Customer Satisfaction Survey
Category: Apple/Mac OS... Economy & Business... Local... Tech...
Posted Monday, August 30, 2004 at 06:59 PM [GMT-6]

An emailed newsletter caught my eye a few minutes ago, with an article about the just-released American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the second quarter of 2004. Although the article was trumpeting Apple's score as the highest of any computer manufacturer (and, indeed, as the ACSI commentary states, "...the highest score any PC manufacturer has achieved in the 11 years of ACSI measurement"), that's not the most interesting tidbit to come out of the study, at least not to me.

One of the study's categories is "News and Information Sources" and here's the summary of the 2nd quarter survey results (emphasis mine):

This has significant implications for the mainstream print media. As the ACSI website puts it, "The ACSI model is a set of causal equations that link customer expectations, perceived quality, and perceived value to customer satisfaction (ACSI). In turn, satisfaction is linked to consequences as defined by customer complaints and customer loyalty – measured by price tolerance and customer retention." If you cut through the consultant-speak, this means that people will eventually stop doing business with a company that has a lower score, in favor of a company with a higher score.

I just mailed a check to the MRT for $132, for another 12 months of daily newspapers. My 12 month subscription to the online version of the Wall Street Journal is just $79. The online version of the MRT is free. At some point, the satisfaction of holding a handful of newsprint while drinking a cup of coffee in the morning will no longer outweigh the inconvenient immediacy of the online alternative.

T minus 365 and counting.