ForeSee Results today announced that in a broad benchmark measuring aggregate customer satisfaction with many different kinds of healthcare websites, hospital websites vastly outperform the websites of health insurance companies. On the ForeSee Results benchmark’s 100-point scale, hospital websites received an aggregate score of 74 and health insurance websites received an aggregate score of 65. For context, average online customer satisfaction across industries is 71.

ForeSee Results’ healthcare benchmark is composed of satisfaction scores for browsers on more than 25 different kinds of healthcare websites like Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas and Florida, Medline Plus, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, MetLife, Northwest Memorial Hospital, University of Virginia Health Systems, various websites associated with the National Institutes of Health, and others.

“Interestingly enough, the health insurance industry has been quicker to understand and attempt to harness the power of the online channel for communicating with potential and current customers than have hospital systems, yet their scores indicate that many haven’t quite succeeded,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. “Part of that is because it may be more difficult to meet the expectations of a browser on an insurance website who may be looking for complex information. That just makes it all the more important that healthcare websites know exactly who their audiences are and what will satisfy them the most. And of course many health insurance websites are doing a fine job online, which could be a powerful differentiator during a tough economy.”

ForeSee Results applies the methodology of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to help organizations understand how improvements to specific aspects of the online experience, such as navigation and site performance, will positively affect overall satisfaction, likelihood to do business with the organization, and loyalty. Inside knowledge into customers’ and site browsers’ likely future behaviors empowers organizations to prioritize site enhancements and allocate resources efficiently.

Perhaps the most dramatic proof that healthcare websites can and should be focusing on customer satisfaction in a down economy comes from benchmark statistics about future behaviors. When compared to less satisfied visitors, highly satisfied visitors to a healthcare website are:

• 66% more likely to return to the website
• 92% more likely to recommend the website
• 112% more likely to use the website as a primary channel of interaction with the company.