(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Customer satisfaction with the goods and services that Americans buy and consume is steady for the first quarter of 2010, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Although the index is unchanged at 75.9 on ACSI’s 100-point scale, its level remains high and almost every industry has improved. Were it not for a slump in satisfaction with hospital care, the overall index would be higher than the previous quarter.

“Following the weakening in customer satisfaction in the latter half of 2007 through late 2008, American businesses have responded to the recession by increasing or stabilizing customer satisfaction,” says Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). “There have been far more ACSI gainers than losers. Customer service has improved and buyer value for money is rising. The progress in customer satisfaction is also reflected in growing consumer demand and spending—a key for the economic recovery to be sustainable.”

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