USAA, Credit Unions, H.E.B., and Publix Are Most Trusted Companies According to New Temkin Group Research

WABAN, Mass., May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Temkin Group announces the release of its 2012 Temkin Trust Ratings that rates the level of trust that consumers have with 206 large companies across 18 industries. 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 19% of large U.S. firms earned a "very strong" trust rating. Consumers are most likely to trust USAA, credit unions, H.E.B., Publix, Chick-fil-A, Sam's Club, Hy-Vee and BMW. At the other end of the spectrum, consumers are least likely to trust Charter Communications, Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Qwest.

The 2012 Temkin Trust 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 highest Temkin Trust Ratings followed by investment firms, retailers, and parcel delivery services. But very few consumers trust TV service providers, Internet service providers, or credit card issuers.

"No matter what industry you're in, it's a major problem if your customers don't trust you," states Bruce Temkin, author of the research and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.

The research also compared Temkin Trust Ratings for individual companies with their industry peers. USAA, which was rated in three industries, outpaced the industry averages for credit cards, banking, and insurance by more than 20 percentage points. Other companies that were 15 or more percentage points ahead of their industry averages: credit unions (banks), PNC (banks), Southwest Airlines (airlines), Chick-fil-A (fast food), Kaiser Permanente (health plans), BMW (auto dealers), American Express (Credit cards), TriCare (health plans), and Bright House Networks (TV service providers).

Six companies earned Temkin Trust Ratings that fell more than 15 percentage points behind their industry average: Bank of America (banks), Citibank (banks), Super 8 (hotels), Charter Communications (TV service providers), Days Inn (hotels), and Citigroup (credit cards).

Temkin Group also analyzed changes between 2011 and 2012 and found that consumer trust had increased across all 18 industries. Fifty-two of the 139 companies that were in the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Trust Ratings earned double-digit improvements and these six companies improved by more than 20 percentage points: USAA, PNC, Lenovo, credit unions, U.S. Bank, and HSBC. Seventeen companies lost ground over the last year with the biggest drops coming for Cox Communications, Bank of America, Citigroup, Edward Jones, TriCare, and Costco.

Details of this analysis 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. Temkin Group also publishes the Temkin Ratings website that provides company ratings based on large-scale consumer feedback. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or [email protected].

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SOURCE Temkin Group