Web-Portal Satisfaction Rises

Americans think navigating the Web is getting easier.

As search engines like Google and Alta-Vista streamline their offerings to provide more targeted searches, and Web portals like AOL and Yahoo add flashier multimedia features, consumer satisfaction with Internet gateways is rising.

Those are the findings of researchers at the University of Michigan Business School in the latest installment of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a quarterly survey that measures consumer sentiment. The report found satisfaction with e-business Web sites has risen 3.9% since the second quarter of last year, to a score of 71.4 out of a possible 100. The category includes search engines, Internet portals and news sites and was first included in the survey last year.

Americans are also warming up to the machines they use to surf the Web. As computer prices drop, operating software improves and people increasingly use their PCs for hobbies such as digital photography, listening to music and watching movies, satisfaction with the category rose 1.4%, according to the ASCI. The survey asks consumers about both product and service quality, and scores reflect a combination of the factors.

In search engines, satisfaction shot up 15% to 78, with all sites showing improvement. Smaller sites, like AskJeeves and AltaVista, have revamped their offerings as they scramble to gain ground lost to Google.

Jeeves, the congenial cyber-butler who answers questions on AskJeeves, saw a major improvement in job performance. The site registered an 11% jump for a score of 69. Ask Jeeves Inc. of Emeryville, Calif., unveiled a cleaner look and added "smart search" features. That means visitors can make direct queries like "When is Labor Day?" or "synonym for challenge" and get an instant answer. The site previously suggested links where visitors might find answers to their questions. Despite the improvements, the site still commands only about 3% of all Internet searches, according to research firm ComScore Networks.

AltaVista Co., Palo Alto, Calif., streamlined its site late last year, stripping it of features such as horoscopes and stock quotes. It ranked behind Google and Ask Jeeves with a score of 63, up 3.3%.

Google Inc., of Mountainview, Calif., continued to lead the category with a score of 82, a 2.5% improvement from last year. It has introduced new features, including an image search where users can hunt for photographs. The site commands about 30% of all Web searches, according to ComScore Networks.

Consumers say they are happier with portals, which saw their overall score rise 2.9% to 70. Portals are starting points on the Internet; they generally offer a search function, but also wrap in features like instant messaging, news updates or shopping. Yahoo.com, for example, includes the second-most-popular search engine, but ACSI researchers consider it a portal because it also offers e-mail and entertainment downloads. The researchers didn't measure satisfaction with paid services.

AOL Time Warner Inc.'s portal, AOL.com, saw its score leap 10% from last year, to 65. AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said the increase reflects improvements to the site's news content but emphasized that the company had also made improvements in its just released AOL 9.0, a paid service not included in the survey. AOL's free site still lagged behind Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo portal, which rose 2.6% to 78, and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com site, which was up 2.8% to 74.

MSN says partnerships with content providers such as ESPN and Access Hollywood have enticed users with live interviews and movie trailers. The company also is developing its own search engine so Internet surfers will turn to the portal instead of visiting a search-exclusive site. Yahoo says it also has bolstered its search function and made improvements to its e-mail and personals services.

In the personal-computer market, Dell Inc. was the top-ranked manufacturer with a score of 78, a 2.6% increase. Apple Computer Inc., however, showed the sharpest jump, a 5.5% increase, to a score of 77. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc. were the only major PC makers whose scores dropped.

Apple has polished its image in the past year, with a host of hip new products and services. In addition to rolling out new versions of the iPod music player, including a 30-gigabyte model that can hold 7,500 songs, the company has opened more stores where consumers can play with its products and interact with salespeople.

Gateway, by comparison, had a turbulent year, announcing its third restructuring in three years in March. In addition to closing stores and reducing its staff by 17%, it is in the midst of expanding into consumer electronics with products like plasma televisions. Gateway's score dropped by 4.2% to 69.

Gateway says the results are inconsistent with other surveys that measure customer satisfaction. "We do surveys continuously, and were faring at least as well as our competitors," says spokesman Bob Sherbin. He says Gateway has made steady improvements in areas including failure rates and speed of resolving customers' problems.

Both Compaq and Hewlett-Packard continued to score below the industry average. Compaq was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in May 2002, but the new company still sells computers under both brands. The survey asked consumers to rank each brand separately. While Compaq's score remained flat, H-P's score dropped by 1.4% to 70.

H-P shrugged off the decline. "Given that we just went through the largest tech merger in history, and our ratings remain about the same year over year, there are some real positives here," said spokesman Roger Frizzell. "These results show that we made it though the transition without major disruption." He says H-P plans to improve customer service in the coming year.

Analysts say differences in the way computers are distributed may account for some of the variation in satisfaction. While companies like Apple and Dell sell directly to consumers, H-P and Compaq often sell their products through mass-market chains like Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Consumers' experiences with these retailers may influence their perception of the brands, says Steve Baker, head of industry analysis at market-research company NPD Group.

Consumers also report increasing satisfaction with news Web sites, which saw their overall score rise 1.4% to 74. The ACSI researchers asked specifically about sites that get the most visitors.

General Electric Co.'s NBC's MSNBC.com, AOL Time Warner's CNN.Com, and Walt Disney Co.'s ABCNews.com all registered improvement. NYTimes.com, owned by New York Times Co., was the only site to register a drop in satisfaction levels, falling to 70.

"A one-percentage point difference in a sample size of 250 people is not statistically significant," New York Times Digital spokeswoman Christine Mohan said in an e-mail. "In fact, any score over 70 is considered highly favorable."

She says the site adds an average of 500,000 new registered users a month and was named "Best News Site" for 2003 by Editor & Publisher magazine.

This time around, the ACSI researchers also measured satisfaction with household appliances, which dropped 1.2% to 81, and automobiles, where overall results were flat.

Among car companies, Volkswagen AG registered the sharpest drop, down 7.3% for a score of 76. Tony Fouladpour, a spokesman for Volkswagen in the U.S., took issue with the findings and said the company has seen an increase in customer satisfaction as measured by J.D. Power & Associates.

Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln-Mercury brand declined 3.6% to 81. Louise Goeser, Ford's vice president of quality, says Ford believes larger consumer studies like those by J.D. Power are more valid and that its Lincoln and Mercury brands have shown "improving satisfaction from every study."

---

American Customer Satisfaction Index

The University of Michigan Business School's National Quality Research Center annually surveys customers of about 200 companies and 35 government agencies, but each quarter it only updates selected industries. Individual companies are included based on their size, as measured by revenues. Here are the index scores, out of a possible 100, for the second quarter of 2003:

Group/Manufacturer	2003 score	% Change From 2002
Manufacturing (Durables)	79.2	+0.3%
Consumer electronics	84	+3.7
Household appliances	81	-1.2
Kenmore	84	+1.2
Whirlpool	82	-1.2
Maytag	81	-2.4
General Electric	81	-1.2
All Others	77	0.0

Group/Manufacturer	2003 score	% Change From 2002
Automobiles	80	0.0
Cadillac (GM)	87	+1.2
BMW	85	-1.2
Toyota	85	+2.4.
Buick (GM)	84	-2.3
Mercedes-Benz	83	0.0
GMC (GM)	83	+2.5
Mazda Motor	82	+1.2
Honda Motor	82	0.0
Plymouth (Chrysler)	82	+2.5
Volvo	81	-1.2
Hyundai Motor	81	+3.8
Lincoln-Mercury (Ford)	81	-3.6
Saturn (GM)	81	0.0
Ford	80	+2.6
Oldsmobile (GM)	80	-2.4
Nissan	79	-1.3
Jeep/Eagle (Chrysler)	79	0.0
Chevrolet-GEO (GM)	79	+1.3
Dodge (Chrysler)	78	0.0
Volkswagen	76	-7.3
Pontiac (GM)	76	-2.6
All Others	75	-2.6

Group/Manufacturer	2003 score	% Change From 2002
Personal computers	72	+1.4%
Dell Computer	78	+2.6
Apple Computer	77	+5.5
Hewlett-Packard	70	-1.4
Gateway	69	-4.2
Compaq	68	0.0
All Others	69	-1.4
E-BUSINESS	71.4	+3.9%
Search Engines	78	+14.7
Google	82	+2.5
Ask Jeeves	69	+11.3
AltaVista	63	+3.3
All Others	74	N.A.
News and Information	74	+1.4
MSNBC.com	74	+1.4
ABCNEWS.com	74	0.0
CNN.com	72	0.0
USAToday.com	72	+1.4
NYTimes.com	70	-1.4
All Others	75	+2.7
Portals	70	+2.9%
Yahoo!	78	+2.6
MSN	74	+2.8
AOL	65	+10.2
All Others	79	+9.7

Sources: The National Quality Research Center at University of Michigan; The American Society for Quality; CFI Group

---

Write to Wailin Wong at wailin.wong@wsj.com and Jane Spencer at jane.spencer@wsj.com

Updated August 20, 2003 12:04 a.m.