Developing an index for online customer satisfaction: Adaptation of American Customer Satisfaction Index

This study proposes an index for online customer satisfaction, which is adapted from an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Since online shopping is an experience different in many ways from traditional shopping, a new index for measuring electronic-customer satisfaction index (e-CSI) is required. Thus, this study is the first step towards integrating satisfaction literature to propose an index for online contexts. The e-CSI model was tested in the context of a one month study of Taiwan’s largest online retailer (PChome Online) where it was found to significantly predict customer loyalty and overall customer satisfaction. In this study, we found that the satisfaction score of PChome Online is similar to the average for the online retail industry in ACSI. This model also allows the online retailer to understand the specific factors that significantly influence overall customer satisfaction by reading the causal relationship in the e-CSI model and the strategic management map. The partial least squares (PLS) method was used to test the theoretical model and to derive the e-CSI score.