Customer Satisfaction and Long-Term Stock Returns

The authors reexamine the relation between customer satisfaction (measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index) and long-term stock returns using statistical tests that are well specified in the presence of industry clustering. Their results are consistent with those of Fornell, Morgeson, and Huit (2016), who find positive abnormal stock returns for companies with high levels of customer satisfaction. However, the authors also identify three caveats that could affect the robustness of this conclusion. First, the results critically depend on the manner in which industry is defined. Second, because Fornell, Morgeson, and Huit use a proprietary trading strategy that has not been disclosed to the general public, the authors are unable to discern what fraction of their reported performance is due to customer satisfaction as opposed to other characteristics of the trading strategy. Finally, because the authors also find positive abnormal returns for the entire American Customer Satisfaction Index sample, at least some of the performance reported by Fornell, Morgeson, and Huit might be driven by sample characteristics unrelated to customer satisfaction. This article also provides useful guidance for measuring long-term abnormal returns in the presence of industry clustering.