CustomerSatisfaction
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Apple tops customer satisfaction survey for 10th year in a row
When you ask an Apple fan why they use the company's products, you're often going to hear "because they just work" as a response. But those people are loyalists -- how satisfied are general Mac users? It turns out Apple has been at the top of the customer satisfaction charts for the last 10 years. That information comes from the American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual rankings for customer satisfaction of personal computers. Apple's score for 2013 was 87, compared to a score of 80 for Hewlett-Packard, 79 for both personal computers and Dell and 78 for Toshiba. Scores are based on a number of factors, including customer expectations, perceived quality of products and perceived value. Apple's score increased 1.2 percent from the 2012 survey results.
J.D. Power: AT&T unseats Verizon as customer care leader
AT&T is the absolute bee's knees in customer care among the big four carriers. That's if you're listening to J.D. Power, anyway, which finds that longtime champion Verizon is no longer the best at solving its customers' problems. As a precaution, this study is rather narrow in scope and considers just three components of customer care: telephone assistance, online support and in-store personnel. Naturally, this is just one component of customer satisfaction, and factors such as coverage, data speed and call quality aren't considered -- look to Consumer Reports for insight on those. Still, customer care is important and J.D. Power suggests that it's now at its highest levels since 2009. Sadly, not everyone's a winner, as the study also finds that Sprint and T-Mobile both fall below the industry average. On the prepaid side, MetroPCS is keeping its position as the front-runner, but even more curious, it's said that a whopping 69 percent of non-contract customers use carrier apps to manage their accounts. What's more, customer satisfaction is reportedly considerably higher among prepaid carriers that provide these management apps to their subscribers. In this context, it seems that well-targeted bundled apps aren't necessarily bloatware, but we still think its carriers should let you remove that stuff.
Survey says Verizon is best at customer satisfaction... among the big four, anyway
The results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index are in, and parroting a recent study by Consumer Reports, Verizon Wireless is named the front-runner with the most happy subscribers among the big four carriers. The survey takes a number of factors into account, such as call clarity, dropped calls, network coverage, data speeds, helpfulness of in-store staff, diversity of plans and the quality of the carrier's websites. As the dust settled, Verizon notched a three-point gain to chart a score of 73 (out of 100), whereas ACSI's previous front-runner, Sprint, held steady with a score of 71. AT&T is portrayed as "in a statistical dead heat with Sprint," which climbed one point to chart an ACSI score of 70. Meanwhile, satisfaction among T-Mobile customers fell a point, which caused the carrier to pull up the rear with a score of 68. On the whole, ACSI suggests that subscribers are generally more satisfied with regional providers and MVNOs, as the little dogs hold an aggregate score of 78. Speaking in broader terms, the ACSI reports that the wireless industry has reversed its two-year trend of sliding customer satisfaction to hit a benchmark score of 72, which matches the industry's 10-year high. Naturally, improvements still need to be made across the board, but at least things seem to be moving in the right direction.
iPhone tops J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey again
Make a little more room in the trophy case: the iPhone has topped J.D. Power and Associates' consumer satisfaction survey yet again in the category of wireless smartphones. For the ninth study in a row, Apple has earned the top numbers, scoring 855 on a survey that tracks issues like performance, ease of operation, physical design and various features. Overall smartphone numbers are up as well to around a score of 796, an increase of 22 points over last year. It's pretty easy to ascribe most of that satisfaction to Apple: the company's meteoric growth has definitely encouraged the smartphone market, and even its competitors are pushed to make better products thanks to the iPhone. Elsewhere in J.D. Power's survey, the company found that despite this higher satisfaction, about two in ten customers are still experiencing software or hardware issues with their phones. Not surprisingly, smartphone users who use their phones a lot are more likely to recommend them to others: customers who spent more than 100 minutes a week on their phones are 14 percent more likely to recommend their specific model than those that spend less time. When you combine that with the fact that iPhone users tend to use their phones a lot more than other brands, it makes sense that so many iPhones come so highly recommended.
Apple tops British brand survey
Each year, British business professionals rank global "superbrands" in a report called the Superbrand Survey. The group produces two lists: consumer superbrands and business superbrands. In the latest report, Apple placed second and first, respectively. The top five business superbrands were, in order from the top: Apple, British Airways, Google, Visa and Virgin Atlantic. On the consumer side, the ranking was Rolex, Apple, Microsoft, British Airways and Coca-Cola. As far as what a "superbrand" actually is, the group defines it as, "...[a brand] that has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over its competitors, which customers want and recognize." Congratulations to Apple on its fine showing.
Apple falls in customer satisfaction survey
Analytics firm ForeSee says Apple slipped 3 percentage points in a holiday customer satisfaction survey, garnering 80 points, according to AllThingsD. That's still an excellent number. The data comes from a survey of 24,000 customers that was conducted between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The drop is one of the biggest Foresee has seen, and Apple's lowest score in four years. There doesn't seem to be a simple explanation. Apple went through some drama earlier this year when it fired John Browett as head of retail, but it's hard to see how that might have had much of an effect on customers. AllThingsDigital quotes Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee, as saying, "The luster of Apple is fading a bit, and keeping up with consumer's rising expectations is no easy task." The ForeSee survey measures four things that are believed to add up to customer satisfaction: merchandise appeal, price competitiveness, website functionality and website content. ForeSee adds that website functionality should be a top priority for Apple. Amazon tops the list this holiday season at 88 percent customer satisfaction. JCPenney and Dell also dropped in the ForeSee survey.
Daily Update for December 19, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
New survey says iOS 6 users aren't as happy as they were with iOS 5
The word from mobile customer research firm On Device (as reported by TechCrunch) is iOS 5 eked out a bit more customer satisfaction than iOS 6 has thus far. The company checked with 16,000 iPhone users, and even though it's only a small deviation, it's the first time there has been a dip in the numbers measured by On Device. iOS 6 users have a reported satisfaction rating of 7.65, compared to 7.75 for iOS 5. When iOS 5 came out, that number was a jump from 6.93. In fact, every iOS release has seen an increase until now. If I had to make a guess, I'd say it's all the negative talk of the new Maps app, and because such a large percentage of users are using their phones for navigation, any trouble with Maps can have an effect on user satisfaction. It's just one set of numbers, and the satisfaction change is very small. We'll see more data from more surveys in the coming weeks and see if a trend develops. [via TechCrunch]
iPhone tops J.D. Power satisfaction survey ... again
Every year at about this time, J.D. Power and Associates releases the results of the U.S. Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study. For the eighth consecutive year, Apple is at the top of the list in terms of customer satisfaction for smartphones. On a 1,000-point scale, Apple ranked first with a score of 849, performing well in all key factors used to determine the overall score. Physical design, which makes up 23 percent of the overall satisfaction figure, and ease of operation (22 percent) were given particularly good marks by iPhone consumers. HTC was in second place with a overall score of 790, while rival Samsung trailed the average for the study with a score of 782. Apple was the only company in the survey to gain a Power Circle Rating of "Among the best," while Samsung was "About average" and beleaguered BlackBerry manufacturer RIM was just among "The rest." via The Loop
Apple tops ACSI satisfaction survey for cellphone manufacturers
Apple has done it again, topping the American Consumer Satisfaction Index survey for cellphone manufacturers and wireless carriers. The company ended up with a score of 83 points out of 100 possible, higher than any other manufacturer. ACSI polls 70,000 consumers each year, asking questions about customer satisfaction with over 225 companies in 47 industries. This year Apple was nine points above the industry average of 74, and eight points above runners-up Nokia, HTC, and LG. Arch-rival Samsung was near the bottom of the satisfaction barrel, with a dismal 71 point total. The formerly powerful RIM, manufacturer of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, was at the bottom. It could only scrape together 69 points, a full 14 points below Apple and five points below the industry average. The survey also listed customer satisfaction with wireless carriers. Sprint came in at the top spot with 71 points, Verizon at 70, and AT&T and T-Mobile at 69 points. Surprisingly, AT&T's score was four points higher than its 2011 score. [via Wired]
Apple tops e-store satisfaction survey
If you've been happy with a purchase that you made at Apple's online store, you're not the only one. Michigan-based ForeSee announced today that the Apple online store received the highest satisfaction score of any computer-related company and was tied for second place overall with QVC.com. ForeSee surveys almost 21,000 visitors to the top 100 online stores as ranked by annual revenue, and has been doing so since 2005. Apple scored an 85 this year, up from an 80 ranking last year. The only e-store that beat Apple's was Amazon, which ForeSee says "continues to set the standard for e-retailers." Amazon received an 89 score. Other electronics manufacturers fell behind Apple, with Dell at a score of 80, HP at 79, and Sony and Microsoft both at 78. There's good news in the report for anyone purchasing electronics online -- scores of 80 and higher, which ForeSee CEO Larry Freed refers to as being on "the threshold of excellence," are becoming much more common than in the past. The complete report can be downloaded for free from ForeSee by filling out an online form.
Apple tops J.D. Power customer survey 7 years running
J.D. Power and Associates is a well-known provider of customer satisfaction survey data, often known for providing those shiny award statues to automobile manufacturers. Well, they also do surveys of smartphone and traditional mobile phone customers, and for the seventh year in a row, Apple is at the top of the list for customer satisfaction. In a report subtitled "Smartphone battery life has become a significant drain on customer satisfaction and loyalty," Apple ended up with an index ranking of 839 points out of 1,000 total and a JDPower.com Power Circle score of a perfect five. Next highest on the list was HTC, which pulled in with a power ranking of 798 points. Apple's arch-rival Samsung was below the industry average figure of 774 with a ranking of 769, while LG and RIM BlackBerry were tied with a score of 733. At the bottom of the pile was Palm with a score of 697 -- their customers are probably miffed that they've been abandoned by the company.
iPad customer satisfaction is (surprise!) quite high
Imagine my shock (not)! A new Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) study reported on The Loop shows that the iPad is keeping customers happy, with 83.65 percent of respondents saying that they were satisfied with the device. SURL asked respondents to rate the user-friendliness of the iPad, and 62 percent rated the iPad as "excellent," 21 percent said it was "good," and 10 percent said it was the "best imaginable". Only 4 percent thought the usability of the iPad was "fair," 2 percent find it to be "poor," and 2 percent rate the usability as "awful." What did people like the best about the iPad? The variety of apps, overall ease of use, the larger screen size (7" Android tablets take note), and portability. On the other hand, respondents were not happy with the poor quality of some apps, didn't like the inability of the iPad to play Adobe Flash, and had problems typing with the virtual keyboard. Only 13 percent of respondents said that they use the iPad exclusively for work, but 52 percent say that they use an iPad at work -- meaning that they use it personally as well. Most of the respondents using iPads for work use it as a reference tool (almost 95 percent) and to create or edit documents (about 70 percent). One survey result I personally found interesting was that almost 23 percent of respondents also own or use an Amazon Kindle. This may indicate that users find the eInk Kindle's ability to be easily read in bright sunshine to be a plus.
Apple tops J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey, grim reading for RIM and Nokia
Not only is Apple shipping the most smartphones, it's also shipping the best smartphones -- if you believe the stats in J.D. Power and Associates' latest US customer satisfaction survey. It gave the iPhone a score of 838, versus HTC's handsets in second place with 801 and an industry average of 788. Sammy got a disappointing 777, but we guess it might have fared better if the Galaxy S II had been quicker to cross the Atlantic. Hapless RIM got shunted into fifth place, having come second in 2010. You'll find plenty more factoids in the PR after the break, including evidence that people just love 4G. Well, we could have told you that.
Survey: Apple's lead in tech support satisfaction is slipping
According to a survey [PDF] of over 4,000 customers, satisfaction with Apple's phone-based support is slipping, while other computer manufacturers like HP are gaining. Apple is still the undisputed leader with 58% of Apple customers saying they were "Very Satisfied" with their experience. Though higher than the 53% rate for HP and 47% for Dell, Apple's satisfaction rating has dropped 15 points since last year. It appears as if the automated part of the tech support process has people stymied. According to the survey, only 24 percent of Apple customers are "Very Satisfied" with automated support calls. In this category, Apple trails both Dell and HP whose customers are 30% and 46% satisfied with the experience, respectively. [Via TechCrunch]
iPhone growth moving towards Android in US
Things are looking wonderful for Apple's iPhone these days, according to a study of US smartphone buyers by ChangeWave. The study results show that of Americans expecting to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days, 46 percent are planning to get an iPhone while only 32 percent are thinking about an Android phone. This shows that the demand for iPhones is highest ever for a non-launch period, second only to the launch of the iPhone 4 last year when a full 50 percent said they'd go with an Apple product. ChangeWave speculates that the introduction of the Verizon iPhone is what caused the change. At the end of 2010, demand for Android and iPhone was about even; once the Verizon iPhone hit the market, interest in Motorola's Droid phones waned. Other fun facts from the ChangeWave study show that iCloud has the attention of both existing Apple owners and others; that about 70 percent of iPhone owners are very satisfied with their device, compared to a dismal 26 percent for RIM/BlackBerry owners; and that Windows Phone 7 is showing remarkably good satisfaction levels (about 57 percent). The results of the ChangeWave study could be a foretaste of tomorrow's Apple financial call, which will probably divulge spectacular numbers for iPhone and iPad sales for the last quarter.
Sprint joins Verizon atop customer satisfaction survey
Sprint is on a bit of a roll recently. Sure, there were some problems with its Google Voice integration and the company is still losing money, but it's adding subscribers at an impressive rate and now it's tied Verizon for the number one spot in a recent customer satisfaction survey. The American Customer Satisfaction Index showed Sprint had made significant gains in the last three years, rising from dead last amongst the big four with a score of 56 in 2008 to match Big Red's field-leading 72. At the same time, both T-Mobile and AT&T saw small drops in their satisfaction scores, with AT&T hitting 66 points -- its lowest rating since the launch of the iPhone. Of course, with T-Mo hemorrhaging customers and the reanimated husk of Ma Bell claiming the ignominious title of most dropped calls, we can't say we're particularly shocked.
Survey says AT&T drops more calls than Verizon, these bar charts don't lie
Wondering which carrier you should buy your iPhone on? There's a survey for that. ChangeWave Research has released the results of a poll that hit 4,068 users distributed across Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Among those four, VZW came out ahead when it comes to dropped calls, with 1.4 percent of respondents indicating they'd received one in the past three months. AT&T, meanwhile, came in last with 4.6 percent. If you look only at the iPhone 4 users the numbers change a little, 1.8 percent vs. 4.8, but the conclusion stays the same. No, this conclusion sadly will not get you around your ETF, but maybe making a pouty face at the AT&T store will help. Update: AT&T let us know it has some doubts about these results. We're not statisticians but we will, out of fairness, link over to this GWS survey from last year that showed 98.59 percent success rate for non-dropped calls. How do your numbers compare?
Report: iPhone 4 owners report fewer dropped calls than iPhone 3GS
With all of the Antennagate hoopla since the release of the iPhone 4, you'd think that owners of the new phone are never able to complete a call normally. According to a recently published survey from ChangeWave Research, iPhone 4 owners are reporting fewer dropped calls than iPhone 3GS owners. 5.2% of iPhone 4 owners reported dropped calls during the month of July, while 6.3% of owners of the iPhone 3GS said they had experienced dropped calls in a June survey. The survey also noted that one in five iPhone 4 owners said that the antenna issue had caused them problems, but respondents also overwhelmingly felt that Apple's solution (the free case / bumper giveaway) was acceptable. The survey contained more fascinating information about the iPhone 4. While 72% of iPhone 4 owners are Very Satisfied with their phones and another 21% weigh in at Somewhat Satisfied, those numbers are lower than what ChangeWave saw for the iPhone 3GS in August of 2009. At that time, 82% of iPhone 3GS owners were Very Satisfied, and 17% were Somewhat Satisfied. ChangeWave believes the tidal wave of negative publicity around the release of the iPhone 4 may be the cause of the lower numbers for the new phone. Even more fascinating were the results of a survey question asking "What do you dislike the most about your iPhone 4?" While the same question about the iPhone 3GS last year found 41% of respondents griping about the short battery life, a huge number of iPhone 4 owners find AT&T to be the worst thing about the phone. 27% found the requirement to use AT&T's network to be their top complaint, while 24% found the coverage, speed, and quality of the AT&T network to be their top beef. ChangeWave thinks that now that the wave of negative publicity about the iPhone 4 has passed, the phone may eventually surpass the customer satisfaction figures of the iPhone 3GS. [via AppleInsider]
Apple's online store brought the Merry into the 2009 Christmas season
In some more bright, shiny, and happy Apple news for this first day of 2010, Computerworld is reporting that Apple's online store took top honors for customer satisfaction in terms of the holiday shopping experience at a computer or electronics manufacturer's site. The numbers from Michigan-based ForeSee Results showed Apple's satisfaction rate at 82%, four percentage points higher than those in 2008. The market research firm measures customer satisfaction by surveying more than 10,000 visitors to the top 40 retail Web sites as ranked by annual sales revenue. The two closest computer and electronics sites to Apple were Newegg.com and TigerDirect.com, posting scores of 81% and 80%. Dell and HP came in at 79% and 78%, respectively, while the least satisfying shopping experience was provided by Circuit City's Web site at 73%. While Apple led computer and electronics Web sites in terms of satisfaction, the company wasn't even in the same ballpark as Amazon.com. The online shopping giant grabbed a whopping 87% customer satisfaction rating in ForeSee's survey figures. Other companies that were ahead of Apple in the rankings were Netflix (86%) and QVC.com (83%). The ForeSee report also notes that the biggest retailers are getting both larger and better, at the expense of smaller online retailers. The big boys on the block can offer larger discounts, free shipping and better customer support that can't be matched by the small fry.
