Costco, USAA, Amazon.com and Apple Rank Among Highest for Customer Loyalty in Latest Satmetrix(R) Net Promoter(R) Benchmarks

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2015) - Satmetrix®, the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for managing and improving customer experience, released its annual Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks today. The reports rank more than 220 brands, such as industry leaders including Costco, USAA, Amazon.com, Apple and more across 22 U.S. industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, technology, online entertainment, retail stores, electronics, travel and hospitality, and telecommunications. Now available for purchase at: www.satmetrix.com/benchmarking, the full reports offer an expanded and enhanced view of customer experience, featuring information about the key factors that drive consumer loyalty (loyalty drivers) specific to each industry sector.

"Our 2015 reports provide not only industry rankings according to companies' Net Promoter Scores, but also direct insight into which customer experiences drive loyalty and are most critical to a company's success," said Brendan Rocks, head of data science at Satmetrix. "The Net Promoter leaders in their respective industries have positioned themselves to outpace the competition in the areas of increased customer retention and acquisition -- and ultimately in terms of bottom line growth."

The Satmetrix Net Promoter Benchmarks are based on survey responses from more than 30,000 U.S. consumers nationwide who rated their experience with the primary brands they use. The Net Promoter Score, or NPS®, for each brand is based on customers' likelihood to recommend the company's product or service in the sector being rated. NPS is calculated as the percentage of customers who are promoters, rating the company 9 or 10 on a 0-10 point scale, minus the percentage who are detractors, rating 6 or lower. Consumers also rated each brand on various aspects of customer experience, including product or service features, customer service and overall value, enabling Satmetrix to identify the key drivers of loyalty and recommendation. The 10th annual Benchmark reports provide a detailed look at loyalty drivers tailored to each specific sector, providing a rich view for companies to examine key performance measures against their peers.

Leaders in eight of the 22 industry sectors have changed since last year's report. Netflix, which was second a year ago to Pandora, moved to the top spot in the Online Entertainment category. Also of note, Trader Joe's, which had led the Grocery/Supermarkets sector for four consecutive years until Wegman's rise to the top last year, returned as the category leader.

The Telecommunications industry witnessed several shifts in this year's report as well. Verizon, which was runner-up to DirecTV last year in the Cable/Satellite TV Service sector, is this year's winner. Newcomer Boost Mobile replaced TracFone as the No. 1 loyalty leader for Cellular Phone Service while Verizon took over first place among Internet Service Providers, replacing Brighthouse Networks.

JetBlue soared to new heights in the Airlines sector, supplanting last year's winner Southwest Airlines. The Apple iPad/iPad mini finished first for Tablet Computers and Ritz Carlton won for Hotels, overtaking Westin.

 Other highlights from the 2015 NPS Benchmark reports include:

• Costco had the best overall NPS score at 79.
• USAA continued its preeminence in three industry sectors (home/contents insurance, auto insurance and banking) winning each category for the sixth straight year.
• BlackBerry showed the largest overall NPS increase in this year's study. While many analysts had left this company for dead, BlackBerry received high grades from customers based on the improved quality of its viewing screen and appears to be on the rebound in the smartphone sector.
• Despite owning the lowest company reputation score in the Software & Apps sector, Uber customers like the service and would likely recommend it to a friend.
  • Regardless of the bad press it has received, Uber still managed to place second in the category benchmark.
• Even though CEO Dave Barger stepped down last month, JetBlue has risen to new levels to take the top Airlines spot. For JetBlue, it's all about the customer experience and it seems to be paying off. It has introduced a premium service equipped with private cabins, the longest beds in the U.S. domestic market and a new menu. Plus, it offers passengers complimentary entertainment, beverages and snacks. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines - last year's leader, slipped to third.

Complete results and commentary on the annual Net Promoter Benchmark study of more than 23,000 U.S. consumers are available from Satmetrix. Twenty-two reports, covering each of the sectors featured, are ready for download with analysis of time trends and the drivers that affect customer loyalty (raw data is also available) at: www.satmetrix.com/benchmarking.

Benchmark findings will also be discussed in depth at Satmetrix's upcoming Customer Passion conference, June 4^th-5^th at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA, For more information and to register, please visit: http://events.satmetrix.com/.

NPS®, Net Promoter® and Net Promoter® Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.

About Satmetrix
Satmetrix is the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for managing and improving overall customer experience. As co-creator of the Net Promoter® methodology, Satmetrix combines unrivaled NPS expertise with a powerful, yet cost-effective SaaS-based software solution to provide continuous, actionable, 360-degree customer insights. Leading organizations of all sizes and across multiple industries use Satmetrix solutions to drive customer retention, improve customer affinity and maximize positive word-of-mouth to deliver overall improvements in customer lifetime value. With more than 1,000 deployments in 40+ languages, Satmetrix provides a holistic view of the customer experience and the necessary expertise to help accelerate customer experience program success. For more information, visit www.Satmetrix.com