Are Consumers Satisfied With What They Buy?

Rising prices are hurting customer satisfaction with everyday products—including some personal care and household items according to the latest results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the US.

Customer satisfaction with shampoo, soap, toothpaste, detergents, and cleaning products slipped 1.2% to an ACSI score of 82, according the survey.

Clorox was the only large company to escape a customer satisfaction loss this year, according to ACSI, leading the field at 85. Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble dipped slightly to 83 and 82, respectively. Dial dropped 4% to below the average at 81, and Unilever tumbled 6% to last place at 80.

“It’s never good news when customer satisfaction drops across the board,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder. “Since most nondurables are repeat purchases, strong customer satisfaction is critical. When it weakens, consumers become more reluctant to buy and brand loyalty suffers. As a result, demand weakens overall. Companies typically respond by offering deals and price discounts, which lead to increased brand switching, lower margins, and more volatile revenue streams. This can further erode customer satisfaction as consumers eschew their favorite label for a discounted brand that then turns out to be less satisfactory.”

To compile the index, ACSI uses data from interviews with approximately 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 230 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government agencies.