Consumer poll reveals products with lowest satisfaction scores

Electronic devices, telecommunication services and personal care products are among the product categories with the lowest consumer satisfaction indexes in China, a recent finding has revealed.

Electronic device makers, including laptops and cellphone producers, had some of the lowest scores among all industries and sectors in China as they only scored an average of 72.47 out of a total 100 points, according to The China Consumer Satisfaction Index, which was announced on Saturday.

The evaluation, conducted by the China National Institute of Standardization and Tsinghua University, found that products by Xiaomi and Huawei and Apple were among the brands with the highest consumer satisfaction indexes, with each brand scoring above 75 points, while Samsung scored the lowest among all polled brands with a mere 67 points.

The evaluation also found that the country's telecommunication sector also failed to meet public expectations, as it scored only 71.08 in the index. That also was the lowest among all industries.

Meanwhile, personal care products, such as shower gel products, liquid shampoos and toothpaste, were among the categories that had the lowest consumer satisfaction index, with each product category scoring 71.69, 71.07 and 71.87 respectively.

The index was produced after the two institutes polled consumers ages 18 to 70 in 250 cities across China regarding their satisfaction with 32 industries and 420 brands. Each poll included at least 250 consumers.

"There is no preset brand during the whole research process. For instance, in the category of refrigerators, we polled consumers over whether they bought a refrigerator in the past three years and, if they did, whether the product met their expectations," said Ma Lincong, head of the China National Institute of Standardization, in a news conference on Saturday.

Zhao Ping, a professor with the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, said the survey is aimed at finding the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services exceeds specified satisfaction goals.

Similar surveys are also conducted in the US, as in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which is widely seen as an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the US economy.