Apple ranked fourth out of all the top 100 online retail sites, behind Netflix, Amazon, and Avon in ForeSee Results’ annual Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index (http://www.foreseeresults.com).

Satisfaction with Top 100 e-retailers rebounded from a dive this time last year, to an all-time high score of 78 points out of 100, a five point year-over-year increase. According to ForeSee Results, consumers are more satisfied with their online experiences than ever before. Nearly every individual retailer registered a score that matched or exceeded previous satisfaction levels.

The research, which employs ascientific methodology created at the University of Michigan, is based on surveys of more than 23,000 visitors to the top 100 e-retail websites by sales volume, as reported in the 2010 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. 

“The state of the economy really forced e-retail to step up their game,” says study author Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. “Since so much of the financial downturn was out of their control, companies turned to those things they could improve, and now they are reaping the benefits. Customer satisfaction is not a byproduct of a healthy economy. Instead, a healthy economy is a consequence of satisfied customers.”

Also in the ForeSee Results survey, Apple was ranked as one of the most improved online retail sites, with its satisfaction score increasing 11% over last year. It added eight index points to its score of 83 points out of 100.

For the sixth year in a row, Netflix leads the pack with a score of 87, up two points from last year. Amazon, just a single point behind, also maintains its second-place position for the sixth year running. In 2009, only five websites scored more than 80 (generally considered the threshold for excellence in studies using this methodology), but in 2010, a shocking 28 websites scored 80 or higher. Not a single e-retailer studied scored below 70 (usually the cut off for bottom performers), an unprecedented event in the research’s six-year history.