Apple, Google and Symantec have today been revealed as the high-technology companies with the most loyal customers, in a series of Net Promoter Industry Reports released today by Satmetrix Systems, Inc. Satmetrix, the leading enterprise customer experience management (CEM) company and co-developer of the Net Promoter Score, conducted three separate studies looking at the Online Services, Computing and Consumer Services sectors of the high technology industry.
The results from these reports are indicative of each company’s commitment to maximizing customer experience and driving revenue growth through customer loyalty.
“The companies with the highest Net Promoter scores are well known for their market performance and brand leadership,” said Dr. Laura Brooks, vice president of research and business consulting at Satmetrix Systems, Inc., in the press release. “Apple, whose score far outranks its closest competitor, is well known for its passionate and dedicated customer base. Google’s high Net Promoter Score establishes it as a clear leader in the emerging market of online services, with corresponding strong performance in share price. Symantec, in the more highly competitive and established consumer software business, is beginning to differentiate itself, largely on the strong showing of its Norton suite of products.”
The Net Promoter Score, created by loyalty expert Fred Reichheld of Bain & Co. and Satmetrix, measures customer experience and profitable growth, using a simple and radical question: How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague? It allows companies to track promoters (customers who have a favorable view of doing business with the company and who will actively promote it) and detractors (customers who have a negative view and will tell colleagues, encouraging potential customers to take their business elsewhere) and produces the single most reliable indicator of a company’s ability to grow by measuring its performance in its customers’ eyes.
The research in the Net Promoter Industry Reports 2006, was conducted and validated by Satmetrix and reveals the Net Promoter Scores of the top companies in the following high-technology industries:
Net Promoter Industry Report 2006:
• Online Services –Google received the highest Net Promoter Score
• Computers –Apple received the highest Net Promoter Score
• Consumer Software –Symantec received the highest Net Promoter Score
“Dedication to customer satisfaction is a cornerstone of every aspect of our business, from product development to customer support as each positive customer experience leads to strengthened brand loyalty,” said Enrique Salem, group president, Consumer Products and Solutions, for Symantec, in the press release. “Symantec is extremely proud of Satmetrix’s findings that more than 60 percent of customers surveyed not only have a favorable view of doing business with Symantec but will actively promote us to their friends and colleagues.”
Apple, Google and Symantec’s customers also indicated that there are certain aspects of a business which have a large impact on their likelihood to recommend and that these drivers are consistent across the high-technology industry. These were also consistent with those companies with the lowest Net Promoter rating who scored low in all four areas. The areas of a company which customers identified as having a large impact on their likelihood to recommend it to a friend or colleague were:
• Overall product or service;
• Overall value (including the company’s fees and charges);
• Company reputation; and
• Customer service and support.
The results of the Net Promoter Industry Report 2006 are based on responses from customers regarding their experiences with their actual provider. An email invitation explains the purpose of the survey, offers an incentive to participating, and provides a link that allows individuals to click through to the Satmetrix survey site. All respondents are familiar with the products and services that are the subject of the survey, having purchased them as a personal consumer. Company names are standardized to capture accurate ratings for each company. The study was fielded during the first half of 2005.
The full reports can be purchased online: http://www.netpromoter.com/reports/index.php
Apple? Duh. Google? Okay. But, Symantec?! That’s not only perplexing, it’s extremely sad, yet telling. That the likes of Symantec received the highest score in the “Consumer Software” category only highlights the awful state of personal computing as defined by Microsoft with their insecure, counterintuitive, ugly Windows OS. Windows is a worldwide blight on computing.
You only live once: Get a Mac and you won’t even need software from Symantec!
Then you’ll be able to give software that actually helps you be more productive and/or to actually have fun with your personal computer higher survey scores instead of rewarding outfits like Symantec for leechware that only exists to vainly attempt to protect your Windows PC from it’s own woeful inadequacy.
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099.
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
Related articles:
Apple: ‘Get a Mac. Say ‘Buh-Bye’ to viruses’ – June 01, 2006
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update – June 27, 2006
Apple Macs and viruses: Fact vs. FUD – May 26, 2006
Symantec Antivirus software flaw allows hackers to seize control of PCs without user interaction – May 25, 2006
‘Mac security’ garbage reports continue to proliferate – May 10, 2006
ZDNet: Reduce OS X security threats – ignore security software – May 05, 2006
McAfee announces virus protection for Intel-based Apple Macs – May 05, 2006
BusinessWeek: New Apple Mac ads stir up Mac security overreaction – May 04, 2006
Unix expert: Mac OS X much more secure than Windows; recent Mac OS X security stories are media hype – May 03, 2006
Macs and viruses: the true story – May 02, 2006
Anti-Mac FUD machine shifts into overdrive – May 01, 2006
FUD Alert: Viruses don’t catch up to the Mac – May 01, 2006
BusinessWeek: Apple should hire security czar to combat uninformed media FUD – March 09, 2006
Spate of recent Mac security stories signal that Microsoft, others getting nervous – March 06, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows – February 07, 2006
Why pay Symantec for flawed ‘security’ app designed to protect Apple Macs from nonexistent threats? – December 27, 2005
‘Highly critical’ flaw in discovered in Symantec AntiVirus for Mac OS X – December 21, 2005
Why Symantec’s ‘scare tactics’ don’t worry Mac users – September 28, 2005
Motley Fool writer: ‘I’d be surprised if Symantec ever sells a single product to a Mac user again’ – March 24, 2005
Symantec cries wolf with misplaced Mac OS X ‘security’ warning – March 23, 2005
Symantec’s Mac OS X claims dismissed as nonsense, FUD – March 22, 2005
Hackers already targeting viruses for Microsoft’s Windows Vista – August 04, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
Dinga dinga Dinga Dinga dinga Dinga Ding .. dinga dinga dinga dinga ding…
WHAT??
Symantec is rated amongs the highest in customer loyalty?
On on my machine it isn’t.
Google is ok, sure, but I can name a bunch more companies with higher customer loyalty.
Like Lexis, or BMW, or a freshly baked Mrs. Fields Cookie.
hmmmm hot fresh yummy cookies with oozings of chocolate goodness….. *drools*
You only live once: Get a Mac and you won’t even need software from Symantec!
UNFORTUNATLY APPLE DOESN”T BELEIVE THIS ITSELF
It sells this SYMANTEC MALWARE (sue me I don’t care) right next to BRAND NEW MAC’s in Apple Stores.
What is wrong with APPLE?
Yes. We all bow to Supreme Leader Steve J.
There is nothing that he cannot achieve. Even cancer cowers in his presence.
We can achieve anything with Supreme Local Leader Steve J guiding us.
Everybody rejoice. This is a glorious bleem.
All your loyalty are belong to us.
Everybody’s happy now . . . everybody’s happy now . . . everybody’s happy now . . .
just like being addicted to heroin, people think they NEED Symantec and its fix for what should not be needed in the first place. Oh well let the addicts crash and burn…..I for one am clean and have been winBlows free for 1 year now, including work!
I am not saying Symantec is completely bad, actually it is good biz for them to let Redmond contiue to mess up systems all over the world, they are just profitting from the misfortune of those poor souls who think they need m$uck.
If using a mac means that then sure I can tip my hat to Steve and pray at the mac alter, since it has freed me.
“There is nothing that he cannot achieve. Even cancer cowers in his presence.”
Steve is truly the chuck norris of the tech world, delivering the technological equivalent of a roundhouse kick on a daily basis.
What the fsck is the point of loyalty to a parasitic product like antivirus software???
Microsoft has made the world of computing a very depressing place to be.
Meanwhile back in the sunshine, Apple users are laughing their socks off.
My loyalty is waning after dealing with the “Geniuses” at the local Apple Store.
If you are, indeed, so damned superior to the “geniuses” at the local Apple Store, why not get a job there and show those B*stards what true intellect is!
Why, you probably won’t even have to interview for the position: Your very presence among the brutish mortals there should speak for itself!
(Gawd but I hate “holier than thou” blowhards.)
Symantec: The choice of Sadomasochists.
Fsck Google!
Go easy now. Symantec has been around a long time, and its Norton brand has had a following since before there ever was a notable virus problem. Which is to say, back when they were known for diagnostic and maintenance software (which even Macs need now and again, although in the Mac universe I use DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro). Their AV software seems to be fairly good (I use it on my Dell, after getting fed up with McAfee). But still I’m surprised they’re in the top three.
This falls in line with Wired’s recent assessment that the “backlash” some in the press have said Apple is feeling is a myth. There may be some bad articles, but that doesn’t mean customers are fooled. As Wired says, “The “backlash” is entirely limited to newsrooms and journalists on the hunt for a story about one of most influential companies in technology.”
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71357-0.html?tw=wn_technology_3
Cranky Bizarro…
“Gawd but I hate “holier than thou” blowhards.”
Isn’t this exactly what you are doing to Cranky? He was just posting a take on not being happy with the Genius bar, your responce was way over the top and could easily be considered “much holier than cranky’s holier than thou”!!
ever heard the phrase “those who live in glass houses…”
Symantec? I suppose Norton Utilities and Norton Antivirus are big deals in the PC-using world. If this survey was done only for Mac users, I wonder what company would have won the “Consumer Software” category?
Symantec keeps over half of the Windows computers on the net up and running.
Of course Symantec’s Windows customers are happy with Symantec’s performance. Symantec’s products automate Windows protection and maintanence.
With Symantec’s full suit of products working in the background to keep your Windows PC up and running, as long as you can spare the processor cycles, your PC is almost as safe and stable as a Mac.
It’s still a piece of shit, but your Windows PC is safe and stable.
I’m a golden retriever.
Ken:
Excellent point. It would be intriguing to compare and contrast the opinions of Mac users and PC users. Maybe next year.
If Symantec is indispensable to the proper functioning of a PC and I owned Symantec, I would double or triple the price then retire to my country estate in 2007.
Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re an Apple computer user, don’t you kind of have to be loyal, since your software is pretty much proprietary? I mean, it’s not like ditching a Dell for a Gateway.
He’s right, most of the “geniuses” I’ve come accross are nothing special. Hell look at their salaries, Apple pays them 25 – 30 K. Not exactly high end tech wages. An Apple badge does not a genius make…
You have to be loyal to Symantec, otherwise all your financial information will get hacked.
Fear is a great motivator.
There is no other explanation for loyalty to Symantec, considering how time after time after time thier products and updates have fouled up something on the PC.
Not unlike the ‘loyalty’ seen in ‘1984’ and Nazi Germany. lol
“Steve is truly the chuck norris of the tech world, delivering the technological equivalent of a roundhouse kick on a daily basis.”
Chuck’s getting a bit long in the tooth and isn’t really that innovative any more. perhaps your analogy is a very good one for Apple.
“Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re an Apple computer user, don’t you kind of have to be loyal, since your software is pretty much proprietary? I mean, it’s not like ditching a Dell for a Gateway.
“
Right on. The Apple customer base has been winnowed by defections to better cheaper hardware over the years. The only ones left are the ones who exhibit blind loyalty.
“If you are, indeed, so damned superior to the “geniuses” at the local Apple Store, why not get a job there and show those B*stards what true intellect is!
“
Anyone who works in retail, by definition is not a Genius.
Your suggestion would be like getting a job flipping burgers just because you know you can grill up a better burger than the guy at MacDonalds. (or iMacDonalds).