• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Google's Satisfaction Soars Propelling E-Business to an All-Time High in Latest American Customer Satisfaction Index

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 09:00 CDT

Customer satisfaction with e-business websites reaches a new high, according to the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) second quarter report, released today. The annual e-business report measures customer satisfaction with search engines, portals and online news and information sites. Overall, the e-business sector climbs an impressive 6% to a score of 79.3 on ACSI's 100-point scale.

After a slip last year, Google soars 10% in 2008 to resume the top spot for portals and search engines. Google's score of 86 is one of the highest for any service company in all of ACSI. In recent years, Google has continued its successful transformation from a search engine to a full-service portal. Google added features like email, chat, maps, and news while maintaining its highly functional search engine brand.

"It's a changing marketplace and consumers are using the internet differently than they used to," said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results. "People are starting to go directly to the website or use bookmarks if they know what they're looking for, rather than using a portal. And if they don't know where to find it, they're going to use a search engine. Google is best positioned to take advantage of this trend, while the rest are struggling to maintain relevancy."

After a promising rise in 2007, Yahoo falls 3% to 77 amid distractions from merger overtures from Microsoft. Instead of focusing on the consumer experience, Yahoo's energies were tied up fighting off a hostile takeover bid in an effort to preserve its legacy and independence. In that time, Yahoo lost several key managers and consumer perceptions may have been adversely affected by extensive negative press surrounding the merger.

Microsoft's MSN remains unchanged at 75. Unable to increase market share, MSN resorted to prize giveaways that did nothing to drive traffic or satisfaction. So the company decided to put its resources into acquiring a rival in hopes that the combination could finally threaten Google's supremacy.

Ask.com slips 1% to 74, just a point below MSN. While the search market is clearly dominated by one superpower, Ask.com shows promising signs. Ask.com is the most improved of the companies primarily focused on search, surging 19% since it was first measured in 2002. The company committed to a customer-centric, long-term development plan and remains focused by adding features aimed to increase user privacy positioning the company for future growth.

AOL registers a disappointing satisfaction score of 69, despite a 3% increase. With a score that is 17 points below Google's and eight points behind closest portal competitor Yahoo, AOL grapples to compete on any front.

In addition to measuring portals and search engines, the annual e-business report also measures news and information sites including MSNBC.com (76), ABCNews.com (75), NYTimes.com (75), CNN.com (73), and USAToday.com (73). In aggregate, the news and information category is unchanged at 75, and while some sites have increased a point or two, satisfaction remains essentially at parity with a spread of only 3 points between top and bottom performers in the category.

"The increase in overall e-business satisfaction is driven largely by a remarkable jump by Google, but tough economic conditions may be contributing to greater satisfaction with the sector," said Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan. "In an environment where dollars are tight and gas is $4 a gallon, consumers derive great satisfaction from services that don't require them to spend money or get in their car."

About ForeSee Results

As the leader in online customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results uses online voice of customer data to help organizations around the globe increase sales, loyalty, recommendations and website value. Using a proven, patented technology, ForeSee Results identifies the improvements to websites and other online initiatives with the greatest ROI. With over 28 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, ForeSee Results offers our clients unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement and management. ForeSee Results works with clients across media and content sites, retail, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and government.

ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is headquartered in Michigan and can be found on the web at www.ForeSeeResults.com.

About the ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. It is updated each quarter with new measures for different sectors of the economy replacing data from the prior year. The overall ACSI score for a given quarter factors in scores from about 200 companies in 43 industries and from government agencies over the previous four quarters. The index is produced by the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in partnership with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and CFI Group, and is supported in part by ForeSee Results, corporate sponsor for the e-commerce and e-business measurements.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category