Auto Rater J. D. Power Begins Ranking PCs
J. D. Power & Associates, the Agoura Hills-based market research firm whose customer satisfaction surveys have become a benchmark for quality in the auto industry, on Wednesday released its first syndicated study of customer satisfaction in the computer industry.
The top rating in the survey of personal computer users in small- and medium-sized businesses went to Dell Computer Corp., an Austin, Tex.-based vendor that sells its machines by mail order. Apple Computer ranked second, and AST Research of Irvine was third among the 16 manufacturers evaluated. International Business Machines was notably absent from the top 10 and below the industry average.
The study was based on responses from 2,253 computer users who were asked a series of questions designed to determine how happy they were with their product in relation to their expectations. Respondents were also asked to evaluate printers, where Hewlett-Packard Co. came out on top, and software, which was led by Borland International.
President J. David Power III said the company had been doing proprietary research in the computer industry for some time. It decided to move into nationally syndicated research in response to changes in the underlying dynamics of the PC industry, he said.
“Technology has outrun the users’ ability to assimilate the products, so it’s time to start looking at the users themselves” and what they find important in a product, Power said. The company’s first computer industry study looked at computer dealers’ attitudes toward manufacturers--with Compaq Computer gaining the top spot--and subsequent reports will examine satisfaction among home-office and large-company users.
Auto companies increasingly view a good ranking in the J. D. Power survey as a priority, and winners frequently use it in their advertising campaigns. Power said he anticipates that the same will happen in the computer industry. Dell is expected to begin running advertisements touting its top ranking as early as today.
There are already a number of market research firms in the computer industry, including large companies such as International Data Corp. and Dataquest, but most focus on technology and sales trends rather than customer satisfaction. Dataquest, however, came out with its first customer satisfaction survey last fall. The top spot went to CompuAdd, a mail-order vendor that ranked sixth in the Power survey.
Glen Haney, president of Dataquest, said he wasn’t worried about the new competitor. “It’s analogous to us putting out an automotive survey. I’m not sure we would strike fear in the heart of J. D. Power,” he said.
PC Satisfaction Ratings Personal computer satisfaction index is based on survey of users in small-to medium-size businesses.
Industry average = 100
Dell: 125
Apple: 124
AST: 117
H-P: 116
Everex: 113
CompuAdd: 106
Compaq: 106
Epson: 104
Toshiba: 103
NEC: 101
Source: J. D. Power & Associates
