Apple tops ACSI, MBLM, Changewave customer sat. polls

Keeping people happy is good for business…

Apple’s consistent approach to customer satisfaction continues to pay dividends with the company once again leading the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) study.

Macs satisfy the places PCs can’t reach

The latest data puts Apple in top position on ACSI’s personal computing satisfaction ratings, with 82 points. The same score as last year, this puts it above the industry average (79) and ahead of all its rivals.

• Apple, 82%.
• HP, 80%.
• Acer, 79%.
• Samsung, 79%.
• Dell, 78%.

The study also revealed consistent satisfaction in terms of PC customer experience benchmarks, which show a noticeable improvement in call center satisfaction. This may reflect investment in remote support during the pandemic.

ACSI data.

Tablets vs. PCs

It is also interesting to note that customer satisfaction with tablets fell from 78% to 76% year-on-year while laptops and desktops tied at 78%. It seems noteworthy tthe percentage of survey respondents using desktops increased since 2020, while overall satisfaction declined.

What isn’t clear is what brands of tablets are being discussed, so it’s impossible to tell if this information is the same for Apple users.

What ACSI said

“Historically, desktop computer users have been more satisfied than laptop and tablet users, but that’s no longer the case,” says David VanAmburg, Managing Director at the ACSI.

“Since 2018, satisfaction with desktops has been slowly slipping, and it’s allowed the competition to catch up. Laptop users are now equally satisfied with their devices. It’ll be intriguing to see if this trend continues as more and more businesses turn to hybrid work models that promote flexibility and mobility.”

The survey also revealed customer satisfaction with televisions and Blu-ray/DVD players stumbled, backsliding 2.5% to 78, the industry’s lowest ACSI score ever.

The ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Study 2020-2021 is based on interviews with 7,960 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between July 7, 2020, and June 26, 2021.

Brand intimacy

Earlier this month MBLM published its COVID-19 edition of its annual Brand Intimacy study. This identified multiple points to prove Apple’s commitment to user satisfaction:

• Apple is the only company to succeed in becoming a top five brand for both men and women.
• The company is the top brand for women and third most popular for men.
• Apple also has the distinction of being one of the top two brands across every age group and income bracket.
• It has become a company 48 percent of those surveyed now say they could not live without, up from 40% in 2020 and just 33% pre-COVID.

Fifty percent of users also told MBLM they had made more use of Apple during the pandemic.

In July 2021, Apple during its Q3 fiscal call confirmed high customer satisfaction rankings across all its products, announcing 451 Research data that showed:

• 97% customer satisfaction for iPhone 12.
• 92% customer satisfaction for Mac.
• Customer satisfaction of 95% for iPad.

This scale of customer satisfaction in the Apple ecosystem is what keeps people purchasing Apple products, and what makes them use services, purchase apps and more. Indeed, as long ago as 2016, Apple was earning a dollar per customer per day.

This has only increased.

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