Netflix Customer Satisfaction Rebounds

14.05.2012
Last year was a year Netflix would like to forget. A series of service bungles had their customers grousing and leaving the service like rats from a sinking ship. Now, however, there are signs that the entertainment distributor has mended its fences with its subscribers and is poised for success in 2012.

A case in point: the most recent e-tailer customer satisfaction numbers from customer experience analytics firm ForeSee.

The company rates customer satisfaction with e-tailers on a scale of 0-100. While Netflix's rating, 81, was four points lower that what it was a year ago, it's two points higher than it was during the holiday season. In other words, it's trending upwards.

More important, it has crossed over the magic 80 point mark, which ForeSee calls the "Threshold of Excellence." Scoring at 80 or above is an indicator of superior customer satisfaction performance.

With its score of 81, Netflix still placed in the top 20 e-retailers, which may surprise some considering the nadir it reached in its relationship with its customers last year when it lost 800,000 subscribers in the calendar quarter ending in September alone.

Improving customer satisfaction and some new strategic deals for greater international distribution of its service has made some Netflix watchers optimistic. "With the positive consumer numbers for the start of 2012, along with recent deals Netflix has made with major media corporations, the company is well-positioned to endure the rocky months ahead to emerge as a highly profitable company by the end of 2012," Chris Frangold at Saving Alpha.