Customer Satisfaction  ((adapted from “Measuring and Managing Customer Satisfaction” by Sheila Kessler)

Last week we discussed Noriaki Kano’s three levels of customer satisfaction: 

·         Expected quality (if you meet the standard, doing a better job at that feature will not buy you any more business)

·         Desired quality (the better you are at providing desired features, the greater the satisfaction)

·         Excited quality (customers aren’t expecting these features of your product or service; they are “wowed” or pleasantly surprised) 

Customer satisfaction tools can be categorized into these three areas of satisfaction: 

Expected quality tools

·         Complaint systems

·         Lost customer survey (why did you leave us?)

·         Attrition analysis—customer and employee

·         Win/loss reports

 Desired quality tools

·         Customer satisfaction surveys (includes just your customers)

·         Perceptual surveys (includes your competitors’ customers)

·         Transaction reports (results from surveys conducted at the time of transaction)

·         Focus interviews or groups

 Excited quality tools

·         Invent-the-future focus groups

·         Customer loyalty programs

·         Joined-at-the-hip programs

·         Advisory groups

 Note that the Expected and Desired quality tools are reactive, catching what customers consider as basic to staying with your organization while the Excited quality tools are proactive, meaning to induce customer satisfaction rather than just measure it. 

If you are concerned about losing customers and developing your basic customer satisfaction systems, focus on the Expected quality tools.  If you have a good Customer Satisfaction System in place, focus on the Expected and Desired quality tools. 

Next week we’ll focus on some of the details of these quality tools.
 

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves in regards to surveys, I thought we might review some thoughts from a recent article in Marketing News (October 15, 2005, “Get full value out of Surveys”). 

The author’s point is that using a scale anchor of “extremely satisfied” on a customer satisfaction survey may not measure the full range of the customer’s experience.  Think about it.  The word “satisfied” means that your needs or expectations have been met.  If you were to describe (in your own words) how you felt about the best customer service you ever had, would you say you found it “extremely satisfying,” or would you say it was “great!” or “better than I had hoped for!” or “amazing!” or “WOW”? 

And in addition, which level of customer satisfaction do you want your employees to strive for—“extremely satisfied” or “WOW”?  So the question becomes, are your current customer satisfaction surveys providing you with relevant data? 

For example, what if you’re doing pretty well in satisfying your customers—so much so that you find almost all of your customers telling you they are “satisfied” with most of their responses near the top of your scale?  And then they leave you for one of your competitors whom they also find “satisfactory.” 

You might consider changing your satisfaction scales from the norm (ranging from extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied) to something that has “WOW” at the top end, allowing your customers the opportunity to point our experiences they’ve had with your organization that were outstanding.   

Consider also developing a scale based on customer expectations (from failing to meet expectations to far exceeding expectations with a midpoint of meeting expectations).  Then you can combine an expectation scale with the satisfaction scale to really see what your customers are thinking.  For example, being extremely satisfied on a service that merely met your expectation is not a cause to celebrate.  Also, you can key in on those customers who respond that you “far exceeded their expectations.”  Find out what made them so happy and teach these behaviors to all your employees.   

So, although we know that customers’ expectations continue to increase, by surveying your customers and identifying where and how you have provided extraordinary service, you can continue to improve your service so as to continue to “delight” not just satisfy your customers. 

Have a great week!

Keith