Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, and Hardees Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Fast Food Companies

We recently released the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings that ranks the customer experience of 331 companies across 20 industries based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Hardees deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings.

Chick-fil-A took the top spot out of the 24 fast food restaurants included in this year’s ratings, earning a score of 83% and coming in 2^nd place overall out of 331 companies across 20 industries. Chipotle and Hardees tied for second place, each with a rating of 82% and an overall rank of 4^th.

Chick-fil-A and Subway Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Fast Food Chains

We recently released the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings that ranks the customer experience of 294 companies across 20 industries based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Chick-fil-A and Subway deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Chick-fil-A took the top spot for the fifth year in a row with a rating of 78%, putting it in 3^rd place out of 294 companies across 20 industries. Subway, meanwhile, came in second with a rating of 75% and an overall ranking of 12^th.

At the other end of the spectrum, McDonalds and Burger King tied as the lowest scoring fast food restaurants. Each received a rating of 65%, putting them in 100^th place. Only three other fast food chains failed to earn at least a “good” rating: Baskin Robbins, KFC, and Domino’s.

Overall, the fast food industry averaged a 71% rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and placed 2^nd out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry decreased by five percentage-points between 2015 and 2016, dropping from 76% to 71%.

Here are some additional findings from the fast food industry:

Chick-fil-A and Papa John’s Lead Fast Food in Customer Experience

We recently released the 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings that ranks the customer experience of 293 companies across 20 industries based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Chick-fil-A took the top spot for the fourth year in a row, earning a rating of 82%, which put it in 4^th place out of 293 companies across 20 industries. Papa John’s—a newcomer to the Ratings—came in second with a rating of 81% and an overall ranking of 8^th. Four other fast food chains earned an “excellent” rating: Dairy Queen, Panera Bread, Subway, and Sonic Drive-In. The only fast food company not to receive at least a “good” score was Jack in the Box, who received a rating of 67% and placed 128^th overall.

Overall, the fast food industry averaged a 76% rating in the 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings and came in 2^nd place out of 20 industries. It was also one of the 14 industries whose ratings declined in the past year, with its average decreasing by 2.0 percentage-points.

Here are some additional findings:

• The ratings of all fast food chains in the Ratings are as follows: Chick-fil-A (82%), Papa John’s (81%), Dairy Queen (80%), Panera Bread (80%), Subway (80%), Sonic Drive-In (80%), Dunkin’ Donuts (78%), Pizza Hut (78%), Popeye’s (78%), Taco Bell (78%), Starbucks (77%), Chipotle Mexican Grill (77%), Wendy’s (77%), Arby’s (76%), Little Caesar’s (75%), Domino’s (74%), Panda Express (74%), KFC (74%), Burger King (73%), Hardees (72%), McDonalds (72%), and Jack in the Box (67%).
• Dunkin’ Donuts (+2 points) and Taco Bell (+1 point) were the only fast food companies to improve their ratings between 2014 and 2015.
• Jack in the Box (-9 points), Burger King (-7 points), Little Caesar’s (-5 points), and Domino’s (-5 points) declined by the most percentage-points between 2014 and 2015.

Chick-fil-A and Sonic Drive-In Lead Fast Food Industry in 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings

We recently released the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings that ranks the customer experience of 268 companies across 19 industries based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Chick-fil-A led the food chains for the third year in a row, landing it in 3^rd place overall out of 268 companies across 19 industries. Sonic Drive-In came in a very close second with an overall ranking of 5^th. Five other fast food chains earned an “excellent” rating:  Dairy Queen, Starbucks, Little Caesar’s, Subway, and Burger King. The food chains with the lowest rated customer experience are McDonalds, Baskin Robins, and Orange Julius.

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Here are some additional findings from the fast food industry:

Report: What Happens After a Good or Bad Experience, 2014

We just published a Temkin Group report, What Happens After a Good or Bad Experience, 2014. The report, which includes 19 data charts, examines which companies and industries provide the most bad experiences, what impact those experiences have on spending, and how the negative impacts of bad experiences can be mitigated by good service recovery. The report also examines how consumers share their good and bad experiences with companies as well as with other people. Here’s the executive summary:

To understand the effect of good and bad experiences, we asked 10,000 U.S. consumers about their recent interactions with 268 companies across 19 industries. Results show that Internet services and TV services are the industries most likely to deliver a bad experience to their customers, while grocery chains are the least likely to. At the company level, Scottrade had the smallest percentage of customers reporting a recent bad experience with the company and Time Warner Cable had the highest. More than half of the customers who encountered a bad experience at a fast food chain, credit card issuer, grocery store, or hotel either decreased their spending with the company or stopped altogether. However, our data shows that a good service recovery effort can help mitigate a bad experience. Unfortunately, many firms—especially in the banking, Internet services, and TV services sectors—aren’t very good at service recovery. In addition to the consequences of bad interactions, we also examined which channels customers use to share their good and bad experiences and how these changed across age groups. We then compared these results to survey responses from the past two years. We also uncovered a negative bias inherent in how customers provide feedback. ING Direct, Residence Inn, and Fairfield Inn have the most negative bias in the feedback they receive directly from customers, while Hy-Vee and Hyundai have the most negative bias on Facebook. 

Click link to see full list of industries and companies covered in this report (.pdf).

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One of the most interesting analyses in the report is the look at how service recovery after a bad experience affects the spending pattern of consumers. Here’s a summary of one of the charts showing just how important it is for a company to recover well after making a mistake:

Here are some other insights from the research:

• Sixteen percent of consumers who have interacted with TV service and Internet service providers report having a bad experience over the previous six months. Next on the list are wireless carriers, with 12% of their customers reporting a bad experience. At the other end of the spectrum, only 3% of consumers report a bad experience with grocery chains and 4% report having a bad experience with fast food chains.
• The five companies with the most customers reporting bad experiences are Time Warner Cable (25%), Motel 6 (22%), Coventry Health Care (21%), and Comcast (21%). There were 10 companies with only 1% or less of their customers reporting bad experiences: Scottrade, Chick-fil-A, H.E.B., Whole Foods, ShopRite, ING Direct, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Vanguard, and True Value.
• More than one-quarter of consumers who have a bad experience stop spending with computer makers, car rental agencies, credit card issuers, hotel chains, and software companies. The impact of bad experiences is less costly for parcel delivery services, wireless carriers, health plans, TV service providers, Internet service providers, and grocery chains, as less than 15% of their customers with bad experience stopped spending.
• The industries that are the best at responding to a bad experience are investment firms, major appliances, retailers, and car rental agencies. The industries that are the worst at responding to a bad experience are TV service providers, wireless carriers, Internet service providers, parcel delivery services, and health plans.
• Thirty-two percent of consumers give feedback directly to companies after a very bad experience and 23% give feedback after a very good experience.
• Overall, 25- to 34-year-olds are the most likely to share feedback about their experiences. After a good experience 57% tell a friend directly, 28% share on Facebook, and 18% put a comment or rating on a review site. After a bad experience, 60% tell a friend directly, 31% share on Facebook, and 20% write a review.

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The bottom line: Make sure to recover quickly after a bad experience

Chick-fil-A Leads Fast Food Industry in 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings

We recently released the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings that ranks the customer experience of 246 companies across 19 industries based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Here are highlights from the fast food industry:

• The average rating for fast food industry places it at number two out of 19 industries, only behind grocery chains.
• The average rating for the fast food industry increased from 74.0% in 2012 to 76.3% in 2013.
• Chick-fil-A is the top scoring fast food chain for the second straight year, with a rating of 82%. That score puts the fast food chain at #3 across all industries. It also earned the top marks for functional and emotional components in fast foods.
• Three other fast food chains are in the top 10 in the overall ratings; Dunkin’ Donuts, Little Caesar’s, and Sonic Drive-In are all tied at #7.
• Arby’s earned the top rating for the accessible component.
• KFC is the lowest-ranked fast food chain with a rating of 67%. That’s four points below the next lowest rated fast food chain, McDonalds.
• Hardees showed the largest improvement between 2012 and 2013, gaining 10 percentage points. Next on the list, Jack in the Box increased nine percentage points and Domino’s increased eight percentage points.
• While no firm declined by very much, three fast food chains dropped three percentage points between 2012 and 2013: Starbucks, Taco Bell, and KFC.
• Here’s a link to industry results from the 2012 ratings.

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Report: 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings

We published the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings. The report analyzes feedback from 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate 246 organizations across 19 industries. Congratulations to the top firms in this year’s ratings: Publix, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Chick-fil-A, Amazon.com, and Sam’s Club.

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You can also download the data for $395.

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

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

Here are the top and bottom companies in the ratings:

Here’s how the industries compare with each other:

(NOTE: We have published posts on the detailed results for all 19 industries)

Here are the companies that are leaders and laggards across the 19 industries:

In this year’s ratings, 37% of companies earned “good” or “excellent” scores, while 28% are rated as “poor” or ”very poor.” Companies with at least a “good” rating grew by nine-percentage points since 2012 and by 21-points since 2011. Of the 203 companies that are included in both the 2012 and 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, 57% firms had at least a modest increase. The companies that made the largest improvement over 2012 are Citibank, TriCare, TD Ameritrade, Office Depot, EarthLink, Hardees, and Regions Bank.

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Get the Data

Do you want to see all of the data? You can purchase an excel spreadsheet for $395…

To view all of our ratings (experience, loyalty, trust, forgiveness, customer service, and web experience), visit the Temkin Ratings website…

The bottom line: Customer experience is improving, but there’s still a long way to go

Report: Net Promoter Score Benchmark Study, 2012

We just published a Temkin Group report, Net Promoter Score Benchmark Study, 2012. It provides NPS data on 175 U.S. companies across 19 industries. Here’s the executive summary:

USAA took the top two spots for its banking and insurance businesses while HSBC came in at the bottom for banking and credit cards. Our analysis of differences across consumer demographic segments showed that NPS tends to go up with age, doesn’t vary much by income levels, and is often highest with Asians. We also asked consumers what would make them more likely to recommend the companies and found that promoters are more likely to select lower prices and detractors are more likely to select better customer service. While there is some debate about the efficacy of NPS, our analysis shows that promoters are much more likely than detractors to purchase more in the future across all industries. To help you implement a successful NPS program, we’ve included eight tips such as don’t believe in an “ultimate question” and use control charts, not pinpointed goals. The industries included in this report are airlines, auto dealers, banks, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, grocery chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, major appliance makers, parcel delivery services, rental car agencies, retailers, software firms, TV service providers, and wireless carriers.

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(includes the data)

The industries included in this report are airlines, auto dealers, banks, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, grocery chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, major appliance makers, parcel delivery services, rental car agencies, retailers, software firms, TV service providers, and wireless carriers.

The report contains the following components:

• NPS for 175 companies across 19 industries
• NPS differences based on age, income, and ethnicity of consumers
• Improvement areas selected by promoters and detractors by industry
• Connection between NPS and future purchases by industry
• Eight tips for implementing a successful NPS program

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(Includes the data)

The bottom line:  Companies need to give customers a reason to recommend them

Report: 2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings

Access the data from all Temkin Ratings research at the Temkin Ratings website.

We just published a new Temkin Group report, 2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings. The report analyzes feedback from 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate their loyalty to 206 organizations across 18 industries. Congratulations to the top firms in this year’s ratings: Sam’s Club, Aldi, USAA, Publix, credit unions, and Amazon.com.

We added six industries (fast food chains, grocery chains, major appliances, car rental agencies, auto dealers, and parcel delivery services) and 63 companies compared with the 2011 Temkin Loyalty Ratings.

Here is the executive summary from the report:

Sam’s Club, Aldi, and USAA earned the top spots in the 2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings while Citigroup (banking and credit cards) and Charter Communications (TV service and Internet service) each show up twice in the bottom four. We asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate their loyalty to companies across three dimensions: likely to recommend, reluctant to switch, and willing to repurchase. Their responses allowed us to rate the loyalty of customers to 206 companies across 18 industries. One-quarter of companies have “strong” or “very strong” ratings while 50% have “weak” or “very weak” ratings. At an industry level, grocery chains and retailers have the most loyal customers while internet service providers and TV service providers have the least loyal customers. USAA has the most loyal customers across three industries, banking, insurance, and credit cards. When comparing the results from the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings, we find that PNC and USAA improved the most and Kohl’s and Hyatt declined the most.

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The Temkin Loyalty Ratings are based on evaluating three components of loyalty:

1. Recommending: How likely are consumers to recommend the company to friends and colleagues?
2. Switching: How reluctant are consumers to switch business away from the company?
3. Repurchasing: How willing are customers to purchase additional products and services from the company?

Here are the ratings for all 206 companies:

Here’s how the industries compare with each other:

Here are some other highlights from the research:

• USAA (in their banking and credit card divisions) as well as credit unions (banking) outpaced their industry peers by more than 25 percentage points.
• DHL and RadioShack are the furthest behind their peers, falling more than 20 percentage points below their industry averages.
• Across the 12 industries we examined in both years, nine earned higher loyalty scores in 2012 and three showed a decline. Computer makers are at the top of the list of gainers while retailers had the largest decline.
• Of the 139 companies that are included in both the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Loyalty Ratings, 84 firms made at least a small improvement in their scores. Led by PNC and USAA, 19 companies earned double-digit improvements over the last year.
• Kohl’s and Hyatt are the only companies that declined by more than 10 percentage points over the previous year.

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Do you want to see the data? Go to the Temkin Ratings website where you can sort through all of the results for free. You can even purchase the underlying data if you want to get more access.

The bottom line: Consumer loyalty remains up for grabs across most industries.

Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Subway Are CX Leaders in Fast Food

This post examines the 17 fast food chains included in the 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings.

Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Subway earned the top customer experience ratings in the industry and are tied for third spot across all 206 companies. The three leading fast food chains are the only ones in the industry to earn “excellent” customer experience ratings. Eleven of the 17 fast food chains earned “good” ratings while the bottom three—Hardees, Domino’s, and Jack in the Box—earned “okay” ratings.

The overall fast food industry earned the second spot out of 18 industries, slightly behind grocery chains but well ahead of other industries.

Other highlights from the research include:

• Starbucks and Subway received the highest Functional ratings while Domino’s and Jack in the Box received the lowest.
• Subway received the highest Accessible ratings while Hardees and Jack in the Box received the lowest.
• Chick-fil-A and Starbucks received the highest Emotional ratings while Hardees received the lowest.

Do you want to see the data? Go to the Temkin Ratings website where you can sort through all of the results for free. You can even purchase the underlying data if you want to get more access.

The bottom line: Most fast food chains deliver solid CX

Report: 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings

Access the data from all Temkin Ratings research at the Temkin Ratings website.

We just published a new report, 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings. The report analyzes feedback from 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate 206 organizations across 18 industries. Congratulations to the top firms in this year’s ratings: Sam’s Club, Publix, Starbucks, Subway, Chick-fil-A, Aldi, Winn-Dixie, H.E.B, and credit unions.

We added six industries (fast food chains, grocery chains, major appliances, car rental agencies, auto dealers, and parcel delivery services) and 63 companies compared with the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings.

Here is the executive summary from the report:

Sam’s Club and Publix earned the top two spots in the 2012 Temkin Experience Rankings, with three fast food chains rounding out the top five. We asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to rate their recent interactions with companies across three dimensions of their experience: functional, accessible, and emotional. Their responses allowed us to rate 206 companies across 18 industries. Only 28% of those companies received at least a “good” rating. Grocery chains earned the highest average scores and health plans dominated the bottom of the ratings. Kaiser Permanente and credit unions most outperformed their industries while DHL and RadioShack fell the farthest behind their peers. None of the companies earned an “excellent” rating for the emotional component, while Charter Communications and Earthlink lead 10 companies falling below the “very poor” threshold in that area. Compared with last year’s ratings, most industries improved, led by a 5.3 point average increase by insurance carriers. When it comes to changes over the past year by individual firms, PNC and Lenovo improved the most while Regions Bank had the sharpest decline.

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

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

Here are the ratings for all 206 companies:

Here’s how the industries compare with each other:

Here are the companies that are leaders across the 18 industries:

Download report for FREE

Do you want to see the data? Go to the Temkin Ratings website where you can sort through all of the results for free. You can even purchase the underlying data if you want to get more access.

The bottom line: Customer experience is improving, but there’s a long way to go