H.E.B., Trader's Joe's, Chick-fil-A and Publix Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings in Temkin Group Report

WABAN, Mass., March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, H.E.B., Trader Joe's, Chick-fil-A, and Publix earned the highest scores in the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, ranking 268 companies across 19 industries. Joining those firms in the top 14 spots are Aldi, Food Lion, Sonic Drive-In, credit unions, Dairy Queen, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Regions, Sam's Club, and Starbucks.

While grocery chains and fast food chains dominate the top of the Temkin Experience Ratings, TV service providers, health plans, and Internet service providers earn the dubious distinction of defining poor performance, taking eight of the 11 lowest spots. The five lowest scoring organizations are: Coventry Health Care, Empire (BCBS), Highmark (BCBS), Medicaid, and U.S. Cellular.

In this year's ratings, 37% of companies earned "good" or "excellent" scores, while 25% are rated as "poor" or "very poor." Companies with at least a "good" rating stayed flat over 2013, but have grown by 21 percentage-points since 2011. Led by credit card issuers with an average increase of 4.1 points, 15 of the 19 industries earned a higher rating in 2014 than they did in 2013. Only four industries declined over the previous year: Parcel delivery services, retailers, rental car agencies, and hotel chains.

"Customer experience is improving overall, but we still see some pockets of chronically poor experience, especially with TV service, Internet service, and health plans," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Of the 243 companies that are included in both the 2013 and 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, 48% of the firms increased by one point or more while 32% declined by at least one point. EarthLink, Regions, Humana, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Capital One improved the most. Coventry Health Care, US Cellular, Marriott, Fifth Third, and Chrysler declined the most.

In its fourth year of publication, the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings examines customer experience across 19 industries: airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers, banks, car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, grocery chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, retailers, software firms, TV service providers, and wireless carriers.

The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three areas of customer experience: functional (can customers do what they want to do?), accessible (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotional (how do consumers feel about their interactions?).

The 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings along with other ratings can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

The report "2014 Temkin Experience Ratings" can be downloaded for free from the Customer Experience Matters^® blog, at ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com as well as from the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is widely recognized as a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys. Temkin Group combines customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of the dynamics of organizations to help accelerate results. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building four critical competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices across a wide range of activities for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.

Read more news from Temkin Group.

SOURCE Temkin Group

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