“The telehealth marketplace has grown rapidly and although its usage has been normalized in recent years, we’re still in a growth phase where individuals can have vastly different experiences based on the providers they use, their medical conditions and even things like the quality of internet and phone connections where they live,” said Christopher Lis, managing director of global healthcare intelligence at J.D. Power. “Most consumers agree that telehealth is tough to beat when it comes to convenience and accessing care quickly, but it is not the ideal channel for all healthcare encounters. The wide variation in patient experience is something telehealth providers, insurers and public health officials will want to monitor closely.”

Following are some key findings of the 2024 study:

• Overall satisfaction varies widely: Overall patient satisfaction with direct-to-consumer telehealth providers is 730 (on a 1,000-point scale), which is down one point from 2023. Overall patient satisfaction with payer-provided telehealth offerings is 708, up 18 points from a year ago. This wide variation between the two categories of providers and within individual providers profiled in the study suggests that patients are experiencing significant variability in their perceived quality of care and ease of accessing care.
• Convenience is king, but barriers persist: The top reasons patients cite for using telehealth services are convenience (65%); ability to receive care quickly (46%); and having a condition that is covered by a telehealth visit (30%). The top barriers making the telehealth experience difficult are internet/cellular connectivity difficulties (25%); limited services provided (25%); and data security concerns with personal/medical information (15%). Overall, 65% of telehealth patients experienced at least one barrier during their telehealth visit.
• Biggest gaps in experience: Among specific services in which patients indicate that they would prefer to use telehealth, reviewing medication options and chronic care follow-up are the two areas in which the gap in customer experience is largest. Nearly three-fourths (74%) of those having an easy experience with a medication review said they would use telehealth again, while only 58% who had a difficult experience said they would use it again. When following up on a chronic condition, 44% of patients who had an easy experience said they would use it again, while only 28% of those who had a difficult experience said they would use it again.
• Experience varies across socioeconomic and demographic groups: Overall satisfaction with telehealth providers is highest among patients covered by Medicaid, those living in urban environments and those in Gen Y¹ and Gen Z. Satisfaction is lowest among patients covered by Medicare and private insurance, those living in suburban environments, and those in the Boomer and older generations.

 

Study Rankings

MyTelemedicine ranks highest in telehealth satisfaction among direct-to-consumer brands, with a score of 747. Doctor On Demand(743) and Teladoc Health(743) each rank second in a tie.

Humana ranks highest among payers of health plan-provided telehealth services, with a score of 747. Florida Blue (734) ranks second and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (733) ranks third.

The U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study, now in its fifth year, measures customer satisfaction with telehealth service experience based on seven factors (in order of importance): level of trust; visit with provider met my needs; people; digital channels; ease of receiving care; scheduling of appointment; and helping to save me time or money. The study is based on responses of 4,070 healthcare customers who used a telehealth service within the past 12 months. It was fielded from September 2023 through July 2024.

See the rank chart for each segment at the website here.

In addition to measuring patient perceptions of their telehealth providers ability to meet their expectations, the study also provides a series of measurable and actionable Key Performance Indicators for satisfying patients. Visit the website to see the results.

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¹ J.D. Power defines generational groups as Pre-Boomers (born before 1946); Boomers (1946-1964); Gen X (1965-1976); Gen Y (1977-1994); and Gen Z (1995-2006).

“Building a value proposition goes beyond the actual cost of service,” said Carl Lepper, director of technology, media & telecom at JD Power. “Ease of understanding not only their bill, but also the contract, features, and flexibility is imperative to increasing value. Not only do providers need to build trust and have the products and services customers are looking for, but they also need to spend the time educating them and reducing effort.”

Study Rankings

T-Mobile ranks highest in the large enterprise segment with a score of 753. Verizon Wireless (739) ranks second.

Verizon Wireless ranks highest in the medium business segment with a score of 714. T-Mobile (709) ranks second.

T-Mobile ranks highest in the small business segment for a second consecutive year with a score of 678. Spectrum Business (660) ranks second.

The 2024 US Business Wireless Satisfaction Study measures satisfaction across six factors for small business: network quality; cost of service; billing; offerings and promotions, digital tools and support; and customer phone support. For medium business and large enterprise, the study measures satisfaction across seven factors: network quality; sales representative; cost of service; billing; offerings and promotions; digital tools and support; and customer phone support. Overall satisfaction is measured in three key segments: large enterprise (500 or more employees); medium business (20-499 employees); and small business (1-19 employees).

The study is based on responses from 3,995 business decision-makers for wireless services in the United States and includes evaluations of their wireless carriers. The study was fielded from June through August 2024.

See the rank charts for each segment at the website here.

For more information about the US Business Wireless Satisfaction Study visit the website here.

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The new study is the first of its kind to evaluate the complete customer service experience across multiple channels within the industries of investment; insurance; travel and hospitality; telecom; utilities; and other industries. Of all industries measured, telecom yields the lowest customer service satisfaction results in both the wireless and internet segments.

“The goal of elevating the customer experience should be a strategic imperative for all brands,” said Denese Waiters, senior director of customer experience intelligence at J.D. Power. “It is not enough to simply deliver good service. For brands to get a boost in customer advocacy and improve customer satisfaction, they need to consistently strive for great-to-perfect service.”

Following are some key findings of the new study:

• Good is not good enough: To build long-term customer advocacy and lifetime value, brands need to provide a “great,” “excellent” or “perfect” service experience. Merely providing “good” service results in a score of -10 (on a scale of -100 to 100) in Net Promoter Score^®,¹ while “just OK” results in a score of -45 and “poor” service results in a score of -80.

• Get it right the first time: First contact resolution continues to pose challenges for several industries. Overall satisfaction scores are more than 200 points higher when customer service queries and problems are addressed on the first contact, regardless of customer touchpoint. Likewise, satisfaction scores are more than 150 points higher when customers are not required to repeat the same information during their interaction with a brand.

• Lots of room to improve: Overall customer satisfaction with the customer service experience across financial investment services; insurance; travel and hospitality; utilities; telecom and other industries is just 605 (on a 1,000-point scale). Average customer service satisfaction scores are highest in the financial investment services industry (716), followed by insurance (610), travel and hospitality (596), utilities (562) and telecom (519).

• Too long to resolve a problem, especially on the phone: The average amount of time it takes to resolve an issue with customer service is 18.10 minutes. The phone is the slowest channel, coming in at 23.64 minutes, followed by in-person (15.62 minutes); website (11.41 minutes); and mobile app (10.75 minutes). Overall satisfaction scores drop precipitously if the customer needs to wait five minutes or more to speak to a representative in person or wait five minutes or more on hold. For website and mobile app-based customer service, customer satisfaction scores start to deteriorate after nine minutes.

 

Methodology

The J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Cross-Industry Customer Service Experience Study measures overall customer satisfaction with customer service functions in the investment, insurance, travel, telecom, utilities and other industries, across the following channels: in-person; phone; website; app; social media; and text/email/mail. The study is based on 21,872 completed surveys from U.S. residents who engaged with customer service during the past three months. The study was fielded from May through July 2023.

For more information about the J.D. Power U.S. Cross-Industry Customer Service Experience Study, visit the website HERE. J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, click HERE.

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¹ Net Promoter,® Net Promoter System,® Net Promoter Score,® NPS,® and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.