Summary

  • ARIN’s reported performance-to-expectations gap fell from 7 points in 2023 to 3 in 2026, while its performance score fell from 79% to 71%.
  • The 2026 survey had 930 completed responses versus 317 in 2023; ARIN did not adjust the newer, more diverse sample to match earlier waves.

A four-point narrowing sounds like progress. The figures underneath tell a rougher story: respondents rated ARIN’s performance eight points lower than in 2023, while expectations fell eleven. The gap shrank because the yardstick moved down faster than the score.

That is the central finding in ARIN’s fifth customer/member satisfaction survey, published on 16 October. Its scorecard measures perceived performance against expectations across 38 attributes and nine service dimensions. The overall gap was seven points in 2023 and three in 2026. The report gives performance as 79% and 71%, expectations as 85% and 74%.

Subtracting the rounded percentages gives six points in 2023, not seven. ARIN says gap calculations can differ from displayed values because it uses unrounded figures. The reported gap is therefore the scorecard’s own measure, not a subtraction readers can reproduce exactly from the published bars.

The respondent pool changed too. The 2026 online survey had 930 completes, up from 317 in 2023. ARIN describes this year’s respondents as more professionally diverse and less tenured, with more roles beyond network engineering. It did not adjust the new sample to mirror earlier waves. The report gives a ±3-point margin of error for the full 2026 sample and larger margins for subgroups.

Internet Governance was the only dimension whose gap widened, from two points to six. Policy Development narrowed from four to one. Customer Service remains an improvement priority even as its gap narrowed from nine to six; Communications and Outreach moved from nine to four. The loyalty index fell from 85 to 81, while top-box satisfaction shifted mainly to moderate ratings.

A survey cannot establish whether a transfer request cleared on time or a routing-security tool worked. It shows where respondents say the experience is losing altitude. Here, perceived performance fell, expectations fell further, and the respondent profile broadened. The report does not provide a harmonized or reweighted sample to isolate service change from sample change. That comparison would change how confidently the eight-point drop can be assigned to operating performance.

ARIN says it uses the survey with year-round feedback to set priorities. The scorecard is a management instrument, not a satisfaction trophy. Its next edition should show which measures stayed comparable, how the new respondent mix affected the aggregate, and whether response times, information quality and request processes improved. A smaller gap is not service recovery if expectations are the side falling.