It seems as though e-commerce firms finally are listening to their customers and offering better customer service, at least according to results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, released this week by the University of Michigan with e-commerce partner ForeSee Results.

According to the ACSI's 100-point scale, e-commerce in general received a score of 81.6, which is a 2 percent increase over the category's score in 2006, the last time e-commerce sites were measured. In fact, according to the report, the e-commerce sector now outperforms all other service industries measured by the ACSI.

While the fourth-quarter report covered online retail, travel and financial services, online retail was the highest-scoring industry — scoring 83 for the second year in a row. Leading firms — in terms of customer satisfaction — included Amazon, Newegg and Netflix.

Customer satisfaction with online financial services firms also is on the upswing. On the ACSI's 100-point scale, for example, online brokerages received a score of 79. Fidelity Investments saw the biggest change, increasing 5 percent to 84. Charles Schwab and TD AMERITRADE also improved. The score for E*TRADE FINANCIAL dropped, however.

The online travel industry did not fare as well as the retail or financial services sector. In fact, according to the report, the sector fell for the second year in a row, dropping 1.3 percent to 75. What's more, the three major online travel sites all suffered drops in satisfaction. For example, Expedia's score fell 3.8 percent to 75, and Travelocity and Orbitz both dropped to 73.