Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Investment Firms

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.

Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments deliver the best customer experience in the investment industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings. The entire industry saw a sharp improvement over last year.

See our FAQs about the Temkin Experience Ratings.

Kaiser Permanente and Humana Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Health Plans

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.

Kaiser Permanente and Humana deliver the best customer experience in the health plan industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings.

For the second year in a row, Kaiser Permanente took the top spot out of the 14 health plans included in this year’s ratings, earning a score of 67% and coming in 206^th place overall out of 331 companies across 20 industries. Humana came in a close second with a score of 65% and a rank of 247^th overall.

Kaiser Permanente and TriCare Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Health Plans

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.

Kaiser Permanente and TriCare deliver the best customer experience of any health plan, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Of the 16 health plans we looked at, Kaiser Permanente earned the highest score with a rating of 57%, placing it 182^nd overall out of 294 companies across 20 industries. TriCare came in second in the industry with a rating of 55% and an overall ranking of 199^th. Kaiser Permanente and TriCare have been jockeying for the highest health plan score since the Ratings began in 2011. The only other health plans to receive ratings above “very poor” (above 50%) were Aetna, CIGNA, and United Healthcare. Meanwhile, Health Net received the lowest score of any health plan with a rating of 32%, putting it in 293^rd place out of 294 companies.

Overall, the health plan industry averaged a 47% rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and tied for last place out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry decreased by seven percentage-points between 2015 and 2016, dropping from 54% to 47%.

Here are some additional findings from the health plan industry:

TriCare and Kaiser Permanente Lead Health Plans in Customer Experience

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

Overall, health plans averaged a 54% rating and placed 18^th out of 20 industries.

TriCare took the top spot with a rating of 67%, placing it 128^th overall out of 293 companies across 20 industries. Kaiser Permanente came in second with a rating of 66% and an overall ranking of 136^th. TriCare and Kaiser Permanente have been jockeying for the highest score since the Ratings began in 2011, with TriCare earning the top spot in 2011, 2013, and 2015, while Kaiser Permanente came in first in 2012 and 2014.

At the other end of the spectrum, Coventry Health Care was both the lowest-scoring health plan, and the lowest scoring company we evaluated in the entire Ratings. Coventry Health Care scored 39%, making it the lowest-ranked company for the second year in a row.

Here are some other highlights:

• The average rating for the health plan industry dropped from 56% in 2014 to 54% in 2015—the first time that this industry’s average declined.
• Of the twelve health plans that we looked at in both 2014 and 2015, Medicaid and TriCare were the only two to increase their scores over the last year. Medicaid’s rating went up by six percentage-points, while TriCare’s increased by five percentage-points.
• Although it scored below the industry averages for both effort and success, Health Net scored 1.7 points higher than the industry average for emotion, the overall lowest scoring component in the Ratings.
• The average rating of each of the three components dropped over the past year, but while success and effort each only dropped by one percentage-point, emotion dropped by three percentage-points. This is the first year since the Ratings began that the average score of any of the three components decreased.

Kaiser Permanente and Humana Lead Health Plans 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.

Kaiser Permanente earned the top spot with a 68% rating, positioning the company in 109^th place overall out of 268 organizations across 19 industries. Humana, meanwhile, earned a rating of 63% and placed 160^th overall. While Kaiser Permanente consistently ranks near the top of the list—even taking first place in 2012—this year, Humana ascended from the middle of the pack to the top, improving its rating by an astonishing 12 percentage points.

At the other end of the spectrum, Coventry Health Care (BCBS) plummeted down the ranks after declining 18 percentage points from 2013, leaving it in last place across all 268 companies in the ratings with a score of 41%. Empire (BCBS), Highmark (BCBS), and Medicaid joined Coventry as the lowest-rated companies across any industry.

Download entire dataset for $395

Here are some additional findings from the health plan 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).

Download report for $195

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.

Download report for $195

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

TriCare and Kaiser Permanente Lead Health Plans 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 health insurance industry:

• The health plan industry has the second-lowest average rating. The average score was 55%, tied with Internet service providers. (The lowest-ranked industry was TV service providers.)
• The industry has been steadily improving over the last three years, from an average rating of 50.3% in 2011 to 54.8% this year.
• The highest-ranked health plan, TriCare, is #78 across all industries in the ratings.  The plan’s rating of 71% is six percentage points ahead of the second-highest-ranked health plan, Kaiser Permanente.
• TriCare earned the top marks for functional and emotional experience while Kaiser Permanente earned the top accessible rating.
• TriCare earned the largest improvement over 2012, 12 points, followed by Anthem (BSBS) with an eight point gain and Highpoint (BCBS) with a seven point gain.
• Coventry Health Care has an unusual profile, somewhat below average functional rating with a strong accessible and emotional ratings.
• Thirteen of the 15 health insurance companies surveyed have scores considered “poor” or “very poor.”
• Three plans tied for the lowest functional component: CareFirst (BCBS), Health Net, and Empire (BCBS).
• Medicaid earned the lowest score for the accessible component.
• CIGNA and CareFirst (BCBS) earned the lowest emotional ratings.
• The lowest-ranked health plan, #242 Empire (BCBS), was the only plan with a “very poor” rating.
• Here’s a link to industry results from the 2012 ratings.

Download entire dataset for $395

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.

Download report for $295
(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

Download report for $295
(Includes the data)

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

2012 Temkin Web Experience Ratings

Temkin Group has just released the 2012
We introduced the Temkin Web Experience Ratings last year. The 2012 Web Experience Ratings include 159 companies from 18 industries and is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Congratulations to the top firms in this year’s ratings: Amazon, credit unions, USAA, PNC, Southwest Airlines, eBay, Sam’s Club, ShopRite, JCPenney, and ING Direct. Of course, not every company has earned good web experience, especially the companies at the bottom of the 2012 ratings:  Charter Communications, Humana, Qwest, Cigna, Time Warner Cable, Anthem, Road Runner, Medicare, Blue Shield of CA, and TracFone.

We also  examined industry averages and found that banks and investment firms have earned the highest Temkin Web Experience Ratings followed by hotel chains and retailers. But consumers gave very low ratings to Internet service providers, health plans, and TV service providers.

The research also examines how individual companies are rated relative to their industry peers. The following 11 firms outscored their industry average Temkin Web Experience Ratings by 10 percentage points or more: Kaiser Permanente, Amazon, ShopRite, Southwest Airlines, USAA, Starbucks, H.E.B., Publix, credit unions, Marriott, and Apple.

The following 15 companies fell 10 percentage points or more below their industry averages: Wells Fargo Advisors, AAA, Charter Communications, Delta Airlines, Citibank, Bank of America, Humana, TracFone, Qwest, Old Navy, U.S. Airways, Rite Aid, Kohl’s, Kmart, and Charter Communications.

Temkin Group also analyzed changes from the 2011 Temkin Web Experience Ratings. Led by TV service providers and insurance carriers 11 of the 12 industries that were in both the 2011 and 2012 ratings improved since last year.

Seventy-two percent of companies that were in the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Web Experience Ratings showed improvement. Led by Comcast (Internet and TV service), Allstate, AOL, Charter Communications, Toshiba, and Sam’s Club, 20 companies improved by 10 percentage points or more between 2011 and 2012. Only three companies­— Kohl’s, TracFone, and Rite Aid—declined by 10 percentage points or more during that timeframe.

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: Web experience is not good enough for how important it is

2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings

Temkin Group has just released the 2012
Every company makes mistakes now and then, but how willing are customers to forgive the company when it happens? Forgiveness is a valuable asset that companies earn by consistently meeting customers’ needs.

We introduced the Temkin Forgiveness Ratings last year to gauge which companies are earning this important element of loyalty. The 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings include 206 companies from 18 industries and is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Congratulations to the top firms in this year’s ratings: USAA, Hyatt, credit unions, H.E.B., Hy-Vee, Dollar Rent A Car, Chick-fil-A, Publix, Costco, and Amazon.com. Of course, not every company enjoys such a high degree of forgiveness from their customers, especially the companies at the bottom of the 2012 ratings: Citigroup, Charter Communications, HSBC, Chrysler dealers, EarthLink, Bank of America, Comcast, Quest, and US Airways.

We also examined industry averages and found that grocery chains have earned the most forgiveness from consumers followed by retailers, appliance makers, and parcel delivery services. But consumers are not very likely to forgive mistakes by credit card issuers, Internet service providers, and TV service providers.

We examined how individual companies are rated relative to their industry peers. USAA holds the top two spots, outpacing its credit card and banking peers by more than 30 percentage points. USAA also outpaces the insurance industry by more than 20 percentage points. Credit unions, Hyatt, US Cellular, Dollar Rent A Car, Chick-fil-A, and Bright House Networks are also more than 15 percentage points above their industry averages. Five companies fall 15 or more percentage points below their industry’s average Temkin Forgiveness Ratings: Chrysler dealers, Citigroup, Travelers, Charter Communications, and RadioShack.

We also analyzed changes from the 2011 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings. The research shows that consumers are more forgiving this year than they were last year. Led by banks and insurance carriers, all 12 industries that were in both the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings showed improvement.
Sixty-eight of the 139 companies that were in the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings earned double-digit improvements and four companies improved by more than 25 percentage points: TD Ameritrade, Lenovo, USAA, and credit unions. Ten companies lost ground over the last year with the biggest drops coming for Citigroup, Continental Airlines, Travelers, Sears, Holiday Inn Express, and The Hartford.

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: To err is possible, to earn forgiveness is divine

Health Plans Deliver The Worst Customer Experience

This post examines the 13 health plans included in the 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings.

Kaiser Permanente was the top rated health plan, the only plan to receive an “okay” rating, but it is only ranked 87th overall. TriCare, Medicare, Aetna, United Healthcare, Humana, Empire BCBS, Blue Shield of CA, and CIGNA all received “poor” ratings. Four plans received “very poor” ratings and are ranked in the bottom seven across all 18 industries: Highmark BCBS, Health Net, Medicaid, and Anthem BCBS.

Health plans represented the lowest rated industry, and only one of three industries to receive an average rating of “poor.”

The industry, however, experienced a modest two percentage point improvement between 2011 and 2012. Ten health plans were included in both the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings. Kaiser Permanente had a double-digit improvement in its score while five other plans increased their score by five or more points: Anthem BCBS, Aetna, United Healthcare, CIGNA, and Humana.

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: Health plans have a chronic case of poor customer experience

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

Download this post for printing or sharing

Health Plans Fail On Customer Experience

Forrester’s 2010 Customer Experience Index (CxPi) ranks 133 firms across 14 industries. I recently analyzed the results of the nine health plans in the CxPi. Here are the overall results:

Some interesting tidbits from the research:

• Health plans were the worst scoring industry for the third straight year.
• The average score across health plans was the same as it was in 2008, a “very poor” 51%.
• Kaiser was in top place again, although it dropped a bit from 2008.
• The public plans, Medicare and Medicaid, had the largest improvement.
• Anthem (BCBS) and United Healthcare dropped the most since 2008.

The bottom line: Health plan customer experience needs resuscitation.

Barnes & Noble, Kohl’s, and Marriott Top Customer Service Ratings

In a new report called Rating Customer Service Experiences, 2010, I analyzed how 4,600+ US consumers rated their customer service experiences with 92 large companies across 14 industries. Led by Barnes & Noble, Kohl’s, and Marriott, 24 companies received a Net Satisfaction Score* of 80% or higher.

At the other end of the spectrum, 10 firms had Net Satisfaction Scores below 50%: Charter Communications, Comcast, Washington Mutual, United Healthcare, Aetna, Citigroup, AOL, HSBC, Bank of America, and Capital One.

The absolute scores tell only a part of the story. We also compared the customer service rating for each company with the average for its industry. It turns out that credit unions, Kaiser, and Apple led 25 firms that were five or more percentage points above their peers.

At the other end of the spectrum, 11 firms fell more than 10 percentage points below their industry average: Washington Mutual, Charter Communications, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, United Healthcare, JP Morgan Chase, Aetna, Capital One, United Airlines, and Office Depot.

I also examined the ratings given by different generations of consumers. In 10 of the 14 industries, Seniors were the most satisfied with customer service. For nine of the industries, Gen Y were the least satisfied.

*Net Satisfaction Score: We asked consumers to rate their customer service experiences on a 5-point satisfaction scale. To create the Net Satisfaction Score, we took the percentage of consumers who gave the company a “4” or “5” and subtracted the percentage of consumers that gave the company a “1” or “2.”

The bottom line: Focus on customer service in 2010.

Forrester’s 2010 Customer Experience Rankings

This is our third year publishing the CxPi. The 2007 CxPi and the 2008 CxPi rankings were published in Q4. We decided to publish this year’s CxPi in Q1 2010, so we don’t have a 2009 CxPi.

The 2010 CxPi ranks 133 organizations across 14 industries: Airlines, Banks, Credit Card Providers, Health Plans, Hotels, Insurance Firms, Internet Service Providers, Investment Firms, Parcel Shipping Services (new this year), PC Manufacturers, Retailers, TV Service Providers, Utilities (new this year), and Wireless Carriers.

The CxPi is based on consumer evaluations during November 2009 across three areas: 1) meeting needs; 2) being easy to work with; and 3) enjoyability (see the methodology section below).

Here are the full 2010 CxPi rankings…

Barnes & Noble took the top spot in the CxPi rankings for the second year in a row. Marriot Hotels, Hampton Inn, Amazon.com, and Holiday Inn Express round out the top 5. At the other end of the spectrum, Charter Communications landed at the bottom of the CxPi rankings for the third year in a row. Here are some additional insights about the overall results:

• Retailers take 12 out of the top 20 spots. Most of the top rated companies on the list are retailers. Hotels also grabbed three of the top 20 spots. Interestingly, three financial services firms also cracked the top 20: credit unions, SunTrust Bank, and Vanguard.
• Healthcare, Internet and TV services dominate the bottom. The bottom 11 companies on the list came from only four industries: five health insurance plans (United Healthcare, Medicaid, Anthem, and CIGNA), three ISPs (Charter Communications, Comcast, and Qwest), two TV service providers (Charter Communications and Comcast), and one credit card provider (HSBC).
• There was very little excellence. Only 13 firms ended up with an “excellent,” and 35 received a “good” rating. 40 companies fell in the middle with “okay” ratings. At the bottom of the list, 45 received either a “poor” or “very poor” rating.
• Liberty Mutual improved the most. When we compared firms’ 2010 CxPi with last year’s results, we found that 22 companies had improved by at least five percentage points. Led by Liberty Mutual’s 15 percentage point increase, five firms even had double-digit improvements (Comfort Inn, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable).

CxPi Results Across Industries

We also looked at the overall results for the 14 industries included in the CxPi.