The Shrinking Distance Between the Best and the Rest

Customer satisfaction scores are converging across industries. The gap between leaders and laggards is shrinking, and the reasons should matter to every company paying attention.

Over the past six months, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) has remained unchanged. From a sample of about 200,000 customers, the national ACSI score holds at 76.9 (on a scale of 0 to 100) for the fourth quarter of 2025. On an annual basis, the Index fell by 0.5% and has not materially increased since 2017.

Eight years of stagnation across the largest economy in the world. That figure alone tells a story, and the trends beneath it tell a more revealing one.

ACSI founder Claes Fornell has warned of what he calls “pent-up customer defection” — a stockpile of latent churn building behind rising switching costs and reduced competition. Companies have leaned heavily into cost reduction and profit extraction, often at the expense of the customer experiences that drive retention. Market concentration gives firms pricing power without requiring them to earn it through better products or services. Fornell has noted that this pattern historically precedes slower GDP growth and rising inflation.

The macro picture is sobering. The data at the industry and brand level, however, reveals something more nuanced and ultimately more useful for companies willing to act on it.

The ceiling is dropping and the floor is rising

The highest-scoring companies from 2000 through 2013 routinely posted scores in the range of 88 to 91. Since then, no brand has exceeded 88. From 2019 through 2023, the highest scores in any given year ranged from 84 to 86.

Meanwhile, the gap between the top and bottom of the Index has compressed steadily. From 1999 through 2019, that gap was 31 points or more in every year except two, peaking at 40 in 2001. From 2020 through 2023, the gap held at 27 or 28 every year.

The national score has stayed relatively flat during this period. That means the convergence is coming from both ends. Some lower-performing companies have improved. Some of the strongest performers have slipped. The overall effect is a tighter clustering around average performance.

This is regression to the mean in a practical sense, and the outliers are disappearing. The companies that once separated themselves through superior customer experience are losing altitude, while the ones that trailed them have closed some of the distance.

Four industries where leaders are losing their edge

Recent industry data shows this compression playing out in real time.

Specialty retail rose 1% as an industry to reach a score of 80 in 2026. A year earlier, the spread between the highest and lowest scoring companies was 13 points (84 versus 71). That range has since dropped to 7 points (81 versus 74). The floor came up. The ceiling came down.

Fiber-based internet service declined 1% to 75 in 2025. The range between top and bottom shrank from 14 points (80 versus 66) to 8 points (78 versus 70). Providers at the low end made meaningful gains. The leaders gave back ground.

Rental cars dropped 3% to 75 in 2025. The competitive spread compressed from 11 points (84 versus 73) to 7 points (78 versus 71). The highest-rated companies saw sharper declines than the industry overall.

Health insurance held flat at 76 in 2025, yet the gap between the best and worst performers narrowed from 8 points (81 versus 73) to 5 points (79 versus 74). Even in a stable industry, the range tightened.

The pattern repeats across categories. Leaders are losing the margins that once defined their competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Whether the cause is cost-cutting, over-reliance on automation at customer touchpoints, or a general lack of focus on experience-driven innovation, the result is the same. The distance between the best and the rest is shrinking.

Companies that refuse to settle for average

Amid this convergence, certain brands are gaining ground and, in several cases, redefining what customers expect from their categories.

Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club all improved their ACSI scores relative to the broader retail industry. Trader Joe’s stands out for maintaining rising satisfaction even while expanding aggressively, a phase that typically strains consistency and operations. Sam’s Club has invested effectively in in-store technology, streamlining the shopping experience in ways customers notice. Costco continues to earn loyalty through the variety and quality of its Kirkland brand, reinforcing the value proposition that keeps members renewing.

T-Mobile 5G and Verizon 5G are outperforming within the non-fiber internet category. Both are growing rapidly, particularly by pulling customers away from cable providers. They have succeeded in shifting how consumers think about high-speed connectivity, demonstrating that fiber and traditional broadband are no longer the only paths to a satisfying internet experience.

Salt River Project maintains strong customer satisfaction in Phoenix, one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country. Managing heavy summer electricity demand while sustaining high marks for staff courtesy, green energy programs, community involvement, and energy-saving guidance is a difficult balance. They continue to do it well.

Subaru succeeds with a tightly focused product lineup. Rather than chasing every segment of the automotive market, Subaru delivers high-quality vehicles to well-defined customer groups, particularly those who prioritize safety and identify with an outdoor lifestyle. That focus translates into satisfaction scores that outpace the broader industry.

Chick-fil-A continues to grow faster than the quick-service restaurant industry. The brand combines a focused menu with an emphasis on service quality that most QSR competitors do not match. The result is a predictable, high-quality experience that customers reward with repeat visits and strong satisfaction scores.

Consumer Cellular has carved out a distinctive position in the wireless market by targeting more mature consumers. That audience tends toward lower churn, which reduces operational risk and allows the company to concentrate on simpler plans, transparent pricing, and responsive customer support. The approach works. Their scores consistently outperform the broader MVNO category.

The opportunity inside the problem

Regression to the mean is a warning for companies that have allowed their customer experience to drift. The brands that once led their industries by wide margins are watching that lead narrow, sometimes because competitors improved, often because their own focus shifted elsewhere.

The companies highlighted above understand their customers with specificity. They invest in the dimensions of experience that matter most to those customers. They resist the pull toward generic, cost-driven strategies that treat satisfaction as an afterthought.

For established companies, the shrinking gaps are a signal to reexamine where their investments are going and whether those investments are actually reaching the customer. This requires honest conversations and, in many cases, a willingness to redirect resources toward experiences that customers can feel.

The convergence also creates room for disruption. When leaders stop differentiating, they leave openings for upstarts and smaller competitors to take market share. A challenger with a sharper focus on customer experience can gain ground quickly in an industry full of companies drifting toward the middle.

The brands winning — and poised to win — in this current environment prove that the opportunity is real and available to anyone willing to pursue it.

Fornell’s warning about pent-up customer defection carries a second meaning that often gets overlooked. Those dissatisfied customers sitting behind switching costs and limited choices are waiting for a reason to move. The company that gives them one — through better service, smarter innovation, a more thoughtful experience — stands to capture years of deferred demand in a short window. The data says the opportunity is building. The question is who moves first.

Want to understand what’s driving your customers’ satisfaction and how you compare? Connect with the ACSI to explore more.