- Social media sites scored poorly in customer satisfaction for the first time in the ACSI report, with an aggregate score of 70. Wikipedia led with a score of 77 while Facebook had the lowest score of 64.
- News and information sites saw no change with an aggregate score of 74. FoxNews.com had the highest individual score of 82.
- Customer satisfaction with search engines and portals declined 7% to 77, driven largely by a 7% decline for Google to 80. Bing debuted with a score of 77.
Infosys' customer engagement software solution is a customer engagement platform that helps enterprises to improve customer engagements and build an eBusiness strategy
Exchange rate risk can cause companies losses during times of currency crisis or economic downturn. Sime Darby experienced losses during the 1998 Malaysian currency crisis and the 2007 global economic crisis due to vehicle trading losses. Subsidiaries were also affected by the depreciation of currencies like the Nigerian currency. To overcome exchange rate risk, companies can use derivative instruments like hedging, forward exchange rate contracts, and cross currency swap contracts. Hedging protects the value of international transactions from unexpected currency volatility. Forward contracts exchange two currencies at a future date to protect against currency price fluctuations. Cross currency swaps exchange loan interest and principal payments between two currencies to access more favorable debt market terms.
The document discusses social display advertising. It notes that social networking sites are becoming increasingly important platforms for digital advertising, with nearly 1 trillion impressions on social networking sites in 2011. The document examines how some top advertisers heavily utilize social media for advertising purposes, either through "socially enabled" ads that drive users to social media, or "socially published" ads placed directly on social media. It then analyzes Bud Light's social advertising campaign in the summer of 2011, finding that the brand drove significant exposure and engagement through ads heavily focused on Facebook that promoted a sweepstakes-based campaign. The key takeaways are that advertisers are increasingly using social media to engage customers, and social-specific tools are needed to fully
The document discusses social display advertising and paid social media strategies. It provides statistics on the growing market for social display ads and examples of how major brands like Mars and Bud Light utilize different social ad approaches. Analyzing Bud Light's online audience revealed that Facebook had the highest composition index, indicating it was especially important for reaching Bud Light drinkers. The document demonstrates how social media allows for brand interaction and analyzing social ad performance at varying levels of granularity.
Social media aids customer acquisition media buyerplannerRalph Paglia
Many companies are successfully using social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and blogs to acquire customers. Over 40% of companies have gotten customers from Twitter and LinkedIn, over 40% from Facebook, and over 45% from their blogs. The more a company posts on their blog, the more likely they are to acquire customers, with companies posting multiple times per day having acquired 100% of customers from their blogs. Frequent posting is important for lead generation and search engine optimization.
Social media aids customer acquisition media buyerplannerRalph Paglia
Many companies are successfully acquiring customers through social media networks. Over 40% of companies have gotten a customer from Twitter or LinkedIn, and over 40% from Facebook. B2C companies tend to get more customers from social media than B2B companies. Frequent blogging is also correlated with higher customer acquisition - 100% of companies blogging multiple times daily got a customer, compared to only 13% of those blogging less than monthly. Business blogs need around 24 articles to start generating significant leads.
This document summarizes trends and best practices in adopting social media, or Web 2.0, technologies in organizations in 2008. Key findings include that employers are increasingly allowing social media use for business purposes, finding benefits like improved branding and communication, and are taking steps to integrate these technologies into their corporate culture. Some organizations create internal communities to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration among employees, while others focus on external-facing communities to engage customers. Best practices for organizations include encouraging participation, managing communities with appropriate oversight, and using wikis more for internal audiences.
Enterprise Social Media: Trends and Best Practices in Adopting Web 2.0 in 2008white paper
The document discusses trends in enterprise social media adoption in 2008. Key findings include:
1) Employers are becoming more open to allowing social media participation for business purposes, with 69% allowing it in 2008 compared to 37% in 2007.
2) Employers are finding benefits to using social media like building their brand, improving communication, and increasing consumer engagement.
3) Some employers are using internal social networks rather than public sites like Facebook, while others use external or blended networks.
Infosys' customer engagement software solution is a customer engagement platform that helps enterprises to improve customer engagements and build an eBusiness strategy
Exchange rate risk can cause companies losses during times of currency crisis or economic downturn. Sime Darby experienced losses during the 1998 Malaysian currency crisis and the 2007 global economic crisis due to vehicle trading losses. Subsidiaries were also affected by the depreciation of currencies like the Nigerian currency. To overcome exchange rate risk, companies can use derivative instruments like hedging, forward exchange rate contracts, and cross currency swap contracts. Hedging protects the value of international transactions from unexpected currency volatility. Forward contracts exchange two currencies at a future date to protect against currency price fluctuations. Cross currency swaps exchange loan interest and principal payments between two currencies to access more favorable debt market terms.
The document discusses social display advertising. It notes that social networking sites are becoming increasingly important platforms for digital advertising, with nearly 1 trillion impressions on social networking sites in 2011. The document examines how some top advertisers heavily utilize social media for advertising purposes, either through "socially enabled" ads that drive users to social media, or "socially published" ads placed directly on social media. It then analyzes Bud Light's social advertising campaign in the summer of 2011, finding that the brand drove significant exposure and engagement through ads heavily focused on Facebook that promoted a sweepstakes-based campaign. The key takeaways are that advertisers are increasingly using social media to engage customers, and social-specific tools are needed to fully
The document discusses social display advertising and paid social media strategies. It provides statistics on the growing market for social display ads and examples of how major brands like Mars and Bud Light utilize different social ad approaches. Analyzing Bud Light's online audience revealed that Facebook had the highest composition index, indicating it was especially important for reaching Bud Light drinkers. The document demonstrates how social media allows for brand interaction and analyzing social ad performance at varying levels of granularity.
Social media aids customer acquisition media buyerplannerRalph Paglia
Many companies are successfully using social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and blogs to acquire customers. Over 40% of companies have gotten customers from Twitter and LinkedIn, over 40% from Facebook, and over 45% from their blogs. The more a company posts on their blog, the more likely they are to acquire customers, with companies posting multiple times per day having acquired 100% of customers from their blogs. Frequent posting is important for lead generation and search engine optimization.
Social media aids customer acquisition media buyerplannerRalph Paglia
Many companies are successfully acquiring customers through social media networks. Over 40% of companies have gotten a customer from Twitter or LinkedIn, and over 40% from Facebook. B2C companies tend to get more customers from social media than B2B companies. Frequent blogging is also correlated with higher customer acquisition - 100% of companies blogging multiple times daily got a customer, compared to only 13% of those blogging less than monthly. Business blogs need around 24 articles to start generating significant leads.
This document summarizes trends and best practices in adopting social media, or Web 2.0, technologies in organizations in 2008. Key findings include that employers are increasingly allowing social media use for business purposes, finding benefits like improved branding and communication, and are taking steps to integrate these technologies into their corporate culture. Some organizations create internal communities to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration among employees, while others focus on external-facing communities to engage customers. Best practices for organizations include encouraging participation, managing communities with appropriate oversight, and using wikis more for internal audiences.
Enterprise Social Media: Trends and Best Practices in Adopting Web 2.0 in 2008white paper
The document discusses trends in enterprise social media adoption in 2008. Key findings include:
1) Employers are becoming more open to allowing social media participation for business purposes, with 69% allowing it in 2008 compared to 37% in 2007.
2) Employers are finding benefits to using social media like building their brand, improving communication, and increasing consumer engagement.
3) Some employers are using internal social networks rather than public sites like Facebook, while others use external or blended networks.
Выступление Татьяны Хандуровой, business development director, International comScore, Inc на Саммите Digital Branding 5-6 июня 2012 в Центре Digital October. www.digital-branding.ru
As president of AAF for the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), we developed a thorough campaign for AOL (AIM) as an elite social media tool for the 18-24 age group covering research, analysis, media planning & strategy, creative execution, commercials, print ads, non traditional advertising, website strategy, and viral marketing. At the end of our term we pitched our campaign in Portland, Oregon among the Northwest Universities and as president, lead BYU - Idaho's advertising team of 25 members to place 2nd overall. Visit http://aaf.org/default.asp?id=122 to learn more about this HUGE event.
JCI London presents IBM Social Media Business (June 2012)
Creating and capturing value through Social Media - a corporate and large organisation perspective
Ernst & Youngin Liiketoiminnan lait -seminaari 14.2.2013 Helsingissä, Peter k...EY Finland
Turvallinen ja tehokas sosiaalinen media, Social media’s impact on a company’s operations, Peter Katko, Partner, Head of IP/IT Law, Ernst & Young Germany
comScore is a global market research firm that provides digital marketing intelligence. It was founded in 1999 and has over 500 employees. The company collects data from over 2 million online panelists in over 170 countries. It provides clients in various industries with insights into online audiences and consumer behavior. Some of comScore's services include measuring online audiences, search trends, social media engagement, and more. The company has over 1,200 clients globally including agencies, retailers, and technology companies.
Business.com report: Benchmark your business social media initiatives with this free whitepaper summarizing insights from nearly 3,000 North American businesses - the largest study of business social media use conducted to date. Discover valuable insights into company social media initiatives designed to drive web site traffic, engage customers and build brands.
The document is a research report summarizing the findings of the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study. Some key findings include:
- Nearly 65% of respondents reported using social media as part of their normal work routine to find business information. The most popular activities were attending webinars/podcasts and reading product/service reviews.
- Middle managers and those in marketing/sales roles were more likely to use social media for work compared to other groups. Larger companies were less likely to use social media for work.
- Maintaining business profiles and monitoring social media conversations were common corporate social media initiatives. Most companies judged success through increased website traffic, leads, and sales.
- Webinars
Automotive Industry Benchmark Report: The State of Social Media MarketingTrackMaven
When it comes to social media engagement, automakers rule the road. So what are the secrets to their success? And how do digital strategies differ for luxury and standard brands?
To find out, we analyzed a year's worth of social media content from leading automaker brands. See the results in our Automaker Industry Benchmarks: Social Media Impact Report.
A new whitepaper from Burson-Marsteller, detailing blogging trends and data within the Fortune 500.
*****
Eine aktuelle Studie von Burson-Marsteller zur Verbreitung von Weblogs unter den Fortune 500 Unternehmen.
How Web 2.0 is Changing the World of MarketingLance Shields
Companies are only now realizing that for themselves to participate in this new market driven by a new user driven web, they will have to join in the conversation - learning to listen, to talk, to collaborate and become one with their customers who are the true owners of their brands. Either that or corporations face isolation, irrelevancy and obsolescence.
The document introduces the ForeSee Results Automotive Website Satisfaction Index, which measures customer satisfaction with major automotive company websites using the American Customer Satisfaction Index methodology. The study found that Honda has the highest customer satisfaction of the six sites measured, followed closely by Ford and Chrysler. Nissan had the lowest satisfaction. While differences were small, even minor satisfaction improvements could significantly impact customers' likelihood to buy.
2008 User Generated Content, Social Media and AdvertisementGonzalo Martín
This document provides an overview of user generated content, social media, and advertising in 2008. It discusses the rise of user generated content through early forms like reviews sites, blogs, and wikis. It describes how social media platforms like social networks and content sharing sites are transforming the media landscape and advertising industry. The document outlines trends in user generated content advertising, challenges and opportunities for marketers, and concludes by listing the member companies of the IAB UGC & Social Media Committee.
Social Leaderboard_Indian Luxury Car Brands_20 July 2012Shack Co.
Shack evaluated India's three top-selling luxury car brands – BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz – to derive a comparative benchmark of their standing on social platforms.
To request for a detailed report, you can reach us at info@shack.co.in
Lundquist Wikipedia Fortune Global 500 Executive SummaryMarketingfacts
Lundquist Research analyzed the Wikipedia pages of the Fortune Global 500 companies using a four-part protocol. They found that Apple had the most complete page, scoring highest with 22 out of 25 points. In general, Wikipedia pages lacked detailed information about corporate governance, strategies, and financials. To improve their online presence, companies must understand Wikipedia's culture and find appropriate ways to provide information to editors. Engaging with Wikipedia is important as it often ranks highly in search results and sees millions of visitors each month.
This document discusses challenges that organizations face in measuring the revenue impact of social media. It notes that while social media is now ubiquitous, most organizations lack a holistic strategy for measuring its effects. It identifies several barriers that organizations encounter, such as the proliferation of social media accounts, inability to tie social activities to business outcomes, lack of analytics expertise, unreliable data, and inconsistent approaches. The document introduces six approaches organizations can use to measure social media's revenue impact and provides case studies of companies that have implemented measurement strategies. It argues that as social media continues to evolve, new measurement approaches will be needed to provide businesses with better insights.
Altimeter, explores the most effective "ingredients" for measuring the revenue impact of social media, providing insights and case studies from an array of top companies.
This document discusses challenges that organizations face in measuring the revenue impact of social media. It notes that while social media is now ubiquitous, most organizations still lack a holistic strategy for measuring its effects. It identifies six key approaches for measurement, including top-down approaches that link social actions to overall business metrics, and bottom-up approaches that track individual actions. The document also provides case studies of three companies that demonstrate different measurement strategies. It argues that there is no single best approach and organizations must determine the right mix of measures based on their specific business and goals.
McKinsey\'s fifth annual survey on the way organisations use social tools and technologies finds that they continue to seep into many organisations, transforming business processes and raising perforamnce.
Presented at Changing Media Summit in London, "the must-attend event for anyone concerned with creative and commercial success in the digital age. It is aimed at senior executives responsible for strategies in digital, online, new media, mobile, marketing, branding, finance, comms, content, audio and more."
This is a strategic view into media platforms and ecosystems, why they matter and how to create and participate in them.
Insurance Industry: Social Media Impact and Benchmarks ReportTrackMaven
Believe it or not, the insurance industry is in the social media sweet spot. Insurance brands lead the pack on social with both booming audience growth and content engagement.
How do we know? We analyzed a year's worth of social media content from leading insurance brands. Learn which social networks drive the greatest impact for your peers, and see how your brand measures up against industry-specific benchmarks.
This usability report summarizes an eye-tracking study of how Irish Facebook users engage with advertising and media on the platform. The following key points were found:
1) Most users log onto Facebook once a day or more, and top uses are interacting with friends, chatting with friends, and viewing the newsfeed.
2) On average users are fans of 28 pages, with younger users fans of more pages. Pages are discovered through friend recommendations.
3) When directly asked, only 11 of 40 users play Facebook games, with Farmville being most popular.
4) Users pay most attention to updates in their newsfeed rather than ads on the right side.
5) Younger
Выступление Татьяны Хандуровой, business development director, International comScore, Inc на Саммите Digital Branding 5-6 июня 2012 в Центре Digital October. www.digital-branding.ru
As president of AAF for the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), we developed a thorough campaign for AOL (AIM) as an elite social media tool for the 18-24 age group covering research, analysis, media planning & strategy, creative execution, commercials, print ads, non traditional advertising, website strategy, and viral marketing. At the end of our term we pitched our campaign in Portland, Oregon among the Northwest Universities and as president, lead BYU - Idaho's advertising team of 25 members to place 2nd overall. Visit http://aaf.org/default.asp?id=122 to learn more about this HUGE event.
JCI London presents IBM Social Media Business (June 2012)
Creating and capturing value through Social Media - a corporate and large organisation perspective
Ernst & Youngin Liiketoiminnan lait -seminaari 14.2.2013 Helsingissä, Peter k...EY Finland
Turvallinen ja tehokas sosiaalinen media, Social media’s impact on a company’s operations, Peter Katko, Partner, Head of IP/IT Law, Ernst & Young Germany
comScore is a global market research firm that provides digital marketing intelligence. It was founded in 1999 and has over 500 employees. The company collects data from over 2 million online panelists in over 170 countries. It provides clients in various industries with insights into online audiences and consumer behavior. Some of comScore's services include measuring online audiences, search trends, social media engagement, and more. The company has over 1,200 clients globally including agencies, retailers, and technology companies.
Business.com report: Benchmark your business social media initiatives with this free whitepaper summarizing insights from nearly 3,000 North American businesses - the largest study of business social media use conducted to date. Discover valuable insights into company social media initiatives designed to drive web site traffic, engage customers and build brands.
The document is a research report summarizing the findings of the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study. Some key findings include:
- Nearly 65% of respondents reported using social media as part of their normal work routine to find business information. The most popular activities were attending webinars/podcasts and reading product/service reviews.
- Middle managers and those in marketing/sales roles were more likely to use social media for work compared to other groups. Larger companies were less likely to use social media for work.
- Maintaining business profiles and monitoring social media conversations were common corporate social media initiatives. Most companies judged success through increased website traffic, leads, and sales.
- Webinars
Automotive Industry Benchmark Report: The State of Social Media MarketingTrackMaven
When it comes to social media engagement, automakers rule the road. So what are the secrets to their success? And how do digital strategies differ for luxury and standard brands?
To find out, we analyzed a year's worth of social media content from leading automaker brands. See the results in our Automaker Industry Benchmarks: Social Media Impact Report.
A new whitepaper from Burson-Marsteller, detailing blogging trends and data within the Fortune 500.
*****
Eine aktuelle Studie von Burson-Marsteller zur Verbreitung von Weblogs unter den Fortune 500 Unternehmen.
How Web 2.0 is Changing the World of MarketingLance Shields
Companies are only now realizing that for themselves to participate in this new market driven by a new user driven web, they will have to join in the conversation - learning to listen, to talk, to collaborate and become one with their customers who are the true owners of their brands. Either that or corporations face isolation, irrelevancy and obsolescence.
The document introduces the ForeSee Results Automotive Website Satisfaction Index, which measures customer satisfaction with major automotive company websites using the American Customer Satisfaction Index methodology. The study found that Honda has the highest customer satisfaction of the six sites measured, followed closely by Ford and Chrysler. Nissan had the lowest satisfaction. While differences were small, even minor satisfaction improvements could significantly impact customers' likelihood to buy.
2008 User Generated Content, Social Media and AdvertisementGonzalo Martín
This document provides an overview of user generated content, social media, and advertising in 2008. It discusses the rise of user generated content through early forms like reviews sites, blogs, and wikis. It describes how social media platforms like social networks and content sharing sites are transforming the media landscape and advertising industry. The document outlines trends in user generated content advertising, challenges and opportunities for marketers, and concludes by listing the member companies of the IAB UGC & Social Media Committee.
Social Leaderboard_Indian Luxury Car Brands_20 July 2012Shack Co.
Shack evaluated India's three top-selling luxury car brands – BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz – to derive a comparative benchmark of their standing on social platforms.
To request for a detailed report, you can reach us at info@shack.co.in
Lundquist Wikipedia Fortune Global 500 Executive SummaryMarketingfacts
Lundquist Research analyzed the Wikipedia pages of the Fortune Global 500 companies using a four-part protocol. They found that Apple had the most complete page, scoring highest with 22 out of 25 points. In general, Wikipedia pages lacked detailed information about corporate governance, strategies, and financials. To improve their online presence, companies must understand Wikipedia's culture and find appropriate ways to provide information to editors. Engaging with Wikipedia is important as it often ranks highly in search results and sees millions of visitors each month.
This document discusses challenges that organizations face in measuring the revenue impact of social media. It notes that while social media is now ubiquitous, most organizations lack a holistic strategy for measuring its effects. It identifies several barriers that organizations encounter, such as the proliferation of social media accounts, inability to tie social activities to business outcomes, lack of analytics expertise, unreliable data, and inconsistent approaches. The document introduces six approaches organizations can use to measure social media's revenue impact and provides case studies of companies that have implemented measurement strategies. It argues that as social media continues to evolve, new measurement approaches will be needed to provide businesses with better insights.
Altimeter, explores the most effective "ingredients" for measuring the revenue impact of social media, providing insights and case studies from an array of top companies.
This document discusses challenges that organizations face in measuring the revenue impact of social media. It notes that while social media is now ubiquitous, most organizations still lack a holistic strategy for measuring its effects. It identifies six key approaches for measurement, including top-down approaches that link social actions to overall business metrics, and bottom-up approaches that track individual actions. The document also provides case studies of three companies that demonstrate different measurement strategies. It argues that there is no single best approach and organizations must determine the right mix of measures based on their specific business and goals.
McKinsey\'s fifth annual survey on the way organisations use social tools and technologies finds that they continue to seep into many organisations, transforming business processes and raising perforamnce.
Presented at Changing Media Summit in London, "the must-attend event for anyone concerned with creative and commercial success in the digital age. It is aimed at senior executives responsible for strategies in digital, online, new media, mobile, marketing, branding, finance, comms, content, audio and more."
This is a strategic view into media platforms and ecosystems, why they matter and how to create and participate in them.
Insurance Industry: Social Media Impact and Benchmarks ReportTrackMaven
Believe it or not, the insurance industry is in the social media sweet spot. Insurance brands lead the pack on social with both booming audience growth and content engagement.
How do we know? We analyzed a year's worth of social media content from leading insurance brands. Learn which social networks drive the greatest impact for your peers, and see how your brand measures up against industry-specific benchmarks.
Similar to Foresee results-annual-ebusiness-report-2010 (20)
This usability report summarizes an eye-tracking study of how Irish Facebook users engage with advertising and media on the platform. The following key points were found:
1) Most users log onto Facebook once a day or more, and top uses are interacting with friends, chatting with friends, and viewing the newsfeed.
2) On average users are fans of 28 pages, with younger users fans of more pages. Pages are discovered through friend recommendations.
3) When directly asked, only 11 of 40 users play Facebook games, with Farmville being most popular.
4) Users pay most attention to updates in their newsfeed rather than ads on the right side.
5) Younger
Women have been the majority of internet users in the US for over 10 years. While men and women initially used the internet differently, with women focusing more on productivity and men on entertainment, new technologies have enabled new behaviors for both genders. Social networking has become central to women's internet experience globally, and women are key drivers of online spending and ecommerce. However, gender differences persist in some areas like sports and gaming, and cultural factors continue to influence online behaviors regionally.
- Social media sites scored poorly in customer satisfaction (70) in their first year of measurement, led by Wikipedia (77) and trailed by Facebook (64) and MySpace (63).
- News/information sites were steady at 74, led by new entrant FoxNews.com (82) while search/portals declined 7% to 77, driven by a decline at Google to 80.
- Customers tolerate poor experiences at Facebook and MySpace due to their network dominance, though improvements could help them fend off competition. Wikipedia scored highest for its lack of ads and breadth of information.
Global online audiences are growing rapidly, reaching over 1.4 billion internet users worldwide by 2009. Yahoo reaches 500 million users every day across 38 markets and 30 languages. Broadband penetration is increasing globally, driving a major shift from traditional media like newspapers and magazines to internet consumption. Yahoo focuses on providing broad audience reach, unmatched consumer insights, and partnerships to drive engagement and results for advertisers. The document discusses Yahoo's advertising products including CPM, CPC, and CPA models and how CPM is the next logical step in the evolution of internet advertising.
2009 1.9.09 - teens and the internet- cesransocialit
The document summarizes how teens have adopted and used various digital technologies over time as "digital natives". It notes that most teens now use email, play video games, and have cell phones. It then outlines the years various online technologies and services launched and the percentage of teens that now use services like social media sites, instant messaging, blogs, and streaming music. The document argues this creates an "ecosystem" that rapidly changes how teens experience and engage with a variety of online content and activities in participatory and social ways.
The document discusses how digital technologies are becoming ubiquitous and always connected. It notes that as technologies become standardized and open, user experience will be the main differentiator. Events will become premium content as behaviors like TV watching become more on-demand and location-based. Mobile devices are increasing location awareness and importance of location-based information and services. New ways of monetizing content on mobile like subscriptions, transactions and sponsorship will be needed as current methods are primitive.
2. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
The annual ForeSee Results report on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) e-business
scores includes analysis of companies within the three measured e-business industries. Social media
websites were included for the first time this year.
• Social Media websites: Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube
• Search Engines and Portals: AOL, Ask, Bing, Google, MSN, and Yahoo!
• News and Information websites: ABCNews.com, CNN.com, FoxNews.com, MSNBC.com,
NYTimes.com, and USAToday.com
Key Findings
Each of the following key findings is explored in further detail in the following analysis.
• Social Media: Customer satisfaction with social media sites is poor (70) as the industry enters
the Index for the first time. It has the lowest industry aggregate score of any of the e-business or
e-retail industries measured by the ACSI. Wikipedia leads the social media industry with a score
of 77, which is 14 points above industry giant Facebook (64), a surprisingly low performer given
its market presence.
• News and Information Sites: Customer satisfaction with news and information sites stays even
this year at 74. The big news in this industry is the debut of FoxNews.com at the top of the heap
with a score of 82, which is five points above nearest competitor USAToday.com (77). CNN.com
brings up the rear (73).
• Portals and Search Engines: Customer satisfaction with portals and search engines dives 7%
to 77 this year and is driven largely by a 7% decline for Google (down six points to 80). Bing was
measured for the first time this year, and it makes a strong first showing with a score of 77, sec-
ond only to Google.
2
www.ForeSeeResults.com
3. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
Social Media: Figure 1: Social Media ACSI Scores
Wikipedia Wins; Facebook Falls Flat
For the first time in 2010, social media websites join the
2010
Social Media Site
Score
list of e-business industries and companies measured by
the ACSI. Four of the social media sites with the greatest
Aggregate 70
traffic and market share were individually measured.
Wikipedia.org 77
YouTube.com (Google Inc.) 73
While their presence in the marketplace is hard to ig-
nore, the entrance of social media websites in the ACSI
All Others 72
is lackluster; with an industry aggregate score of 70,
Facebook.com 64
the social media industry debuts as one of the lowest-
MySpace.com (News Corp.) 63
scoring industries measured by the ACSI, surpassing
only the notoriously low-scoring airline and cable/
satellite television industries. (See Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Aggregate Comparison of
Social Media to Other Industries
Latest
Industry ACSI
Facebook
To put Facebook’s and MySpace’s scores (64 and 63 re-
Score
spectively) in perspective:
Personal Care & Cleaning Products 85
Soft Drinks 85
• The ACSI measures 30 online companies. Facebook
and MySpace are the two lowest-scoring sites out of
Automobiles & Light Vehicles 84
all 30.
Breweries 84
Credit Unions 84
• In total, the ACSI measures 223 companies (including
both online and offline companies across all econom-
Pet Food 84
ic sectors and industries). Of those 223 companies,
Electronics (TV VCR DVD) 83
only 10 score a 65 or below, including Facebook and
MySpace, which puts them in the bottom 5% of all
Express Delivery
83
(Consumer Shipping)
measured private sector companies. The other com-
panies that join Facebook and MySpace in the bottom
Food Manufacturing 83
5% are all airlines and cable companies, which are
Internet Retail 83
two perennially low-scoring industries with terrible
Apparel 82
customer satisfaction.
Full Service Restaurants 81
• Of the 140 federal government agencies and websites
Major Appliances 81
measured by the ACSI, 11 score lower than 65 (includ-
Athletic Shoes 80
ing the IRS), which means 90% of federal government
entities measured by the ACSI outscore Facebook and
Property & Casualty Insurance 80
MySpace in terms of customer satisfaction.
Social Media 70
Airlines 66
Any way you slice it, Facebook and MySpace turn in an
abysmal performance in this year’s ACSI report. Cus-
Subscription Television Service 66
tomers are not satisfied with their experiences on these
*This table represents the highest-scoring ACSI in-
sites. When asked what they like least about Facebook,
dustries (those 80 and above) and the lowest-scor-
ing ACSI industries (those scoring 70 and below).
The ACSI measures more than 40 industries in all.
3
www.ForeSeeResults.com
4. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
survey respondents gave answers including privacy and security concerns, the technology that con-
trols the news feeds, advertising, the constant and unpredictable interface changes, spam, navigation
troubles, annoying applications with constant notifications, and functionality, to name a few. There is
no shortage of complaints about Facebook.
However, according to July 2010 Hitwise data, Facebook is the number one website in the country,
with 9% of all website visits (Google has 7.4% and Yahoo! 3.8%) and 55% of all social media visits.
Facebook’s market dominance in the U.S. and around the world is indisputable. How can it be so
popular if people dislike it so much?
There are a few reasons Facebook can continue to have market success despite abysmally low cus-
tomer satisfaction:
• Facebook has its own version of a monopoly. Although there are literally hundreds of social net-
working sites available around the world, Facebook has surged from 200 million global users 15
months ago to more than 500 million today, according to the New York Times. There really is no
other choice for people wanting to connect with friends, family, and colleagues regardless of in-
terest, age, geographic location, gender, etc.
• Our research shows that customer satisfaction with social media sites is somewhat age-related.
Older people are less satisfied with Facebook than are younger people, who are less impacted by the
privacy concerns and changes to the interface. Young people helped to make Facebook successful,
and they like it a little better. However, the fastest-growing Facebook segments are all older adults,
so higher satisfaction among young people will not carry the company far.
• Customers are willing to suffer through a poor experience in return for the benefits Facebook pro-
vides. This is a rare scenario in the American economy: usually customer satisfaction is intertwined
with market success. The few exceptions to this rule (airlines, cable companies, and fast food) are
operating in a sphere where there are no true standouts, so the bar is low. Should MySpace stage
a comeback, or should any other competitor to Facebook deliver a truly superior customer experi-
ence, Facebook should have cause for concern. Right now, only Wikipedia and YouTube surpass
Facebook in terms of customer satisfaction, and they are not in direct competition.
• One aspect of Facebook loyalty not often discussed is that it acts as a storehouse for many peo-
ple’s pictures and videos. So while the dollar cost of switching may not be high, the convenience
cost would be.
Still, despite good reasons for Facebook’s success in the face of poor customer satisfaction, the com-
pany should heed the millions of people signed up for various anti-Facebook groups on Facebook
itself and improve the user experience while maintaining a profitable revenue model.
MySpace
It’s less of a surprise that satisfaction with MySpace is low. Its market share is consistently declining
in the face of competition from Facebook and other social networks. If people were satisfied with
MySpace, it wouldn’t have fallen so quickly so fast.
4
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5. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
When asked what they like best about MySpace, most respondents mentioned 1) the ability to keep
in touch with friends and family, or 2) the ability to share and find music. When asked what they liked
least, there was a greater variety of responses, from “dull format” to “hard to use” to “Facebook is better.”
While MySpace has found its niche with music and entertainment, reports are that the company plans
to stage a comeback to revive revenue and buzz under the helm of a new Chief Digital Officer. MySpace’s
last place finish in a field that contains no impressive standouts should be a serious warning sign to the
company. To have a fighting chance of survival, MySpace must focus first on what customers want.
With closest competitor Facebook right alongside MySpace at the back of the pack, the good news is
that there is ample room for MySpace to stage a comeback. People are not satisfied with Facebook,
and MySpace retains decent market share in the social media realm (11% compared to Facebook’s
54%, according to Hitwise) and name recognition. The stage is set for success, but with a customer
satisfaction score of 63 and a hugely successful competitor, MySpace is not yet poised to take advan-
tage and Facebook still has a near monopoly on hundreds of millions of users.
WHY SATISFACTION MATTERS
Customer satisfaction as measured using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a proven
predictor of financial performance. Academic research and corporate experience shows that satisfied
customers are more loyal, more likely to engage in positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and
more likely to buy in the future. This link has been proven on the macro-economic level, industry-wide,
and at the company level. For example, a stock fund comprised of high-scoring ACSI companies has
consistently outperformed the S&P 500, and the ACSI has consistently predicted ups and downs in
consumer spending and the U.S. GDP.
Online businesses tend to know a lot about what customers or website visitors already did: which
pages they clicked on, where they came from, how much they spent, and where they bounced. While
e-businesses are often neck-deep in data, analysts and headlines focus on whether revenues are up or
down. There is no question that all of these metrics – clicks, hits, and revenue – tell us a lot about the
state of the e-business and e-commerce sectors, as does reviewing the rate and trajectory of growth
or decline. However, there have typically been severe limitations to understanding what is fueling
the growth or decline, conversions or cart abandonment, visitor loyalty, and changes in traffic. That’s
where understanding customer satisfaction comes in.
Claes Fornell, a world-renowned economics professor at the University of Michigan, created a method-
ology that measures customer satisfaction in such a way that it predicts customers’ likelihood to shop
again, buy more, or be loyal to the company in question. Used as a leading macro- and micro-economic
indicator by governments around the world, the ACSI methodology has been proven again and again in
extensive academic, peer-reviewed research to be a predictive indicator of customers’ future behaviors.
Continued on next page
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6. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
Wikipedia
Wikipedia leads the social media pack with the highest
score (77). When asked what they liked best about Wiki-
Figures 3 & 4: Recommendations on
pedia, survey respondents most frequently mentioned
Social Media Sites
1) ease of use, and 2) the variety, depth, and breadth of
information available. When asked what they like least,
Do you seek out recommendations for
most respondents answered that either 1) there was
products or services on this site?
nothing they didn’t like about the site, or 2) the credibil-
ity of user-generated information.
Company Yes No
Facebook 16% 84%
Wikipedia users are less frequent visitors when com-
MySpace 14% 86%
pared to other social media sites and tend to visit weekly
Wikipedia 15% 85%
or monthly, rather than daily. About one in five (20%)
Wikipedia users visit daily (compared to the 57% of
YouTube 17% 83%
Facebook users who visit Facebook daily), but Wikipedia
still enjoys a fairly loyal customer base, with a total of
65% of users visiting weekly or more often.
Have you ever purchased products or services
that were recommended to you on this site?
Wikipedia also receives high marks for its lack of adver-
Company Yes No
tising, especially when compared with the other three
Facebook 12% 88%
measured sites, all of which are heavy on advertising.
Despite the lack of advertising (or maybe because of it),
MySpace 8% 92%
15% of Wikipedia users seek out product recommenda-
Wikipedia 10% 90%
YouTube 14% 86%
Continued from previous page
An article in the Journal of Marketing even highlights the connection between the ACSI and future
stock prices: an ACSI-based portfolio has beaten the market for more than ten years in a row, whether
the market is up or down. More specifically, companies that did well in the ACSI saw their stocks
increase by 75% on average in 2009. In contrast, stock prices for those with declining ACSI scores rose
22% over the same period, which is slightly less than the 26% gain for the S&P 500.
The impact of online customer satisfaction on an e-retailer’s business is quite clear. Based on surveys of
more than 23,000 visitors to the top 100 e-retail websites, our research shows that when compared to
a less satisfied visitor, a highly satisfied visitor is 73% more likely to purchase online, 47% more likely to
purchase offline, 53% more likely to remain loyal, 72% more likely to recommend, and 66% more likely to
be committed to the brand. This finding makes intuitive sense for many business leaders, but the ACSI is
able to quantify the impact of a satisfied online shopper on a retailer’s overall business operations.
Simply put, there is no better metric for predicting business success than the ACSI, which is why
ForeSee Results uses the ACSI methodology for our clients and why we partner with the ACSI to
review and analyze this data.
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7. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
tions on the site, which is statistically on par with the other measured sites (see Fig. 2). Ten percent
of users have purchased products or services that were recommended on Wikipedia (see Fig. 3), an
impressive number for a site that actively polices and prevents blatant marketing efforts.
YouTube
With a score of 73, YouTube rests solidly above the industry average. This is good news, because
while it might not be in direct competition with Facebook and MySpace for users, it is in competition
for advertising dollars. Users of YouTube report much less annoyance and interference from ads than
do users of Facebook and MySpace, though they also report that ads are less relevant to them. This
data should help YouTube in the quest for more advertising dollars when they are up against other
social media sites.
When asked what they like most about YouTube, survey respondents cited the variety of videos, the
fun and humor the site provides, and the fact that the videos are free. When asked what they like
least, respondents often mentioned navigation and search issues that make it difficult to find desired
results and the large quantity of useless or uninteresting videos available on the site.
Other Social Media Findings
When we compare the scores of all the measured sites, two themes emerge:
• Commercialization of social media sites may be impacting satisfaction. The strategy of starting out as
a free service with no advertising or revenue source is an effective way to build traffic and loyalty, as
is evidenced across all of these sites. However, starting out that way also trained customers to expect
an experience on these sites that is relatively unencumbered by advertising and commercialization.
As most of these sites have transitioned to generating revenue, the resulting commercialization has
brought severe downward pressure on customer satisfaction, which opens the door for challengers.
Finding the right balance between making money through intrusive advertising and satisfying
customers is critical, especially in the social media sphere. We expect to see ads on a news web-
site like CNN.com, but our expectations on a social media site are for far less intrusive marketing
and commercialization. Wikipedia’s non-profit model has allowed it to avoid the path of com-
mercialization, and it is no coincidence that it has the highest satisfaction in this category. Of
course sites like Facebook and MySpace need to make money, but the evolution from free content
to a revenue model needs to be planned very carefully and executed flawlessly, while keeping in
mind consumer expectations and needs at every turn. A big part of meeting those expectations is
managing them from very early on in the maturity of the business model.
• Evolution is a better strategy than revolution when it comes to changing social media sites.
Changes need to be well planned, tested, and executed. One of the most common complaints we
saw about Facebook had to do with the frequent and unexpected changes to the interface. We are
not recommending a static site experience with no changes; in fact, just the opposite. However,
those improvements need to be better planned, executed, and communicated.
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8. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
News & Information Sites: FoxNews.com Debuts at the Top
Satisfaction with online news and information sites stays even this year with a score of 74. Even
though every individual site measured saw an increase, the All Others category declined. This cat-
egory includes news sites not called out by name and measured individually by the ACSI, which are
most often local newspaper and television sites.
Figure 5: News and Information ACSI Scores
% Change % Change
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 from Last from First
Year Year
News & Information
73 74 75 75 73 75 75 74 74 0.0% 1.4%
Aggregate
FoxNews.com NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 82 NA NA
USATODAY.com 71 72 72 72 74 72 73 74 77 4.1% 8.5%
NYTimes.com 71 70 72 72 72 73 75 73 76 4.1% 7.0%
ABCNEWS.com 74 74 74 74 73 74 75 71 75 5.6% 1.4%
MSNBC.com 73 74 74 73 72 74 76 73 74 1.4% 1.4%
All Others 73 75 75 78 74 77 76 75 73 -2.7% 0.0%
CNN.com 72 72 74 72 74 73 73 71 73 2.8% 1.4%
The big surprise in this category is the debut of FoxNews.com at the top of the Index with a sub-
stantial lead over the other cable news networks (MSNBC.com at 74 and CNN.com at 73). The news
and information industry has historically had tightly-clustered scores with very little differentiation
among the various sites, but in its first year in the ACSI, FoxNews.com registers a score of 82, which is
the highest score any news site has ever received in the past nine years of measurement.
Various factors have pushed FoxNews.com to the top of the customer satisfaction scorecard. It is com-
mon knowledge that Fox viewers lean to the ideological right, and our data suggests that they have
a distinct, loyal audience, which usually correlates with higher satisfaction. Our research shows that
FoxNews.com readers are slightly older, on average, and have lower income and education levels.
In addition, they have higher loyalty to FoxNews.com and rely much more on FoxNews.com as their
primary source for news compared to visitors to other sites and news sources (who tend to rely on
multiple sources). All of these factors could lead to differing expectations. Satisfaction is highly influ-
enced by the expectations a visitor has; it’s easier to satisfy people who visit fewer sites regularly be-
cause they may have less experience and therefore lower expectations. Another possible contributor
to its success is that FoxNews.com seems to have successfully translated the personality of its on-air
brand to its website.
USAToday.com registers the second-highest score ever received by a news and information site with
a 77, up three points and 4% from last year, when it was the only news site to see an increase in satis-
faction. ABCNews.com has a nice year-over-year increase but remains in the middle of the pack, while
CNN trails at 73.
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These websites are all competing for advertiser dollars with the search engines and portals also mea-
sured in this report. Ask.com, Bing, MSN, Yahoo!, and Google (discussed below) all outperform or
match the news and information websites in terms of customer satisfaction. Since customer satisfac-
tion predicts loyalty, return visits, and even engagement, a site with higher customer satisfaction can
deliver more value to its advertisers.
Other facts of note uncovered in this research:
• Compared to the other measured news sites, ABCNews.com users visit the site least often (21%
visit daily) while NYTimes.com users visit most frequently (35% visit daily).
• NYTimes.com readers prefer web news over other news sources (46% get at least half of their
news online) while FoxNews.com readers prefer to get their news on television (40% of FoxNews.
com readers prefer television news to other news sources).
• Users of USAToday.com, MSNBC.com, and NYTimes.com monitor more total news sources than
users of ABCNews.com, CNN.com, and FoxNews.com.
• NYTimes.com users are most willing to consider paying for content on the site (9% of users would
consider paying for content on that site) while only 2% of MSNBC.com users would consider it.
• Fox has the most loyal following: 63% of site users see Fox as their primary news source, while
their ideological counterpart, MSNBC.com, serves as the primary news source for only 49% of
their website visitors, online or offline. The site whose audience was least likely to consider it
their primary news source, however, was USAToday.com (39%).
• Website visitors pay more attention to ads on USAToday.com and ABCNews.com than the other
measured sites: 15% of USAToday.com users and 14% of ABCNews.com users pay attention to
ads compared to 10% of visitors for both CNN.com and FoxNews.com.
• USAToday.com, NYTimes.com, and FoxNews.com are credited by their site audiences with more
relevant ads than the other measured sites.
Search Engines and Portals:
Google Falters; Bing Makes an Impressive Entrance
Since Google’s inclusion in the Index in 2002, it has been the industry leader in customer satisfaction
every year but 2007 (when it was temporarily overtaken by Yahoo!) and this year when it has been
overtaken by the All Others category. The All Others category (dominated this year by niche websites
like Dogpile, GoodSearch, MyPoints, and Swagbucks) outscores Google by two points this year.
Google falls an incredible six points and 7% this year, matching its lowest score ever in 2002, which
was the first year this category was included in the ACSI. However, it still edges out closest competitor
Bing, which makes a strong debut at 77 and just three points behind.
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Figure 6: Portals and Search Engines ACSI Scores
% Change from % Change from
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Last Year First Year
Portals & Search
68 71 72 76 77 75 80 83 77 -7.2% 22.2%
Engines Aggregate
All Others 72 78 78 77 78 75 76 78 82 5.1% 22.4%
Google 80 82 82 82 81 78 86 86 80 -7.0% 0.0%
Bing NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 77 NA NA
Yahoo! 76 78 78 80 76 79 77 77 76 -1.3% 2.7%
MSN 72 74 75 75 74 75 75 75 75 0.0% 5.6%
AOL 59 65 67 71 74 67 69 70 74 5.7% 32.1%
Google may be suffering from trying to be too many things to too many people, as is evidenced by
Ask.com 62 69 71 72 71 75 74 74 73 -1.4% 17.7%
the superior performance of the All Others category with its niche players. In fact, when asked what
they like least about Google, survey respondents commonly mentioned issues like advertising, over-
whelming search results, privacy concerns, and too many special features (like maps and shopping).
Afterall, Google’s drop would be less worrisome if Bing hadn’t made such a strong debut in the Index; af-
ter Google’s score of 80 still makes it a top performer according to the ACSI (a category that includes the
roughly one-third of measured companies that score 80 or higher). Last year in this report, when Google
was riding high and Bing was a new player, we said it would be tough for Bing to challenge the high sat-
isfaction scores and market dominance of Google. But with the marketing power of Microsoft behind it
and a customer satisfaction score that presents a strong challenge, it looks more and more like Bing has
a fighting chance. Bing has shown a desire to be innovative, taking a page from the Google strategy. Most
recently Bing has announced the ability to let users locate and watch TV shows without leaving the Bing
site. However, Google is still a strong company with a customer-centric DNA and a history of innovation.
It is well within their grasp to pull their scores back into the mid-eighties by next year.
Meanwhile, AOL sees a 6% year-over-year increase to match its previous record of 74 from 2006. It
also sees a 32% increase in satisfaction since it was first measured in 2002. Usually when an industry
laggard sees increasing satisfaction, it’s because all of its customers have left except for the truly loyal
and satisfied base. With the increase, AOL has cut Google’s lead in half from 12 points last year to six
points this year.
Other findings of note:
• Google has the most loyal following with 80% of its users citing it as their primary search engine.
• AOL users have the oldest average age. Yahoo! users are youngest as a group.
• Thirty percent of the Google users surveyed reported having used Bing in the last month while
56% of the Bing users surveyed reported having used Google in the last month.
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11. ForeSee Results Annual E-Business Report 2010
About the Author
Larry Freed is an expert on web effectiveness and web customer satisfaction. He is also President and
CEO of ForeSee Results, a market leader in customer satisfaction measurement on the web, which
utilizes the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
About ForeSee Results
As the leader in online customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyz-
es online voice of customer data to help organizations increase sales, loyalty, recommendations, and
website value. Using the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), ForeSee
Results identifies the improvements to websites and other online initiatives with the greatest ROI.
With more than 50 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of
industries, ForeSee Results offers unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement
and management.
ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has offices in
London and Vancouver, and can be found online at www.ForeSeeResults.com. ForeSee Results is the
ACSI’s e-commerce and e-business partner.
About the ACSI
The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations
of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. Data
from interviews with approximately 70,000 customers annually are used as inputs into an economet-
ric model to measure satisfaction with more than 200 companies in 44 industries and 10 economic
sectors, as well as more than 130 federal government departments, agencies, and websites. Results
are released on a monthly basis with all measures reported using a 0-100 scale.
ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to a number of essential indicators of micro and macro-
economic performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer satisfaction tend to have
higher earnings and stock returns relative to competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that
show strong performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up-markets as well as down-markets. And
at the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown to be predictive of both consumer spending
and gross domestic product growth.
The Index was founded at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and is produced by
ACSI, LLC and is supported in part by ForeSee Results, corporate sponsor for the e-commerce and
e-business measurements.
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