In a report released on Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, customers gave PCs and TVs good grades.
Based on more than 9,000 consumer interviews, the ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Study for 2021–2022 assigns a zero–100 rating to a variety of products.
According to an ACSI news release, customer satisfaction with TVs is “sky high,” earning a score of 80.
According to ACSI Director of Research Emeritus Forrest Morgeson, “televisions, and consumer electronics more generally, have traditionally been one of the more fulfilling businesses measured in ACSI.”
It is not difficult to comprehend why, according to Morgeson, who is also an assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University. “When you consider the never-ending wave of technological innovations being introduced in the industry, along with steadily decreasing prices for these goods — recent inflation notwithstanding — it is not hard to understand why,” he said.
Streaming Contentment
According to Mark N. Vena, president and lead analyst of San Jose, California-based SmartTechResearch, it is not unexpected that overall consumer happiness with TVs is so high.
According to him, “TVs with embedded’smart’ interfaces have been increasing in total share for almost a decade, allowing users to modify settings more simply and intuitively, as well as access material in an easier manner via a ‘app’ orientation.” Customers are more satisfied because TVs are now simpler to operate.
The popularity of streaming television has also increased consumer happiness with TVs. Rob Enderle, president and lead analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory services company in Bend, Oregon, stated that TVs have become much more sophisticated over time and are, in terms of appliances, largely problem-free.
People seem to be content with the advancements over time and aren’t that concerned about early obsolescence, he told TechNewsWorld. “With Streaming, the TV is again the center of in-home entertainment,” he said.
PCs outperform laptops and tablets
With a score of 79, PCs, which include desktops, laptops, and tablets, also performed well on the index. Tablet satisfaction was three points higher in 2022 than it was in 2021, while desktops outperformed both laptops and tablets among the form factors, scoring 80 compared to 79 for each.
It is a little surprise, according to Morgeson, that PCs had higher customer satisfaction than laptops and desktops. Of course, it’s crucial to keep in mind that PCs have a much smaller market share than the other two, and their users have distinct needs and want various features and capabilities from their machines. The disparity between the various product kinds can probably be largely explained by these various needs.
However, neither Vena nor Enderle were taken aback by consumers’ positive attitudes of desktops.
According to Vena, “tablets and laptops are frequently utilized in harsh mobile environments that make them more susceptible to inadvertent harm.” Desktop PCs, especially all-in-one ones, have a higher reliability reputation since they are fixed and do not move.
Enderle continued, “Desktops normally don’t need to be carried, may have as large of a screen as you can afford, have less connectivity concerns, and don’t have battery life issues.
Apple is most widely used.
Samsung came in second place with an 81, but Apple had the best customer satisfaction rating among PC manufacturers with an 82.
According to Morgeson, “Apple PCs have long been favored by their users and frequently outperformed other PC manufacturers.”
He continued, “For many years, this popularity was fueled by the specialized industry Apple created, luring in web and graphic professionals. More lately, a larger client base that has grown to genuinely like the product has been attracted by the Apple iPhone’s tremendous appeal and its flawless connection with Apple’s PCs, such the MacBook.
According to Vena, Apple is the market leader in terms of overall customer satisfaction since they have complete control over the hardware and software “stack.”
Due to its reliance on an OEM model, Microsoft is unable to govern the total user experience as tightly and consistently as Apple can, according to the author.
He continued, “Apple products tend to ‘just work’ because, generally speaking, they are not as open as Microsoft-based systems from a third-party accessory and device standpoint.
In response to enterprise customers’ demands, he continued, “Microsoft tends to focus substantially more on backward compatibility with devices.”
outstanding customer service
Apple also woos customers with excellent customer service. Tim Bajarin, president of Campbell, California-based Creative Strategies, a technology advising company, said of Apple: “Apple has outstanding service.”
He told TechNewsWorld that over the previous 20 years, “they’ve established a top-notch service approach that includes physical assistance at the Apple stores and Genius Bars.”
“You know how to have it resolved when you have a problem with an Apple product,” he concluded. If you live in a city with an Apple Store, you can schedule an appointment with the Genius Bar, and 90% of the time, it will help you solve the issue. It also has an excellent online service for managing concerns.
He declared, “That’s a tremendously significant differentiation for Apple.” “No other business has the same kind of network Apple uses to handle customer service.”
Contrarily, the researchers discovered that respondents’ satisfaction with Microsoft’s software fell four points, to 73.
According to Morgeson, “Microsoft provides a vast range of extremely diverse software solutions to its customers, so it’s difficult to ascribe their decrease to any one software product.”
However, he went on to say that “the growing availability of competing alternatives for many of their goods, including low- or no-cost apps now available to consumers, is probably having an effect on customer perceptions with software offerings overall.”
LG leads the household market.
Vena continued, “Microsoft’s mainstay programs, such as PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, and Excel, keep gaining new capabilities, giving the impression of being bloated and not necessarily improving usability.”
There is also Windows 11. The process of updating has substantially improved over the years, but people still dislike it, according to Enderle, therefore satisfaction typically declines when a new OS is released.
The study also revealed that customer satisfaction with key home appliances, including microwaves, refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, washers, and dryers, increased marginally year over year by one point to 79. LG Corp. jumped three points to 81 to take the lead among all businesses in the household category.
According to LG Vice President of Home Appliances Product Management Brandt Varner, “Our position in the 2022 ACSI rankings illustrates that LG is a progressive brand that produces products and features with real consumer benefits, but more significantly, without sacrificing product quality.”
According to him, “while we continue to listen to the customer and prioritize their recommendations, our primary focus remains on our product quality so that consumers can be confident that their LG appliance will offer outstanding performance while keeping their needs in mind.
