Temkin Group announces the publication of the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, the seventh year that the company has published the industry's most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience delivered by large organizations. The results are available in a free report.

Based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers, the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates the customer experience of 331 companies across 20 industries. Supermarkets and fast food chains took nine of the top 13 spots, with Publix, Chick-fil-A, and H-E-B claiming the top three positions.  The other companies at the top are three fast food restaurants (Hardees, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Subway), three supermarkets (Hannaford, Food Lion, and Trader Joe's) three retailers (QVC, BJs Wholesale Club, and ACE Hardware) and a bank (Regions).

Health plans took six of the bottom 10 spots in the Ratings. Health Net was the lowest scoring company followed by Blue Shield of CA and Comcast. The other health plans in the bottom 10 are Medicaid, BCBS of Florida, Aetna, and Anthem. Three TV and Internet service providers (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications) and an airline (Sprit Airlines) fill in the bottom companies.

"After a couple of years of decline, it's great to see a significant improvement in customer experience scores, although health plans and TV/Internet Service Providers remain well behind other industries," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Here are other highlights from the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings:

• Although the individual company scores vary, overall, supermarkets and fast food chains lead eight industries that earned average ratings of "good." TV/Internet service providers and health plans received "poor" average ratings.

• After seeing the first general decline in the ratings in 2015 and a major decline last year, we found that the average rating for all 20 industries increased between 2016 and 2017.

• These companies most outperformed their industry averages: Kaiser Permanente, Georgia Power, Advantage Rent-A-Car, and Regions.

• These companies fell the most below their industry averages: Fujitsu, Motel 6, Spirit Airlines and Days Inn.

• Of the 281 companies in both the 2016 and 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, five firms improved their scores by at least 25 points: Fujitsu, Volkswagen, Fairfield Inn, Columba Natural Gas, and Advantage Rent-A-Car.

• Seven companies had ratings that declined between 2016 and 2017:Consumers Energy Company, Residence Inn, Consumers Energy Company, Residence Inn, Taco Bell, Symantec, MetroPCS, and Cox Communications.

• The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three areas: success (can customers do what they want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do consumers feel about their interactions?).

In its seventh year of publication, the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings examines customer experience across 20 industries: Computers & Tablets, Insurance, Investments, Credit Cards, Health Plans, TV/Internet Service, Streaming Media, Wireless, Airlines, Hotels & Rooms, Retailers, Fast Food, Rental Cars & Transport, Supermarkets, Parcel Delivery, TV & Appliances, Auto Dealers, Software Firms, and Utilities.