44 (0) 845-371-1040 in Europe.
Satmetrix and the Satmetrix logo are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc. Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
