This might come as no surprise to those of us following the golden trail of Apple, but this week the University of Michigan released its annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores, and Apple blew away the competition.
The survey, which measures a consumer’s overall satisfaction with a company, including product quality, value, customer service, and other value based nuances, was assembled during the second quarter through thousands of interviews countrywide. While the surveys timing bypassed the launch of the 3G iPhone and the disastrous MobileMe, Apple took top honors for the 5th straight year, with an increase in year-to-year customer satisfaction to boot. Apple scored a whopping 85 points on the index, a full ten points higher than second place Dell and Apple’s highest score to date.
University of Michigan professor Claes Fornell attributed Apple’s positive score to the “clear success the Mac has had among the U.S. public” combined with the fact that they chose not to implement Windows Vista, which more likely than not, was responsible for the dissatisfaction of companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.
Fornell goes on to say that they have “never seen a gap between the leader and the rest of the pack this big. If we are correct in that it has something to do with the launch of Vista, the other guys will of course correct that and come back a little bit.” Naturally, Fornell also believes that next year’s survey will be whistling a different tune, less consumers forget about the red-headed step children Apple has recently unleashed….starts with 3G and ends in MobileMe? Or have you already forgotten?
Either way, major props to Apple for continuously being the best at what they do and inspiring those around them to do so as well. With satisfaction rates like these, an increase in market-share and sales is sure to follow.
[via CNet]
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