ACSI: Corporate profits and customer complaints both hit records
In the U.S., pretax corporate profits and customer complaints are both at record levels. The ACSI index, meanwhile, stood at 76.7 in the first quarter of 2026; according to HomePage News, it fell to 76.1 in the second quarter.
What's happening
Pretax corporate profits are at a record level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and so are customer complaints, according to ACSI data. The ACSI index stood at 76.7 in the first quarter of 2026; according to HomePage News, it fell to 76.1 in the second quarter. According to ACSI, the size of this sharp second-quarter drop has been exceeded only once this century: when the COVID-19 pandemic caused major supply shortages and steep price increases.
Where it comes from
ACSI attributes this divergence between profits and satisfaction to three factors: market concentration, companies' pricing power and customers' high switching costs. It also warns of the risk of pent-up defection.
Behind the number
ACSI was founded in 1994 at the University of Michigan; today the index is published by ACSI LLC, which also sells commercial analytics products. The index covers more than 400 companies in more than 40 industries and is based on roughly 200,000 interviews a year. The 76.1 figure for the second quarter, however, does not appear in the text of ACSI's release; its source is HomePage News.
Whose desk it lands on
The ACSI index is a macro indicator for senior management and CX leadership. Tracking the divergence between profitability and customer satisfaction in the company's own data, however, is a job that finance and CX teams share.
Our view
The CX Brief's interpretation, not a claim made by the source.
Record profits should not be read as a reward for customer satisfaction: the factors ACSI lists include pricing power and high switching costs. Its warning about pent-up defection is also a reminder that this balance may not last.
Source
ACSI·August 11, 2026·Sample: More than 400 companies in more than 40 industries; roughly 200,000 interviews a year
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