ACSI Brand Satisfaction

What it measures

Measures overall customer satisfaction with a brand across three facets: overall satisfaction, performance relative to expectations, and comparison against an ideal product. Part of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). ACSI treats satisfaction as a weighted average of the three items, with weights determined by proprietary software. Note: cross-loadings with the ACSI brand quality scale (ID 836) are very high (.926–.962), reflecting the theoretical closeness of satisfaction and quality in the ACSI structural model.

Response format

10-point bipolar semantic differential

Scale items

• First, please consider all your experiences to date with _____. How satisfied are you with _____? (very dissatisfied / very satisfied)
• To what extent has _____ fallen short of your expectations or exceeded your expectations? (falls short of expectations / exceeds expectations)
• Forget _____ for a moment. Now, I want you to imagine an ideal _____. How well do you think _____ compares with that ideal _____? (not very close to the ideal / very close to the ideal)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Part of the ACSI measurement battery. Alpha = .975; AVE = .953 (Hult et al. 2017). ACSI weights the three items using proprietary software to form a composite satisfaction score. Cross-loadings with ACSI brand quality items were .926–.962, reflecting overlap in the structural model. Items 1 and 3 use brand name in first blank and generic product name in subsequent blanks. Marketing application: Hult, T.M., Morgeson, F.V., Morgan, N.A., Mithas, S., & Fornell, C. (2017), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(1), 37–43. Companion post-experience quality scale: ID 836.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Fornell, C., Johnson, M.D., Anderson, E.W., Cha, J., & Bryant, B.E. (1996). The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, purpose, and findings. Journal of Marketing, 60(October), 7–18.

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