ACSI: Customer satisfaction dips 0.3% in Q1
Customer satisfaction is on the decline to start the year.
In the first quarter of 2026, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) fell 0.3% to a score of 76.7 (100-point scale) on an annual basis, marking the same level since 2013. The stagnation comes despite massive investment, as U.S. companies have spent over $100 billion annually on consumer experience related initiatives with “no detectable return.”
ACSI noted that customer complaints have now reached record levels, surging by 16% in the first quarter. Despite this, customer retention has increased, and corporate profits have risen. First quarter earnings were up by 15% — even more than the revenue increase. ACSI says most of the profit margin growth in the quarter was in business-to-business, but many consumer-facing sectors also did well.
The customer satisfaction rating comes as the ongoing war in Iran and its effects on fuel price are hurting consumers as well. Overall consumer sentiment slipped for the second consecutive month in April, falling 6.6% to 49.8, down from 53.3 in March and below last April's 52.2, according to the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers.
“When customers come back for more – even if they are less than satisfied – pent-up defection, the inverse of pent-up demand, intensifies,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and the Distinguished Donald C. Cook Professor (Emeritus) of Business Administration at the University of Michigan. “When realized, the cost is the future revenue and profit lost, plus the additional expenditure for replacing departed customers. It is the flipside of the value escalation from customer retention growth — where loyal customers generate multiplicative, and at high levels of retention, exponential revenue growth. Profit improves even more than revenue because the marginal cost of keeping a customer is usually lower than the corresponding customer acquisition cost.”
[READ MORE: Survey: Consumers to continue opting for lower-priced retailers]
Founded in 1994 at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, the ACSI measures customer satisfaction with more than 400 companies in over 40 industries, including federal government services, based on approximately 200,000 annual interviews.
