Americans’ Trust In TV, Internet Service Providers Runs Low

July 10, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Metrics | Retail & E-Commerce | Television | Travel & Hospitality

TemkinGroup-Lowest-Rated-Companies-Consumer-Trust-July2013Pay-TV providers suffer from chronically low levels of customer satisfaction, and a new study indicates that they also fail to gain consumers’ trust. Among 19 industries examined, TV service providers collectively had the lowest average trust rating, also contributing 7 of the 15 lowest-rated companies of the 246 measured, per results from the 2013 Temkin Trust Ratings. The next-worst group? Internet service providers, many of whom doubled as TV service providers and failed to engender consumer trust in either division.

In order to gauge consumer trust, Temkin Group asked 10,000 US consumers during January 2013 to identify companies that they had interacted with during the prior 60 days, then asking them to what degree they trusted that the companies would take care of their needs. The “net trust” score was calculated by taking the percentage of consumers that gave the company a top-2 box score in trust (on a 7-point scale) and subtracting from that the percentage of respondents that gave the company a bottom-3 box score.

TV and internet service providers were the only industries to collectively see an average trust rating of less than 40%. The worst offender among TV service providers was Cox Communications, with a trust rating of just 22%. Cox did only slightly better in its internet services division, with a trust rating of 30%, tied for the worst among internet services providers with Charter Communications  and Comcast.

On a more positive note, USAA took the top spot among the 279 companies for both its insurance carrier and bank divisions, which each netted a trust rating of 79%. Also in the top 10: credit unions (77%); Publix (73%); H.E.B. (72%); Amazon.com (70%); USAA’s credit card issuance division (70%); Charles Schwab (69%); SAm’s Club (69%); and Trader Joe’s (69%). Grocery chains had the highest trust rating on average, followed by investment firms and hotels.

Other Findings:

  • The only industries to decline in ratings from last year’s study were: TV service providers; retailers; appliance makers; and insurance carriers.
  • Among companies studied last year, Citigroup (for credit cards) and Hyundai enjoyed the biggest boosts in ratings, each at 21 points.
  • Cox Communications (for TV service) and Fifth Third (for banking) suffered the biggest falls, each down by 17 points.
45th Parallel Design Ad

Explore More Charts.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This