Despite “significant gains” by AT&T and Comcast, Verizon Communications was the top U.S. brand in the cable/satellite TV sector, according to Satmetrix’s 2013 Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks report, a study that ranks customer loyalty for more than 200 brands across 22 industry sectors.
Satmetrix’s study, based on a survey of more than 24,000 U.S. consumers, awarded Verizon FiOS TV a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 32 percent, a calculation of customer loyalty based on customers who would recommend a product or service, minus those who would not.
Bright House Networks topped the Internet services sector with an NPS of 29%, getting kudos for the key loyalty driver of “savings from packaged deals,” Satmetrix noted. Among the ISPs ranked in the category, Mediacom Communications was the lowest-ranked, with an NPS score of -27%.
Tracfone (39%) rose 12 points to unseat U.S. Cellular in the cellular/wireless category, while T-Mobile retained its last-place finish from 2013, with an NPS of 6%, penalized particularly for the value of its service/bundles and network coverage.
But they could all do better. The broader telecommunications category they’re all part of received an NPS score of just 16%, the lowest average among the industry groups studied.
Netflix’s NPS of 50% gave the streaming giant a commanding lead over Google Play, Amazon Prime/Amazon Instant Video, Apple iTunes and Microsoft Xbox Music/Xbox Video in the online services category. Blockbuster On Demand, now part of Dish Network, earned the lowest sector NPS, with a score of 2%.
In the Technology category, Apple was tops in tablets (iPad, 65%), smartphones (iPhone, 70%) and laptops (76%).
Other industries covered by the Satmetrix report include retailing, travel and hospitality and insurance. The survey ranks companies on products based on the Net Promoter question: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that you would recommend this product or service to a colleague or friend?” That score is then used to calculate the company’s overall Net Promoter Score to measure customer loyalty.
