American Customer Satisfaction Index
The American Customer Satisfaction Index is an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the U.S. economy. It is produced by the American Customer Satisfaction Index based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The ACSI interviews about 350,000 customers annually and asks about their satisfaction with the goods and services they have purchased and consumed. Respondents are screened to ensure inclusion of actual customers of a wide range of business-to-consumer products and services, including durable goods, services, non-durable goods, local government services, federal government services, and so forth. Customer satisfaction scores are released monthly throughout each calendar year. ACSI data is used by researchers, corporations, government agencies, market analysts and investors, industry trade associations, and consumers.
History
ACSI began in 1994, developed by researchers with the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan, in cooperation with the American Society for Quality and . The model was originally designed in 1989 for the Swedish economy. Both the Swedish version and the ACSI were developed by Claes Fornell, Donald C. Cook Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, and chairman of CFI Group.ACSI score calculation
A company's ACSI score is derived from three manifest variables within the ACSI questionnaire, each rated on a 1-10 scale by the respondents interviewed for that company, government agency, or other organization:| Manifest Variable | 1 | 10 |
| Overall satisfaction | Very dissatisfied | Very satisfied |
| Expectancy disconfirmation | Falls short of your expectations | Exceeds your expectations |
| Comparison to an ideal | Not very close to the ideal | Very close to the ideal |
The 0-100 ACSI score is estimated using the mean for each variable from the n responses for that company, along with the weights for each question as calculated within the ACSI structural equation model :
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Sector, industry and company-level findings
ACSI data show that certain sectors, industries and companies have consistently high customer satisfaction, while others are almost always below average. At the sector level, manufacturing — including both durable and non-durable goods — typically have high ACSI scores. The service sector industries, which involve more human intervention in the consumption process, tend to perform below average.Some industries that have performed well over the years in ACSI include: e-commerce, personal care products, soft drinks, beer, consumer electronics, automobiles and household appliances. Cable television, airlines and telecommunications usually have lower ACSI scores.