In 2023, and especially in its final quarter, the U.S. economy showed remarkable vigor: Gross domestic product (GDP), labor markets, consumer spending, household income, productivity, and the stock market all improved at a healthy rate. The rate of inflation dwindled close to its long-term average and customer satisfaction surged to an all-time high.

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ACSI 1994-2023 (Graphic: Business Wire)

This is a far cry from two years ago when U.S. customer satisfaction, following years of decline, reached its lowest point in 20 years due to COVID-19, supply chain obstacles, high inflation, product shortages, and poor customer service.

Over the past six quarters, there have been substantial improvements in customer satisfaction. In the final quarter of 2023, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) rises by 0.9% to a record score of 77.8 (on a 100-point scale).

In part, the increase is due to the impact of more contemporaneous data, made possible due to larger samples. A total of 212,512 survey questionnaires were completed in 2023 (about 53,000 each quarter). As a result of near real-time updating, ACSI is now more precise and more likely to detect rapid changes in customer assessments of quality, value, service, satisfaction, and more.

Many of the problems caused by COVID-19, supply chains, and uneven service quality have dissipated. There has also been a return to traditional competition among sellers, and fewer shortages of product and service personnel. Another change is a drop in consumer expectations. While small, it does lower the bar for creating satisfied customers.

Some of the greatest beneficiaries of these improvements have been gas stations, hospitals, social media, and personal computers. They are among the businesses that have seen the greatest increase in customer satisfaction. As far as individual companies are concerned, there are several in other industries that stand out with both high levels of and major improvements in customer satisfaction: Macy’s, Hyatt Hotels, Amazon Prime Video, and Avis Car Rentals.

“There is one remaining economic anomaly, however,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and the Distinguished Donald C. Cook Professor (emeritus) of Business Administration at the University of Michigan. “As evidence of a well-functioning economy, companies with superior customer satisfaction usually have superior stock returns. The relationship between strong customer satisfaction and positive abnormal stock returns has yet to recur. It is not that the stock returns on customer satisfaction have been weak, but they have not outperformed the market the way they did in the past.”

The national ACSI score (or ACSI composite) is updated each quarter based on annualized customer satisfaction scores for all sectors and industries. For more, follow the American Customer Satisfaction Index on LinkedIn and Twitter at @theACSI or visit www.theacsi.org.

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC.

About the ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) has been a national economic indicator for over 25 years. It measures and analyzes customer satisfaction with more than 400 companies in approximately 40 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. Reported on a scale of 0 to 100, scores are based on data from interviews with approximately 200,000 customers annually. For more information, visit www.theacsi.org.

ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC.

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