ACSI report: customer satisfaction increases for e-business despite dips in social media

ACSI, the American Customer Satisfaction Index, has released interesting findings regarding how social media, search engines and new websites have affected the overall perception of e-business.

This year’s report culled data from nearly 70,000 customers across 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors to determine, on a scale from 0 to 100, various customer satisfaction insights. The recent report addresses Internet Social Media, Internet Search Engines & Information and Internet News & Opinion.

The report indicated that customer satisfaction for e-business is continuing to improve, but that satisfaction across social media is down by 1.4 percent, to an ACSI score of 73. The most active social platforms, Facebook and Twitter, were among the sites with the biggest drops in satisfaction, probably because they are seen more as customer service channels, and customers want the best support or none at all. These platforms were compared against Instagram, YouTube and Wikipedia and Google+, all of which are seen more as broadcast and informational channels, not intended for customer service. Of course, if a consumer reaches out to a brand on Twitter and Facebook and does not even receive a response, they’d be more inclined to rate the medium more negatively.

ACSI’s report shows that Google reigns supreme both in terms of visits and in garnering customer satisfaction. It also shows how important mobile browsing is on user satisfaction — but perhaps reminds us that the desktop search experience shouldn’t lag behind. After all, the mobile browser search experience scored a 77, mobile apps scored at 80, but desktop/laptops scored a low 73.

Finally, among Internet News & Opinion, it is reported that satisfaction has increased to an all-time high of 76 — and even Fox News saw significant gains to score a 79. Since content is fresh and accessible, it’s received the highest score; on the other hand, the score for advertising has gone down to 68 from a 2015 score of 71.

The full report is accessible here.

About The Author

Tamar Weinberg

Tamar Weinberg is a professional hustler and author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on The Social Web. She blogs about all things tech, productivity, and social media customer success at Techipedia. She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, among other sites.