Measuring Customer satisfaction
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Introduction
Determining the do’s and don’ts of customer satisfaction should be regarded as an instrumental business practice. There should be nothing arbitrary about gathering information, and simply tracking numbers is a waste of time and effort. If an organization is not using good reliable data, then, most likely the organization is doomed to fail. According to James Evans and William Lindsay (2011), “Meeting customer expectations (that is, providing satisfiers) is often considered the minimum required to stay in business” (p. 200). So sufficiently managing customers’ satisfaction is a big, big challenge.
Identification of Best Practices
As I searched the web, the library, and the text for sources of information, I found out that there is an abundance of literature dealing with measuring customer satisfaction. Best practices, in general, ranged from determining measurement schemes, to a list of characteristics which differentiate loyalty and satisfaction. I also found that there are many approaches and methods to consider. So to identify the best practices, I list the following notions from three main sources:
1). Go to the source. Get feedback from the customer by providing surveys, or make it possible for them to rate their experience from totally satisfied to totally dissatisfied. Use post-purchase evaluations either immediately or shortly after the sale (Simpson, 2013).
2). Design ways to contact customers directly. For example, third party agencies (telemarketing) can help compile and analyze perceptions in the form of customer feedback.
3). Customer complaints are a vital source of information. Dissatisfied customers are not always willing to participate in surveys, or rate their experience. Make it a point to track complaints by severity. Give the customer a call. Implement a plan for corrective action. Remember, simply tracking information and not using it, gets you nowhere (Simpson, 2013).
4).
Introduction
Determining the do’s and don’ts of customer satisfaction should be regarded as an instrumental business practice. There should be nothing arbitrary about gathering information, and simply tracking numbers is a waste of time and effort. If an organization is not using good reliable data, then, most likely the organization is doomed to fail. According to James Evans and William Lindsay (2011), “Meeting customer expectations (that is, providing satisfiers) is often considered the minimum required to stay in business” (p. 200). So sufficiently managing customers’ satisfaction is a big, big challenge.
Identification of Best Practices
As I searched the web, the library, and the text for sources of information, I found out that there is an abundance of literature dealing with measuring customer satisfaction. Best practices, in general, ranged from determining measurement schemes, to a list of characteristics which differentiate loyalty and satisfaction. I also found that there are many approaches and methods to consider. So to identify the best practices, I list the following notions from three main sources:
1). Go to the source. Get feedback from the customer by providing surveys, or make it possible for them to rate their experience from totally satisfied to totally dissatisfied. Use post-purchase evaluations either immediately or shortly after the sale (Simpson, 2013).
2). Design ways to contact customers directly. For example, third party agencies (telemarketing) can help compile and analyze perceptions in the form of customer feedback.
3). Customer complaints are a vital source of information. Dissatisfied customers are not always willing to participate in surveys, or rate their experience. Make it a point to track complaints by severity. Give the customer a call. Implement a plan for corrective action. Remember, simply tracking information and not using it, gets you nowhere (Simpson, 2013).
4).