Consumers Are Most Likely to Forgive USAA and Hyatt, According to New Temkin Group Research

WABAN, Mass., April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Temkin Group announces the release of its 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings that rates how likely consumers are to forgive 206 large companies across 18 industries if they deliver a poor experience. This is the second year that Temkin Group has published these ratings. The research, which is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers in January 2012, shows that consumers are most likely to forgive USAA, credit unions, H.E.B., Hy-Vee, Dollar Rent A Car, Chick-fil-A, Publix, Costco, and Amazon.com. At the other end of the spectrum, consumers were least likely to forgive Citigroup, Charter Communications, HSBC, Chrysler dealers, EarthLink, Bank of America, Comcast, Quest, and US Airways.

The 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings cover the following 18 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, TV service providers, and wireless carriers.

Temkin Group examined industry averages and found that grocery chains have earned the most forgiveness from consumers followed by retailers, appliance makers, and parcel delivery services. But consumers are not very likely to forgive mistakes by credit card issuers, Internet service providers, and TV service providers.

"Forgiveness is a valuable asset that you earn by consistently meeting customers' needs, but many companies don't have enough forgiveness stored-up to recover from their miscues," states Bruce Temkin, author of the research and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.

The research also examines how individual companies are rated relative to their industry peers. USAA holds the top two spots, outpacing its credit card and banking peers by more than 30 percentage points in the Temkin Forgiveness Ratings. USAA also outpaces the insurance industry by more than 20 percentage points. Credit unions, Hyatt, US Cellular, Dollar Rent A Car, Chick-fil-A, and Bright House Networks are also more than 15 percentage points above their industry averages.

Five companies fall 15 or more percentage points below their industry's average Temkin Forgiveness Ratings: Chrysler dealers, Citigroup, Travelers, Charter Communications, and RadioShack.

Temkin Group also analyzed changes in Temkin Forgiveness Ratings between 2011 and 2012. The research shows that consumers are more forgiving this year than they were last year. Led by banks and insurance carriers, all 12 industries that were in both the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings showed improvement.

Sixty-eight of the 139 companies that were in the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings earned double-digit improvements and four companies improved by more than 25 percentage points: TD Ameritrade, Lenovo, USAA, and credit unions. Ten companies lost ground over the last year with the biggest drops coming for Citigroup, Continental Airlines, Travelers, Sears, Holiday Inn Express, and The Hartford.

This report can be accessed from the blog, Customer Experience Matters, at http://experiencematters.wordpress.com. The data can be accessed from the Temkin Ratings website, http://www.temkinratings.com.

For more information about Temkin Group, visit http://www.temkingroup.com.

About the author, Bruce Temkin

Bruce Temkin is widely recognized as a customer experience thought leader and is Customer Experience Transformist and Managing Partner of the Temkin Group. He is also the author of a very popular blog, Customer Experience Matters. Prior to forming Temkin Group, he was a VP at Forrester Research for 12 years. Bruce is a highly demanded speaker who consistently receives high marks for his content-rich, entertaining keynote addresses. He is also the co-founder and Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management.

About Temkin Group

Temkin Group is a leading customer experience research and consulting firm with one simple goal for its clients: increase customer loyalty by becoming more customer‐centric. The company combines customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of the dynamics of large organizations to help senior executives accelerate their results. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or [email protected].

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SOURCE Temkin Group