#american-customer-satisfaction-index

#american-customer-satisfaction-index

The price of gasoline is always displayed on the sign, in huge numbers that overwhelm the rest of the scene. That design makes the gas-price sign a kind of key to understanding American life.

Reliability is broadly defined by how often your car experiences unscheduled failures or malfunctions. A car that is more likely to experience failures is considered unreliable, whereas one that can go for 150,000 miles with nothing but regular maintenance would be considered reliable.

Together, the multicultural segment totaled 46 million households in 2024, representing just over 33% of all households in the country—a 12% increase compared to 2017.

The study surveyed 1,226 marketing decision-makers who work for businesses of different sizes and industries throughout the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada.

Many users experience AI chats as closer to therapy than search, so ads can feel acceptable in transactional moments but aggressive in reflective or emotional ones. Imagine your therapist taking a break from listening to sell you a supplement.

Customer service in the UK has a problem. According to recent survey data, almost half of UK customers have experienced poor customer service over the past year. That's not a minor data point, but rather a warning sign. Long wait times, unhelpful responses, and automated loops that dead-end are just the beginning, and they erode customer trust quickly. While many businesses have invested heavily in digital tools and AI to help address these problems, that comes with its own drawbacks.

Beginning on June 22, 2026, we will discontinue the use of Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA) for automotive model ads. Comscore Markets, which we introduced in August 2025, will serve as the replacement solution. After this date, campaigns still using Nielsen's DMA for automotive model ads targeting will be paused and require an update to Comscore Markets to resume delivery.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index cratered 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, falling below even the lowest readings during the COVID-19 pandemic. A measure of Americans' short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market tumbled 9.5 points to 65.1, well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It's the 12th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80. Consumers' assessments of their current economic situation slid by 9.9 points to 113.7.

Costco sells its products with very little markup, choosing instead to make most of its money from membership sales. This business model makes sense: The better deals it has, the more likely people are to want a membership. Memberships at Costco are booming. In the fiscal first quarter of 2026, overall memberships were up 5% year over year to 146 million. And its higher-priced executive memberships were up a stronger 9%.

For years, car dealerships had a terrible reputation. Pushy sales tactics, confusing pricing, and long hours spent negotiating made the entire experience feel more like a battle than a purchase. Like many buyers, I assumed that avoiding dealerships altogether was the smartest way to buy a car, especially as online platforms and direct-to-consumer models gained popularity. Over time, however, my perspective began to shift.

Customers want to read reviews and businesses need reviews to attract customers. But the constant demand for reviews could be creating a feedback backlash, experts say. What began as an innovative way to benefit consumers is increasingly an obligatory burden for shoppers and sellers alike.

Mike Pastore is the Head of Content & Media at Third Door Media, the publisher of the Martech and Search Engine Land websites and the producer of the SMX and MarTech Conferences. In nearly three decades in B2B marketing, Mike has worked as an editor, writer, and marketer. He first wrote about marketing in 1998 for internet.com (later Jupitermedia). He then worked with marketers at some of the best-known brands in B2B tech, creating content for marketing campaigns at both Jupitermedia and QuinStreet.

A customer clicks on your perfectly crafted Instagram ad, lands on your conversion-optimized website and completes a purchase. Three days later, they need help with their order. They wait 10 minutes for a response. The chatbot loops them through irrelevant questions. When they finally reach a human agent, they have to explain their problem again. The agent can't access their order history. Resolution takes five days.