Report: 2011 Temkin Trust Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Trust Ratings. Here’s the executive summary:

We asked 6,000 U.S. consumers how much they trust different companies. The data allowed us to rate 143 companies across 12 industries. USAA and Amazon.com earned the top spots in the 2011 Temkin Trust Ratings while Comcast and Charter Communications dominate the bottom of the list. Only eight companies earned a “very strong” rating. Retailers, investment firms, and hotel chains have the highest average rating, while Internet service provider and TV service providers have the lowest.

Download report and dataset for $295

First of all, kudos to the top 10 firms in the ratings:

(1) USAA (insurance)
(2) Amazon.com (retail)
(3) Costco (retail)
(4) Edward Jones (investment firm)
(4) Hyatt (hotel chain)
(4) Sam’s Club (retail)
(4) TriCare (health plan)
(8) Kohl’s (retail)
(9) Walgreens (retail)
(10) Vanguard (investments)

Here are the results across industries:

Download report and dataset for $295

If you want to get access to all of the data in this ratings, check out the Temkin Ratings website

The bottom line: It’s time for more companies to earn their customers’ trust

Report: 2011 Temkin Customer Service Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Customer Service Ratings.

Companies are recognizing that customer service is more than a cost-center; it’s often a critical moment of truth that drives customer loyalty. But how effective are companies at delivering good customer service experiences?

Here’s the executive summary:

USAA and Edward Jones took the top spots in the 2011 Temkin Customer Service Ratings. We asked 6,000 US consumers to rate their recent customer service experience. This data allowed us to rate 129 companies across 12 industries. Only 12 of those companies received a “strong” customer service rating. Retailers, hotel chains, and investment firms have the highest average rating, while Internet and TV Service Providers are squarely at the bottom of the ratings. To improve customer service, companies should look at the experience holistically, using Temkin Group’s SLICE-B methodology.

Download report for $195

First of all, kudos to the top 10 firms in the ratings:

1. USAA (insurance)
2. Edward Jones (investments)
3. Courtyard By Marriott (hotels)
3. Sam’s Club (retail)
5. Kohl’s (retail)
5. Lowe’s (retail)
5. Marriott (hotels)
8. BJ’s Wholesale Club (retail)
8. Costco (retail)
8. Hyatt (hotels)

Here are the results across industries:

The report also looks at how companies perform relative to these industry averages. In that analysis, we find that USAA and Southwest Airlines are the most ahead of their industries while RadioShack and HSBC are the farthest behind.

Download report for $195

If you want to get access to all of the data in this ratings, check out the Temkin Ratings website

The bottom line: Customer service needs an experience makeover

Report: 2011 Temkin Web Experience Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Web Experience Ratings.

Do you want to know which companies deliver excellent online experiences and which ones leave a lot to be desired? Then this report is for you.

Here’s the executive summary:

Amazon.com, Regions, and USAA took the top spots in the 2011 Temkin Web Experience Ratings. We asked 6,000 US consumers to rate their recent online experience. This data allowed us to rate 119 companies across 12 industries. Only 7% of those companies received a “good” or “very good” Web Experience rating. While there is some diversity at the top of the ratings, TV service providers, Internet service providers, and health plans dominate the bottom of the list. To improve the online experience, companies need to master the entire experience, examining what Temkin Group calls SLICE-B.

Download report and dataset for $295

Here’s how the 119 companies ended up in the ratings:

Download report and dataset for $195

Are you interested in getting a deeper look at the data? Or do you want to see the differences across age, ethnicity, education, and income segments? Then you should visit Temkin Ratings at www.temkinratings.com.

The bottom line: Web interactions are too valuable to continue wasting with bad experiences.

Amazon.com Leads, RadioShack Lags Retail Customer Experience

In the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. Retail is the highest rated industry with an average rating of “good.” Here are the results for all 27 retailers that we rated…

As you can see, Amazon.com and Kohl’s are the only retailers with “excellent” ratings. At the other end of the spectrum, RadioShack is the only retailer with a “poor” rating. There are some interesting differences on the list:

• Gap can learn from its much higher scoring “sister brand” Old Navy
• Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJs Wholesale all score highly
• Walgreens outpaces Rite Aid and CVS
• Kohl’s has a five point gap over Target
• Lowe’s has a six point gap over Home Depot 
• Wal-Mart has a six point gap over Kmart

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

Costco and Amazon.com are the top retailers when it comes to the functional element of experience while Kohl’s  is the top-performing retailer when it comes to accessible experience. Best Buy falls below the good line for “functional” experience while Gap and Radio Shack fall below the good line for “functional” and “accessible” experience. All three of those laggards also score poorly when it comes to “emotional” experience.

The bottom line: Not all retailers are created equal

Report: 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings.

All companies make mistakes, so they need customers to give them a second chance. But companies have built-up considerably different levels of goodwill. This research shows how willing consumers are to forgive 143 companies.

Here’s the executive summary:

USAA, Costco, and Amazon.com took the top spots in the 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings. We asked 6,000 US consumers how likely they were to forgive companies if they made a mistake. This data allowed us to rate 143 companies across 12 industries. Only 18% of those companies received a “strong” or “very strong” forgiveness rating. The results show that retailers have the highest level of goodwill while credit card issuers and TV service providers have the lowest. While all companies make mistakes, customers are more willing to give Forgiveness Ratings leaders a second chance.

Download report for $195

Here are the top ranked companies in the 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings:

Here are the industry results in the 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings:

Here are some additional findings in this report which is loaded with data contained in 20 figures:

• The top 25 companies include 15 retailers and five hotel chains and one of each of these types of firms: insurance carrier, health plan, bank, airline, and credit card issuer.
• Retailers are the only industry with an average score of “strong.” TV service providers and credit card issuers, on the other hand, have average scores that are “very weak.”
• Led by USAA and TriCare, 10 firms have Forgiveness Ratings that are 10 percentage points or more their industry averages.
• Led by Radio Shack and Super 8, 15 firms have Forgiveness Ratings that are at least 10 points below their industry averages.

Download report for $195

To get access to the data, visit the Temkin Ratings website:

The bottom line: To err is human, to earn forgiveness is divine.

Health Plans Deliver Poor Customer Experience

In the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. For this post, we will take a closer look at the 10 health plans  in the ratings.

Health plans have an average rating of “Poor” and was the next to lowest ranked industry…

Let’s take closer look at the results for all of the individual health plans…

As you can see, TriCare leads the health plans and is the only plan to cross over into the “okay” rating. Medicare and Kaiser Peermanente are the only two in the “poor” rating. The remaining seven firms firms earned a “very poor” ratings.

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

TriCare  is the top-performing health plan when it comes to all three experience components and is the only firm to pass the line of goodness for its functional experience. The remaining health plans drop off rapidly; especially when it comes to the accessible component. Anthem falls well below the other health plans across all experience components.

The bottom line: Health plans, like TV service providers, need a customer experience overhaul

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TV Service Providers Deliver The Worst Experience

In the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. For this post, we will take a closer look at the nine TV service providers  in the ratings.

TV service providers have an average rating of “Very Poor” and was the lowest ranked industry…

Let’s take closer look at the results for all of the individual TV service providers…

As you can see, Cox Communications leads the TV service providers, but only receives a “poor” rating. Three firms end with “very poor” ratings: Comcast, Charter Communications, and AT&T.

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

Cox Communication  is the top-performing TV service provider when it comes to functional experience. It is also at the top of the accessible and emotional components along with Cablevision. Comcast and Charter Communications fall well below the rest of the industry in the accessible and emotional components of experience.

The bottom line: TV service providers need a customer experience overhaul

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TracFone Leads In (Poor Group Of) Wireless Experiences

In the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. For this post, we will take a closer look at the six wireless carriers in the ratings.

Wireless carriers have an average rating of “Poor” and was the 8th ranked industry out of 12…

Let’s take closer look at the results for all of the individual wireless carriers…

As you can see, TracFone, Sprint, and AT&T barely cross into the “Okay” customer experience rating. The remaining three carrriers, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Virgin Mobile are in the “Poor” range.

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

TracFone is the top-performing carrier when it comes to functional and emotional experience, but falls behind four other carriers in the accessible component. While none of the carriers crossed the line of goodness for the accessible component of our ratings, Sprint comes out as the easiest to do business with. Virgin Mobile takes the bottom spot for both emotional and accessible components and T-Mobile falls well behind the other carriers in its functional experience.

The bottom line: Wireless carriers need to deliver better experiences

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USAA Delivers Top Insurance Experience

In The 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. For this post, we will take a closer look at the 14 insurers in the ratings.

Insurers, as a group, had an average rating of “Poor” and was the 7th ranked industry out of 12…

Let’s take closer look at the results for all of the individual insurers…

As you can see, USAA is the only insurer with a “Good” customer experience rating. The next two insurers, American Family and State Farm, are in the middle of the “Okay” range. At the other end of the spectrum, 21st Century is the only insurer to receive a “Very Poor” rating, but seven other firms received “Poor” ratings.

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

USAA is on top across the three components. Only one other insurer passes the “Good” mark in both the functional experience component (American Family) and the accessible component (The Hartford). It’s interesting to compare The Hartford with Liberty Mutual since they both ended up with the same overall rating. Liberty Mutual was stronger in the emotional component, but weaker in the accessible component.

The bottom line: Insurers have a lot of opportunity to improve

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Report: 2011 Temkin Loyalty Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Loyalty Ratings.

The report identifies the level of loyalty that US consumers have for 143 organizations across 12 industries.

Here’s the executive summary:

Amazon.com, Kohl’s, and Costco took the top spots in the 2011 Temkin Loyalty Ratings. We asked 6,000 US consumers to rate their level of loyalty to companies across three components: purchasing additional products and services, reluctance to switch business away, and likelihood to recommend the company to friends and relatives. This data allowed us to rate 143 companies across 12 industries. Only 17% of those companies received a “strong” or “very strong” loyalty rating. The results show that retailers have the highest level of loyalty while TV service providers and health plans have the lowest.

Download report for $195

First of all, let me give a shoutout to the five companies with the highest ratings, indicating that they have the most loyal customers:

• 1. Amazon.com
• 2. Kohl’s
• 3. Costco
• 4. (tie) Lowe’s
• 4. (tie) Sam’s Club

Here’s a list of the top 20 companies in the ratings. Click on the graphic below or click right here if you want to see the results for all 143 companies.

The Temkin Loyalty Ratings are calculated by examining three levels of loyalty that companies have earned from consumers: willingness to buy more products, reluctance to switch business away from, and likelihood to recommend those companies.

Overall, consumers don’t have a strong degree of loyalty across many industries. Retailers, by far, earn the highest levels of loyalty. TV Service providers and Internet Service providers, on the other hand, have earned woefully little loyalty with consumers.

Here are some of the other findings from the research:

• Results versus industry averages. Led by USAA (insurance and credit cards), TriCare (health plans), credit unions (banks), and Southwest Airlines, 12 companies had double-digit advantages in loyalty over their industry. At the other end of the spectrum, Radio Shack (retailers), Super 8 (hotel chains), and Gap (retailers) led 18 companies with loyalty scores at least 10 points below their industry averages.
• “Recommending” leaders and laggards. Led by Costco and Amazon.com, 36 companies have “very strong” ratings for consumers that are likely to recommend them to friends and colleagues. At the other end of the spectrum, Charter Communications, Anthem, and Comcast are the only firms with a “very weak” rating in this area.
• “Switching” leaders and laggards. While no companies have very strong ratings for customers that are reluctant to switch, TriCare and USAA lead the five companies that have a “strong” rating in this area. Blue Shield Of California and Lenovo are at the low-end of the spectrum along with 12 other companies that have negative ratings in this area.
• “Repurchasing” leaders and laggards. When it comes to having customers who are likely to purchase something else from them, Amazon.com and Old Navy lead 21 companies with “very strong” loyalty ratings in this area. HSBC and Charter Communications are two of the seven companies that didn’t even cross the 20% mark in this area.

Download report for $195

For access to more data, you can visit Temkin Ratings Website.

Now that we’ve published the Temkin Loyalty Ratings and the Temkin Experience Ratings, we’re analyzing the correlation between the two datasets. Look for out upcoming report: Customer Experience And Loyalty: Connecting The Dots

The bottom line: Loyalty is up for grabs!

Regions Delivers Top Banking Experience

In The 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings, we examined the customer experience across 12 industries. For this post, we will take a closer look at the 16 banks in the ratings.

Banks, as a group, had an average rating of “Okay” and ended up in the middle of the pack; the 5th ranked industry out of 12…

Let’s take closer look at the results for all of the individual banks…

As you can see, Regions is the only bank with a “Good” customer experience rating, but is closely followed by USAA, credit unions (as a group), and TD. At the other end of the spectrum, five banks ended up with “Poor” overall customer experience ratings: HSBC, Citibank, Capital One, Bank Of America, and Citizens.

Let’s take a look at the three components of the Temkin Experience Ratings…

While 10 of the 16 banks crossed the “Good” line for the Functional component of their experience, only the top three made it to that level for the Accessible component.

For more access to the data, visit the Temkin Ratings website.

The bottom line: Banks need to make it easier for customers

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Announcing Temkin Ratings

I am excited to announce the launch of a new website…

In my post about the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings research, I briefly mentioned Temkin Ratings. But I wanted to provide a bit more explanation about what we are trying to do. Let’s start with a screen shot from the Temkin Experience Ratings portion of the site…

As you can see above, the Temkin Ratings site will provide access to six different ratings:

The Temkin Experience Ratings is live and the others (Loyalty, Forgiveness, Trust, Customer Service, and Web Experience) will be coming soon. The ratings are based on a survey of 6,000 US consumers. By establishing quotas for age, income, ethnicity, gender, and geographic regions that are consistent with the US Census, the set of respondents is representative of the overall US population. So think of the results as the collective voice of US consumers.

We have three goals for Temkin Ratings:

1. Amplify the voice of consumers by making the results of the their feedback widely available
2. Encourage companies to discuss and reflect on how they interact with customers
3. Provide easy access to the underlying datasets for those people who want to dig deeper (you can purchase data from the site)

We will also publish research reports in conjunction with each of these ratings. So, as you can see, Temkin Group will be quite busy!

The bottom line: We invite you to visit Temkin Ratings

The 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings. Congratulations to the top five companies (out of 143 in the ratings):

1) Amazon.com
2) Kohl’s
3) Costco
4) Lowe’s
4) Sam’s Club

The ratings evaluate 143 large organizations across 12 industries based on feedback from 6,000 US consumers.

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The Temkin Experience Ratings are based on evaluating three elements of experience:

1. Functional: How well do experiences meet consumers’ needs?
2. Accessible: How easy is it for consumers to do what they want to do?
3. Emotional: How do consumers feel about the experiences?

Here are the top 20 companies in the ratings:

Here are the results for the 12 industries:

Here are some interesting findings from the report:

• 15 of the top 20 firms are retailers. The exceptions are three hotel chains (Marriot, Hyatt, and Courtyard By Marriott), one bank (Regions), and an insurance company (USAA).
• Anthem is at the bottom of the list along with six other health plans that are in the bottom 13. Comcast and Charter Communications each show-up twice in the bottom six spots.
• Only 24 companies ended up with “excellent” or “good” ratings.
• When we compare company ratings with their industry averages, three companies outperformed their peers by at least 10 points: TriCare (health plan), USAA (insurance and credit cards), and Regions (bank).

Download report for FREE

Are you interested in getting a deeper look at the data? Or do you want to see the differences across age, ethnicity, education, and income segments? Then you should visit Temkin Ratings at www.temkinratings.com.

The bottom line: Customer experience excellence is in short supply.