One of the most widely cited measures of how Americans feel about the goods and services they buy was developed right here at the University of Michigan. It’s called the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and it’s been measuring how happy (or not) U.S. consumers are with everything from airlines and smartphones to banks and fast-food chains since 1994. You see the ACSI cited often in prominent publications.
Why does this matter?
The ACSI is more than a popularity contest. It’s a rigorous, data-driven model that helps businesses improve their customer service, shows consumers where satisfaction is rising or falling, and even influences stock market performance. Many companies use it to guide strategic decisions. The federal government uses it to evaluate services.
ACSI Fun Facts
- The ACSI model is used by companies worldwide.
- The ACSI has been shown to correlate with stock performance.
- U-M remains a leader in consumer satisfaction research thanks to this groundbreaking index.
Michigan Original
The ACSI was developed by Professor Claes Fornell at the U-M Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and it’s the company is based here in Ann Arbor. The Index is updated quarterly and covers over 400 companies in 46 industries. It uses surveys of 300,000 plus customers each year to generate scores that track how well companies are meeting customer expectations.
The ACSI score ranges from 0 to 100. A score above 80 is generally considered excellent; scores in the 70s are average; anything below that signals room for improvement. For example, companies like Apple, Amazon, and Chick-fil-A often rank highly, while airlines and internet service providers sometimes struggle.
Interestingly, the ACSI can also provide insights into the health of the economy. When satisfaction scores fall across industries, it can signal rising consumer frustration-sometimes ahead of drops in spending.
Want to Explore?
If you’re curious, you can visit www.theacsi.org to browse the latest rankings, dive into industry trends, or see how your favorite brands are performing.
Next time you’re waiting on hold with customer service, remember: there’s a Michigan connection to how that experience is being measured-and, hopefully, improved.