Yahoo Edges out Google in Customer Satisfaction

athloi writes "The University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index shows some significant shifts this year in consumer satisfaction among several major online players: Google, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL. For one, Google no longer holds first place. 'The ACSI report notes that Yahoo's jump into first place was a 4 percent increase over its score from last year, while Google saw a 4 percent decrease during the same time period. ACSI says that to the untrained eye, Google's home page today looks almost identical to the way it looked years ago. This is where Google's simplicity is apparently hurting it in the long-term, as new users just aren't seeing Google's new offerings--such as increased storage options, additions to Google Maps, and tweaks to Google Image Search--right in front of their faces like they do with other sites.'"

Comments

I personally like the homepage

[poor_boi]

I like the wild stab at blaming Google's "simplistic" homepage as being the cause of their lack of customer satisfaction. The quick-to-load, non-headache inducing simple Google homepage is one of the reasons that drew me in to Google, and is one of the reasons that keeps me coming back. But maybe I'm just a geek that way and other people want their homepages to look like a neon strip mall.

Simplicity

[bmw]

The simplicity of their site and the fact that Google *hasn't* changed their front page to include the usual bloat is exactly what keeps some of us using it. I know that more users equals more money and maybe the masses want more crap on the main page (maybe they don't) but sometimes it may be better to worry about quality more than quantity. That's one of the things that has made Google so strong over the years. They haven't (yet) sacrificed their quality just to be mainstream and I think that has worked very well for them so far. The day that Google loses their simplicity on the main search page is the day I find an alternative.

I am to only one

[trjonescp]

who immediately opened a new tab and brought up yahoo.com to see a cluttered page (although less so than it used to be) and a Flash advertisement and sat there scratching my head with a "Huh?" look on my face?

Re:Yahoo! - it's the new AOL.

[UbuntuDupe]

You got modded Funny, undeservedly so. That's a good question, and (with Sargeant Pepper above) I agree: how reliable are these surveys? Who actually answers them anymore? Not younger people, who have an unlisted cell phone for VoIP. (Thanks, earlier telecom/telemarketing practices!) Not people with a life, who view it as a mark of shame to be suckered into taking a survey. Not people an office number you random-dialed, who will leap on any excuse not to talk. ("Oh, sorry, can't do that on company time" *reload Slashdot*) So who's left? A REALLY ****in' skewed sample!

Re:Spot on

[TheGratefulNet]

Seriously, Yahoo Maps is rubbish. And I'm not even talking about the ugly and unfriendly interface.

since I said not so flattering things about google in my last post, I'll even it up by speaking in their favor.

I block flash and just don't ever install that software. flash tends to be mostly ads and I can easily live without the other bits that aren't ads.

given that I block flash, I didn't even SEE yahoo's maps. I got some 'you must upgrade flash' page, instead.

otoh, the google map you linked to (boadilla del monte) came up quickly and displayed well.

so at this point, unless I'm willing to install flash - I can't even RUN yahoo's maps on my browser (latest firefox on freebsd; and I just refuse to install any flash libs on my system. I'm just that way.)

ok, google wins on the map issue - for me, at least. I'll give the devil its due ;)