Amazon Tops Customer Satisfaction Poll

Amazon landed the top spot in a recent customer satisfaction survey with a score of 88, which matched its previous score last year. This is according to the Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index from ForeSee, a customer experience analytics firm.

Not the First Time

This is the eighth year in a row that Amazon has ended up at the number one spot.  Part of the reason seems to be because of the variety of merchandise the company provides for consumers. In previous years, 40 companies were included in the survey, but this year it expanded to 100.

While many of the top stores remained the same on the list, a few dropped.  Apple was one company that suffered a decline that knocked it out of the top five. Dell also fell and the biggest drop was for JCPenney.

Other winners were LLBean.com, QVC.com, Vitacost.com, and EsteeLauder.com, showing a variety of merchandise among the retailers.

Merchandise Big Priority

The survey discovered that price was not the only major point for customers.  In fact, merchandise was the biggest complaint of consumers with the companies on the list.  They wanted companies to improve the variety and availability of products to improve the rankings.

Customer satisfaction also had a heavy influence on the revenue of the retailers. Consumers who were satisfied with a store were 67 percent more likely to consider purchasing from the company again. They would also be more apt to recommend it to friends and to be loyal to the brand if they were satisfied.

The study also indicated that a one-point change in the level of satisfaction was linked to a 14 percent change in revenue.  This statistic should cause companies to sit up and take notice.

More companies should look closely at Amazon to see what they are doing right and try to emulate that if they want to rise in the list.