American Customer Satisfaction Index

Economic indicator of consumer satisfaction in the US
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the U. S. economy. It is produced by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI LLC) 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 (ACSI) 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.

ACSI data show that certain sectors, industries and companies have consistently high customer satisfaction, while others are almost always below average (with the National ACSI score reflecting the average). At the sector level, manufacturing — including both durable and non durable goods — typically

Some industries that are measured 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.

One set of findings discovered by academic researchers involve predictions of macroeconomic growth as functions of changes in aggregate customer satisfaction. For example, ACSI is predictive of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) growth.

In a 2006 paper published in the Journal of Marketing, it was shown that a portfolio of stocks chosen based on their customer satisfaction outperformed the market. A 2016 article in the same journal, examining returns from a fund trading exclusively on ACSI data, found that strong satisfaction companies significantly outperformed the S&P 500 (518% to 31%) during the study period (2000 2014).

Research groups, quality associations and universities in several countries are using the ACSI model to create customer satisfaction indices for their own national economies. The list of governments that have adopted the ACSI model include India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Dubai, Kuwait, South Africa, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. The development of an international system of customer satisfaction measurement founded on a common methodology allows for comprehensive cross national satisfaction benchmarking.

In addition to ACSI LLC, CFI Group LLC is licensed to apply the methodology for individual companies. ACSI Funds, which manages an exchange traded fund (ETF), uses ACSI data for trading under the ticker symbol "ACSI".