ustomer Satisfaction Measurement Feature

d Article

- Ashish Bhave, Product Executive, Symphony Technologies

Introduction"If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." - Lord William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907)

Measurement of Customer Satisfaction is a new significant addition to the new ISO9000: 2000 standard. Organizations certified to this standard are now required to identify parameters that cause customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction and consciously measure them.

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Clause 8.2.1 in ISO9000: 2000 states:

"As one of the measurements of the performance of the Quality Management System, the organizations shall monitor information relating to customer perception as to whether the organization has met customer requirements. The methods for obtaining and using this information shall be determined"

The requirement has been there in the QS9000 standard clause 4.1.6 which says:

"... Trends in customer satisfaction and key indicators of customer dissatisfaction shall be documented and supported by objective information. These trends shall be compared to those of competitors, or appropriate benchmarks, and reviewed by senior management."

There is obviously a strong link between customer satisfaction and customer retention. Customer's perception of Service and Quality of product will determine the success of the product or service in the market.

With better understanding of customers' perceptions, companies can determine the actions required to meet the customers' needs. They can identify their own strengths and weaknesses, where they stand in comparison to their competitors, chart out path future progress and improvement. Customer satisfaction measurement helps to promote an increased focus on customer outcomes and stimulate improvements in the work practices and processes used within the company.

There is a lot of debate and confusion about what exactly is required and how to go about it. Customer satisfaction is quite a complex issue and this article is an attempt to review the necessary requirements, and discuss the steps that need to be taken in order to measure and

track customer satisfaction.

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What do Customers Want?

Before we begin to create tools to measure the level of satisfaction, it is important to develop a clear understanding of what exactly the customer wants. We need to know what our customers expect from the products and services we provide.

Customer expectations are the customer-defined attributes of your product or service you must meet or exceed to achieve customer satisfaction.1

Customer Expectations are of two types - Expressed and Implied.

Expressed Customer Expectations are those requirements that are written down in the contract and agreed upon by both parties, for example, product specifications and delivery requirements. Supplier's performance against these requirements is most of the times directly measurable.

Implied Customer Expectations are not written or spoken but are the ones the customer would 'expect' the supplier to meet nevertheless. For example, a customer would expect the service representative who calls on him to be knowledgeable and competent to solve a problem on the spot.

There are many reasons why customer expectations are likely to change over time. Process improvements, advent of new technology, changes in customer's priorities, improved quality of service provided by competitors are just a few examples.

The customer is always right. Supplier's job is to provide the Customer what he wants, when he wants it. Customer Satisfaction is customers' perception that a supplier has met or exceeded their expectations.

It is therefore important to periodically update our knowledge of customer expectations.

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What constitutes Satisfaction?

We cannot create customer satisfaction just by meeting customer's requirements fully because these HAVE to be met in any case. However falling short is certain to create dissatisfaction.

Major attributes of customer satisfaction can be summarized as:

Product Quality

Product Packaging Keeping delivery commitments Price Responsiveness and ability to resolve complaints and reject reports Overall communication, accessibility and attitude

We cannot begin to address the customer satisfaction issue we define the parameters and measures clearly.

It may be easier to track supplier's performance against stated requirements of quality and timeliness because there is documentary evidence. Some indication of whether a supplier is meeting the requirements can also be obtained from data on scrap rates, PPM, complaints database, sales improvements, repeat orders, customer audit reports etc.

It is far more difficult to measure the level of performance and satisfaction when it comes to the intangible expectations.

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What are the Tools?

Customer expectations can be identified using various methods such as

Periodic Contract Reviews Market research Telephonic Interviews Personal visits Warranty records Informal discussions Satisfaction Surveys

Depending upon the customer base and available resources, we can choose a method that is most effective in measuring the customers' perceptions. The purpose of the exercise is to identify priorities for improvement. We must develop a method or combination of methods that helps to continually improve service.

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Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Formal survey has emerged as by far the best method of periodically assessing the customer satisfaction. The surveys are not marketing tools but an information-gaining tool. Enough homework needs to be done before embarking on the actual survey. This includes:

Defining Objectives of the survey Design Survey Approach

Develop Questionnaires and forms Administer survey (email, telephone, or post) Method of Compiling data and analysing the findings Format of the Report to present the findings

There is no point in asking irrelevant questions on a customer satisfaction questionnaire. The basic purpose is to find out what we are doing right or wrong, where is the scope for improvement, where do we stand vis-à-vis other suppliers, how can we serve the customer better?

A Customer satisfaction Measurement Survey should at least identify the following objectives-

Importance to Customers (Customers' Priorities). Customers' perception of supplier's performance. Your performance relative to customers' priorities. Priorities for Improvement.

Survey forms should be easy to fill out with minimum amount of time and efforts on customer's part. They should be designed to actively encourage the customer to complete the questions. Yet they must provide accurate data to monitor improvements in the supplier's performance. The data should also be sufficiently reliable for management decision-making. This can be achieved by incorporating 'objective' type questions where customer has to 'rate' on scale of say, 1 to 10. For repeated surveys, you could provide the rating that was previously accorded by the customer. This works like a reference point for the customer.

Space should always be provided for the customer's own opinions. This enables them to state any additional requirements or report any shortcomings that are not covered by the objective questions.

Normally, we deal various personnel at various levels in the customer's organization- the buyer, user, receiving inspector, finance and purchase persons etc. Surveying a number of respondents for each customer gives a complete perspective of customer satisfaction. It may be necessary to device a different questionnaire for each of them.

Respondents must be provided a way to express the importance they attach to various survey parameters. Respondents should be asked to give a weighting factor, again on a rating scale of say, 1 to 10, for each requirement. This gives a better indication of relative importance of each parameter towards overall customer satisfaction and makes it easier for suppliers to prioritize their action plans by comparing the Performance Rating (Scores) with Importance Rating (Weighting).

The questions are grouped together in a common parameter such as Product Quality, Delivery Performance, or Field Sales Performance.

A typical examples can be:

Survey Parameter - Product Performance Questions: Provide rating on a scale of 1 - 10 on the following:     - Consistency of Product Quality.     - Technical Performance of Product.     - Suppliers Quality Systems.     - Overall performance of the Product.

Survey Parameter - Competitor Performance Questions: Rate our performance on a scale of 1 - 10, as compared to your best vendor     - Adherence to Delivery schedule     - Quality of product     - Cost of product

It is often found that there is a dismal response from the customers. A recent study showed that only 15% of the customers to whom customer satisfaction surveys were sent gave a feedback. One of the reasons for this could be a poorly conceived survey. Defining a simple survey having less number of descriptive questions and more of objective type can increase the feedback rate. Electronic mailing of survey questionnaire is a very good option as the customer can fill out the questionnaire quickly rather than sitting with the suppliers representative disturbing his busy schedule. This can - where necessary - be backed up by a gentle reminder or a personal visit.

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Analysis

The customer's requirements must be translated and quantified into measurable targets. This provides an easy way to monitor improvements, and deciding upon the attributes that need to be concentrated on in order to improve customer satisfaction. We can recognize where we need to make changes to create improvements and determine if these changes, after implemented, have led to increased customer satisfaction.

Two major factors that can be determined from the survey data are:

1. Performance Matrix (Your performance relative to customers priorities) and 2. Satisfaction Index (Customers Satisfaction over a period of time).

Performance Matrix:

The average of the weightings and the scores given by the customer for each parameter is plotted on a Scatter graph. This Graphical representation is easy to understand without any great knowledge of statistics.

With the data obtained, the average Weighting (importance) on x-axis Vs average Scores

(performance) on y-axis can be plotted for each parameter.

From this Scatter Plot the supplier can find out at a glance, the areas where there is scope for improvement, highlighted, where possible by using the Traffic Signal analogy.

 High Weighting, High Score

On Target

 High Weighting, Low Score Underperformance Low Weighting, High Score Overkill

 Low Weighting, Low ScoreSupplier can afford to score low in that area

Performance Matrix

Satisfaction Index (CSI)

The Customer Satisfaction Index represents the overall satisfaction level of that customer as one number, usually as a percentage. Plotting this Satisfaction Index of the customer against a time scale shows exactly how well the supplier is accomplishing the task of customer satisfaction over a period of time.

Since the survey feedback comes from many respondents in one organization, the bias due to individual perception needs to be accounted for.

This can be achieved by calculating the Satisfaction Index using an importance weighting based on an average of 1.

Calculate the average of all the weightings given by the customer. Divide the individual weightings by this average to arrive at the weighting on the basis of average of 1. Customer's higher priorities are weighted more than 1 and lower priorities less than 1. The average of the Customers Importance Scores are calculated and each individual score is expressed as a factor of that average. To understand the calculations consider following example:

The following table shows the Weightings & Scores assigned on a scale of 1 - 10 by the Customer.

ParameterP

WeightingA

ScoreB

Weighting (avg. of 1)C

Weighting (avg. of 1) * Score

D = B *CP1 7 8 1.17 9.24P2 5 4 0.83 3.33P3 9 8 1.50 12.00P4 3 3 0.50 1.50P5 6 4 1.00 4.00

 Average =

6.00Average =

5.40  CSI = 6.01

A = Average Weighting assigned by all respondents for each parameter

B = Average Score assigned by all respondents for each parameterAvg. Weighting = (7 + 5 + 9 + 3 + 6) / 5 = 6 C = Weighting based on avg. of 1 = Individual Weighting / avg. WeightingD = Weighted Score = Score * Average Weighting = B * CSatisfaction Index CSI = Average of (Weighted Scores)CSI = (9.24 + 3.33 + 12 + 1.5 + 4.0) / 5 = 6.01 Since the scale used was 1 - 10, CSI = 60.10%

Parameterwise Satisfaction Index plotted over Time

Thus Customer Satisfaction can be expressed as a single number that tells the supplier where he stands today and an Improvement plan can be chalked out to further improve his performance so as to get a loyal customer.

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Conclusions

It is far less costly to keep existing customers than to win new ones. Loyal customers buy more products and help bring in more business by recommending your product to others. So if customer loyalty is the goal, then the supplier's efforts should begin with the knowledge of what constitutes value to his customers and the market.

A supplier should always keep on improving so as to achieve a greater profitability. This can be achieved by knowing the market well, i.e. understanding exactly what the customer wants. By discovering what the customer wants, the supplier can begin to understand how his products and services provide value for his customers.

A simple tool is to take customer satisfaction surveys and analyze the customer feedback. This gives the supplier an insight on where he lacks in delivering his products or services and where is the scope of improvement.

References:

1. Handbook of Customer Satisfaction Measurement / Nigel Hill. ISBN 0-566-07766-3. 2. What Do Customers Value? - Bob Gardner (Quality Progress - November 2001) 3. Various discussions on Customer Satisfaction on Marc Smith's Elsmar Cove Forums

Author:Ashish BhaveB-3/16, Vimal Vihar,Bibwewadi Road,Pune 411037. INDIA

Ashish Bhave can be contacted through us at webmaster@symphonytech.com

editor@symphonytech.com

Managing the Customer Satisfaction Processby J. Stephen Sarazen, self-study course, 3-ring binder, two multiple choice tests, one CEU upon successful completion, $129.

Quantity:

1

3

AMA-94072

Managing the Cus

129

Overview

Managing the Customer Satisfaction Process presents an organized, systematic method of identifying, measuring, managing, and monitoring customer requirements and satisfaction to improve profits and beat the competition.  This course defines each step of the customers satisfaction management process and equips you with powerful research, quality, and planning tools to carry out the improvement process in your department and company.  You'll learn how to identify

Customer requirements; and Expectations for quality and satisfaction

and to assess and measure

Critical customer needs; Market segmentation; Competitive structure; and Employee perceptions.

The Resource Center for Customer Service ProfessionalsPO Box 401, Western Springs, IL  60558Tel: (708) 246-0320   Fax: (708) 246-0251  

Copyright © 1997-ng Services.  All rights reserved.Last modified February 11, 2000

Web Site by Software Company Restructuring Services (708) 246-0320

Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Customers in India are evolving quickly with respect to purchase, usage and consumption of products and services. Introduction of technology into their lives, be it mobile telephony or the Internet, has made them accustomed to higher levels of customer service in a 24x7 environment. There is enough empirical evidence that higher customer satisfaction results in higher levels of

Managing the Cus

129

loyalty as well as re-purchase. It is thus imperative for both product manufacturers and service providers to track their customers’ satisfaction and benchmark against that of competition.

CSmeter: Market Pulse Framework for Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Market Pulse has developed a research framework to measure, track and improve customer satisfaction. This framework uses a proprietary semantic differential scale that can help elicit even small levels of dissatisfaction from customers. It also helps predict churn among service customers and is thus, a powerful tool that helps maintain or even enhance loyalty.

Mystery Shoppers’ Audit of Service Levels

This non-intrusive method is helping Market Pulse clients to monitor service levels in retail stores. Market Pulse framework monitors store tangibles, process adherence, responsiveness and empathy of store personnel. These are then correlated to sales/ activations to determine key success factors.

Market Pulse Value Proposition

Market Pulse has vast experience in customer satisfaction measurement research across both individual as well as institutional (B2B) customers. The proprietary scale used by Market Pulse is robust, tested extensively in the Indian environment. The CSmeter Index establishes the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Market Pulse has vast experience in developing and maintaining large consumer panels. Test and control groups help in isolating effects of different elements of a marketing campaign; these could range from direct marketing to print advertising. These consumer panels have helped clients save million of dollars, in addition to understanding purchase and other behaviour trends.

Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centres

Document Information:

Title: Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centres

Author(s): Anand Kumar Jaiswal, (Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, India)

Citation: Anand Kumar Jaiswal, (2008) "Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centres", Managing Service Quality, Vol. 18 Iss: 4, pp.405 - 416

Keywords: Call centres, Customer satisfaction, Customer services quality, India

Article type:

Research paper

DOI: 10.1108/09604520810885635 (Permanent URL)

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine customer satisfaction and service quality measurement practices followed in call centres.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews. The respondents were senior managers belonging to quality or operation divisions in four large call centres in India.

Findings – It is found that service quality management in call centres disregards customers. The study suggests that call centre managers overly depend on operational measures. Customer orientation in assessing service performance is either low or absent in most call centres.

Research limitations/implications – Since the study has used qualitative methodology, observations and findings need to be validated with empirical data.

Practical implications – The paper suggests that call centres need to develop systematic and comprehensive measurement of perceived service quality in order to provide superior call centre experience to their customers.

Originality/value – The paper is the first systematic study that examines customer satisfaction and service quality measurement practices in call centres in India, a country which has emerged as a leading player in the global business process outsourcing industry.

New India Assurance tops customer satisfaction survey; overall, survey finds decline in customer approvalJune 30, 2011 04:11 PM | Moneylife Digital Team

Decline in satisfaction is mainly in the area of interaction with customers at branch offices as well as independent agents

New India Assurance ranks the highest in customer satisfaction with auto insurance providers in India, according to a survey by a global marketing information services company. Overall,

however, the survey found that customer satisfaction with auto insurance providers has declined in the past one year.

In the survey conducted by JD Power Asia Pacific, New India Assurance topped the list with a score of 804, performing particularly well on the renewal/purchase process factor. Following

New India Assurance closely in the rankings was Oriental Insurance, which notched a score of 802, doing well in the billing and payment process as well as renewal/ purchase process factors. New India Assurance and Oriental Insurance are both public insurers. ICICI Lombard, a private

insurer, was number three with a score of 801.

Overall, there is a decline in customer satisfaction with auto insurance providers, with the greatest decline observed in the area of interaction with customers. More customers are

dissatisfied now with branch office interactions, as also interactions with independent agents and brokers.

Customer satisfaction with auto insurance providers has an impact on customer intent to renew their current policies, and to purchase policies from the same provider for their next vehicle.

"The service channels of insurers are adapting to the growth in the India auto insurance market," said Mohit Arora, executive director, JD Power Asia Pacific, Singapore. "One of the changes

observed during the past few years is an increase in the number of branch offices, as well as their visibility. Therefore, it becomes particularly important for insurers to ensure better customer management at branch offices, especially in terms of understanding needs and requirements,

providing clear explanations of policy coverage, and courtesy and friendliness."

The 2011 India Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Index Study is based on responses from 5,284 auto insurance customers who renewed or purchased an auto insurance policy between

January 2010 and April 2011 and had between 2.5 and 3.5 years of vehicle ownership experience. The study includes 15 auto insurance companies (11 private and four public providers) and was undertaken between January and April 2011in 20 cities across India.

The study examined auto insurance policyholder experiences with their primary insurer. Customer satisfaction is measured across six factors: interaction; claims; product/policy

offerings; renewal/purchase process; billing and payment process; and premium/price for coverage offered.

The study also found a wide variation between regions in the proportion of customers who file claims. Approximately one-fourth of customers in the southern and eastern regions filed a claim with their auto insurer in 2011, compared with less than 15% of customers in the northern and

western regions.

The claims satisfaction is highest among customers in the northern region, with the satisfaction averaging 781, compared with approximately 750 in the remaining regions. Some factors

contributing to higher claims satisfaction in the north region include relatively better implementation of key communication-related practices, such as providing explanations of the

claims settlement process and giving information on claim settlement timelines.

"Auto insurance satisfaction has a profound impact on repurchase intent," explained Mr Arora.

"The auto insurance market presents a huge potential in terms of customer base and revenues. Therefore, it is imperative that providers focus on elevating their quality of service and

enhancing the customer experience."

Customer Satisfaction in 7 Steps

By Adrian Thompson | February 11, 2002 | Work Smarter

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It’s a well known fact that no business can exist without customers. In the business of Website design, it’s important to work closely with your customers to make sure the site or system you create for them is as close to their requirements as you can manage. Because it’s critical that you form a close working relationship with your client, customer service is of vital importance. What follows are a selection of tips that will make your clients feel valued, wanted and loved.

1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings

This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer. If you’re not used to this sort of thing it can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience. Rest assured, though, it does get easier over time. It’s important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even twice during the course of a project.

My experience has shown that a client finds it easier to relate to and work with someone they’ve actually met in person, rather than a voice on the phone or someone typing into an email or messenger program. When you do meet them, be calm, confident and above all, take time to ask them what they need. I believe that if a potential client spends over half the meeting doing the talking, you’re well on your way to a sale.

2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed

This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for a response to an email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all customers’ queries within the space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back and let them know you’ve received their message and you’ll contact them about it as soon as possible. Even if you’re not able to solve a problem right away, let the customer know you’re working on it.

A good example of this is my Web host. They’ve had some trouble with server hardware which has caused a fair bit of downtime lately. At every step along the way I was emailed and told exactly what was going on, why things were going wrong, and how long it would be before they were working again. They also apologised repeatedly, which was nice. Now if they server had just gone down with no explanation I think I’d have been pretty annoyed and may have moved my business elsewhere. But because they took time to keep me informed, it didn’t seem so bad, and I at least knew they were doing something about the problems. That to me is a prime example of customer service.

3. Be Friendly and Approachable

A fellow SitePointer once told me that you can hear a smile through the phone. This is very true. It’s very important to be friendly, courteous and to make your clients feel like you’re their friend and you’re there to help them out. There will be times when you want to beat your clients over the head repeatedly with a blunt object – it happens to all of us. It’s vital that you keep a clear head, respond to your clients’ wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and courteous.

4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy

This may not be too important when you’re just starting out, but a clearly defined customer service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a customer has a problem, what should they do? If the first option doesn’t work, then what? Should they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? If they’re not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should they tell?

There’s nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person, or not knowing who to turn to. Making sure they know exactly what to do at each stage of their enquiry should be of utmost importance. So make sure your customer service policy is present on your site — and anywhere else it may be useful.

5. Attention to Detail (also known as ‘The Little Niceties’)

Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were a client of? Have you ever had a personalised sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and aren’t always cost effective, but remember to do them.

Even if it’s as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it’s something. It shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of that screen or telephone; and most importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and valued.

6. Anticipate Your Client’s Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out

Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme level of understanding with your clients will do wonders for your working relationship.

Take this as an example: you’re working on the front-end for your client’s exciting new ecommerce endeavour. You have all the images, originals and files backed up on your desktop computer and the site is going really well. During a meeting with your client he/she happens to mention a hard-copy brochure their internal marketing people are developing. As if by magic, a couple of weeks later a CD-ROM arrives on their doorstep complete with high resolution versions of all the images you’ve used on the site. A note accompanies it which reads:

"Hi, you mentioned a hard-copy brochure you were working on and I wanted to provide you with large-scale copies of the graphics I’ve used on the site. Hopefully you’ll be able to make use of some in your brochure."

Your client is heartily impressed, and remarks to his colleagues and friends how very helpful and considerate his Web designers are. Meanwhile, in your office, you lay back in your chair drinking your 7th cup of coffee that morning, safe in the knowledge this happy customer will send several referrals your way.

7. Honour Your Promises

It’s possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message: when you promise something, deliver. The most common example here is project delivery dates.

Clients don’t like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not get done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late, technology can fail and sub-contractors don’t always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology and assurance it’ll be ready ASAP wouldn’t go amiss.

Conclusion

Customer service, like any aspect of business, is a practiced art that takes time and effort to master. All you need to do to achieve this is to stop and switch roles with the customer. What would you want from your business if you were the client? How would you want to be treated? Treat your customers like your friends and they’ll always come back.

Written By:

Adrian Thompson

Adrian is a part time Web designer / developer alongside his full-time career as a qualifying social worker and community trainer in the North of the UK. His main interests lie in the areas of accessible Website design, the development and promotion of online learning and the practical uses of the Web in community regeneration and people-focussed work.

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The 10 Do(s) and Don’t(s) of Outstanding Customer Service. Promote Your Business – 8 Steps to Success! Article 10 Steps to Building a Click-Ready Website 7 Steps to Useable Forms My Day Job’s Killing Me! First Steps to Freelancing

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

xzac October 5, 2011 at 11:52 pm

it is an excellent subject that i learned from this site, because it is related to my marketing research that i conduct this semester. thank a lot to mr. brian tracy for giving all interested sudents a topic which is very useful and rich in important lessons to be discussed. thank you so much!!!

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Customer Satisfaction

 

Why Measure Customer Satisfaction?

By Rick Crandall, for Hostedware Corporation

 

Most companies say they believe in great customer service, but few set up a system to insure that they provide it. Delivering great service takes both understanding what your customers want and

a way to see that they receive it. Many firms put effort and expense into areas that clients don't care about. Those areas that customers rate low and have high impact on customers are where you will show the biggest gains in improvement.

It is beyond the scope of this article to tell you how to deliver great service to your customers. However, we can show you how to find out what your customers think is great service and why it is worth your while to gather that knowledge.

Delighted Customers Are ProfitableIt's widely accepted that it is at least five times more profitable to sell to an existing customer than to find a new customer. More important, the difference between satisfied customers and very satisfied customers can make a big difference in customer repeat business and your profits. For instance, Xerox found that customers who rated them a 5 instead of a 4 on a 5-point satisfaction scale were six times more likely to buy more products! This means, first, that measuring client satisfaction is very important, and, second, that distinguishing between degrees of satisfaction is crucial.

Measuring Customer SatisfactionThere are several ways to gather input from customers. The simplest way to find out how customers feel and what they want is to ask them. If you have only 20 clients, you can talk to each one personally. The advantage of this approach is that you'll get a personal "feel" for each customer. The disadvantage is that you'll gather different information from each customer depending on how the conversation goes.

Focus GroupsFocus groups are good ways to get informal input from a group of customers or prospects. You bring in 5-10 customers or prospects and ask them questions or have them react to material. You can pay a professional facilitator and videotape the whole session, or just lead an informal discussion yourself. In either case, you have a chance to gather ideas about customer needs, reactions to your company, suggestions for new services, and so forth. In addition to individual responses, you get ideas that develop as the group reacts to each other's responses.

Client Advisory GroupsOne way to get regular input from customers is to put together an advisory group. This can act like a focus group, but is set up to provide input over time. You may pay members, or simply

buy them dinner every quarter. If you create a good group, members may also enjoy meeting and interacting with each other.

There are many benefits to such groups. They give you a source of input from the customer viewpoint. They provide a sounding board for specific questions. They enhance your relationship with good customers who become more committed to your success. And they can move relationships with prospects ahead.

 

Advisory boards are a much underused way to improve customer service, develop new services, and encourage repeat business. Even the smallest businesses can use them effectively.

Client Surveys Customer surveys with standardized questions insure that you will collect the same information from everyone. The simplest possible survey is described in the book Marketing Your Services: For People Who Hate to Sell. The author recommends a three-item survey, simply asking "What did/do you like about working with me?", "What did/do you dislike about it?", and "Is there anything else you can tell me that would help me provide better service?". Such a brief survey can help open a dialog, but to collect more detailed information, you need to ask more questions.

 

Remember that few of your clients will be interested in "filling out a questionnaire". It's work for them without much reward. By casting any survey as an attempt to find out "how we can serve you better" -- in other words as an attempt to improve customer service --your clients will feel less put upon. And, as will be discussed further, if you are sincere about making great service a center point of your firm, your staff will also feel good about collecting information.

Even for a big survey, you should contact your most important clients personally. You might do that before contacting others. Ask for their suggestions. This way, their input can help you determine what type of questions to ask others. And your big accounts might be flattered to be asked to help set the agenda. Have a conversation, not an interrogation. Don't make them feel like they're filling out a survey.

 

The PhoneUp to about 10 minutes of questions can be done on the phone. By speaking directly with people,

you have the flexibility to talk with them. Again, this is more desirable than a questionnaire, especially with larger clients. But, of course, it takes more of your time.

Written SurveysOn a longer survey, here are a few of the possible dimensions you could measure:

quality of service speed of service pricing complaints or problems trust in your firm members closeness of relationship with contacts in your firm types of other services needed percent of business you receive from your clients your positioning in clients' minds

If you're just starting a business, you may want to gather information about your expected competitors. This can help you position yourself while you're making initial contact with prospective clients.

You should involve your staff and clients in designing a questionnaire. The odds are that once you start discussing questions with staff and clients, you will come up with more than you should ask. If you have a big client list and lots of questions to ask, split your survey. Ask half the questions to half your clients and half to the other. To get more sophisticated, randomly assign clients to versions of the questionnaire and have a few questions that overlap both groups which will give you an estimate of similarity between the halves (reliability).

You can also share some of the results back with clients, which allows you to discuss important issues further.

Email / Your Web SiteIf you have a simple, brief survey, email can be the way to go. Clients can either respond directly on a form you provide, or link to your web site to fill out the survey.

Rick Crandall, PhD (www.rickcrandall.com), is an author and consultant specializing in sales, marketing, and customer service for trade associations, the service industries and professions, and other business groups.

 

Hostedware Corporation is a pioneer in providing online software solutions for research, education and performance improvement. Hosted Survey and Hosted Test are used by human resources professionals, market researchers, education and training organizations and membership associations worldwide.

 

Contact us at Customer Service to learn more about these cost-effective, self-configurable and easy to use tools.

 

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Customer Service Article 

Customer Satisfaction Secrets:  Six Secrets of Outstanding Customer Retention

By Ed Sykes When I was Vice President of Sales for a New York based computer services company, I walked by one of my salesperson’s desk when the phone began to ring and picked up the phone to answer the call.  It was one call that tested my customer service skills. It was a call from a Senior Vice President for Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A.  She was not happy with the service our representative was giving her and said she was considering going to another vendor for her computer services.  I let her talk as she vented her anger. I reintroduced myself and let her know that I would personally appreciate her sharing her customer service concerns with me.  I also let her know we valued her as a customer and wanted her business and that I would do whatever it took to make her happy with our company.  She then let me know that someone better “make her happy” by the end of the day or we could forget about doing business again with Chase Manhattan Bank.  I let her know I personally could see her in one hour, and she agreed to the meeting. I put together the solution and took the #4 subway line to Wall Street to meet at her office.  As I waited in the lobby of her building for an elevator, five women gathered around me to also wait for the elevator.  The elevator arrived and we all walked into the elevator.  I took the initiative and greeted the group of women and commented on the weather.  This opened up the conversation between all of us and soon, with additional exchanges, we were laughing about our day. I left the elevator, and one of the women also got off on the same floor.  I asked her where the Senior Vice President’s office was located, and she said she would be glad to take me to

the office.  We continued our engaging conversation along the way and, before I knew it, we were at the Senior Vice President’s office door. I was about to thank the woman for escorting me, when she walked around and behind the Senior Vice President’s desk and announced that she was Senior Vice President and how could she help me.  Let’s say I was surprised.  I introduced myself, we both paused for a moment, and then we both laughed. To say the least, we had a very productive meeting, which led to a great customer relation with Chase Manhattan Bank and her for many years and with the bank even beyond her retirement.  She was so impressed with her positive experience that day that she became my biggest advocate to other senior management within the bank, which led to new customers and millions in additional business. What, then, are the secrets to customer retention and winning back an angry customer so that the situation becomes an outstanding customer service experience? The following are six customer service secrets for winning back customers, increasing customer satisfaction, and increasing your bottom line: 

1. Start with a Positive Attitude – Look at any customer service situation as a challenge and an opportunity to learn and grow, and take care of the customer’s needs.  Start with a positive attitude that says, “I want to help you and, together, we will find a solution.” I always say, “You never know who is watching you, so always give them your best face.”  Because I had a positive attitude in the above situation, I put on my best face when interacting with the women in the elevator, and this led to a positive impression of me with the senior vice president.”

2. Listen with Empathy – Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, experience his/her pain, and communicate to the customer you understand the pain.  You can communicate your understanding of their pain by saying, “Thank you for sharing your concerns with me.  If I were in your shoes, I would feel the same way.”

3. Take Ownership – Don’t make excuses for what happened with the customer.  Apologize and take ownership for what happened with the customer.  The sooner you take ownership of the customer service challenge, the sooner you can take ownership of the customer service solutions.

4. Communicate Your Plan of Action – Let the customer know what you are willing to do to take care of his/her concerns.  The customer becomes frustrated when he/she feels uninvolved or uncertain as to what you are planning for the customer service solution.  Ask for the customer’s commitment to the plan before proceeding with the action.  My plan of action started when I told the customer that I was going to take the subway immediately to meet with her, and the complete customer service plan was communicated during our first meeting.

5. Take Action – The most important customer service secret is taking action.  You can go through all the other customer service secrets and if you don’t take action, all your actions and credibility are lost.  You increase customer retention when you make sure you deliver more than what is promised.  Act quickly, act with a quality solution, and act with integrity. 

6. Ask for the Business – During the customer service challenge, I expressed several times that I valued and wanted her business.  This let’s the customer know that you don’t take his/her business for granted.  It’s even more important that you express to the customer that you want his/her business after the customer service situation is

resolved.  You can also give an extra incentive to the customer for acting now to continue giving you the business.  It can be as simple as a discount coupon or some other special offering.

Apply these customer service secrets with your customers and you will increase customer satisfaction and customer retention and win back customers to increase your bottom line.

 

Customer Loyalty - How To Measure it using a surveyMeasuring Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction

How to get it done in less than a day - An online implementation guide.

Most businesses are faced with a fairly straightforward question today - How do I measure success? Obviously looking at the balance sheet every month can give you some insights into how you are doing. However most of us know that this is too late in the game to be pro-active in terms of how you react to your customers needs.

We also understand that customer satisfaction and loyalty is intrinsically coupled to the well-being and long term growth of the company. In other words, the success of your company depends on how satisfied and loyal your customers are. We are also aware of the fact that acquiring new customers is about ten times more expensive than servicing existing customers. Very simply put, loyal customers decrease acquisition costs and increase profitability.

The question always arises: "How do I effectively gauge the satisfaction and loyalty paradigms?". It is not as difficult as you may think.

Amazingly, a single question can give you the insight you need:

"How likely is it that you will recommend [Product X or Company] to a friend or colleague?"

Have them rate the answer on a 0-10 Scale. You can then categorize the responses into three different categories:

Score

9-10These are your "Promoters" or your "Idea Merchants" - Very satisfied and will trumpet your product or service any chance they get.

7-8 They are your "Passively Satisfied" customers.

0-6 They are the "Detractors" - fairly unsatisfied with you - Most likely to leave you for a competing product or service.

Now the analysis is pretty simple. If you have 60-70% of your customer base with a score between 9-10 you have a "word-of-mouth" sales force working for you 24x7. They are happy with your product offering and are willing to put their reputation on the line for you by recommending your product or service.

Another important measurement is the "Net Growth/Satisfaction" score. This is the percentage of "Promoters" minus the percentage of "Detractors" - this gives you a net indication of how many customers are effectively "growing" your company.

Now the question is: "Why is this approach more effective than traditional 'Customer Satisfaction Surveys'?" The answer lies in the statistical phenomenon call "sample bias". Most traditional "Customer Satisfaction Surveys" tend to be long, cumbersome and demand a lot of time and attention from your customers. This leads to a very low "response rate" for your customer satisfaction surveys. This low response rate in turn does not accurately represent your customer base. For example, customers who are unhappy are not likely to go through a long customer satisfaction survey.

The other problem with traditional satisfaction surveys is that they are very difficult to analyze and produce ambiguous results - they are hence not acted upon by upper management and dismissed.

On the other hand, if your customers get an email with a single question embedded, the response rate to such a small survey will be much higher. The higher response rate will eliminate the "sample bias" and you have the relevant data that you need.

Some Real-Life Examples:

QuestionProWe at QuestionPro believe in "Practice what you preach" - Every time an active user clicks the "Logout" button when they are finished with their work, a single question is presented to the user : This question is randomly selected from a pool of pre-defined questions - Feedback on features, comments, satisfaction etc.

We have consistently seen that the response rate on the "Recommend to Friend/Colleague" question has always been higher than all the other questions. This process helps us achieve a couple of things: -

1. Enables us to "Continuously" monitor our satisfaction score. Any dips and spikes can be quickly co-related to "marketing events"

2. Enables us to set goals for our support and marketing staff. This is directly tied to the compensation structure to make sure all of us are aligned to serve our

customers as best as we can.

Enterprise Rent-A-CarThis example is cited in Frederick F. Reichheld's Harvard Business Review Article.

Every month Enterprise polls its customers just two simple questions:

Quality of Service Likelihood that they will rent from Enterprise Again.

Since the process was simple, it was fast and published the results of the 5000 US branches in real-time. This gave all the offices real-time feedback on how they were doing and the opportunity to learn from successful peers.

Implementation GuideAfter all the title of the article does say how to get this done in "under a day" - the world of online self-service tools has paved the path for such technical implementation without the hassle of servers, software installations etc. Although there are other server based solutions available we will focus on 4 important factors:

Self-Service - If you want to get a solution rolled out in 1 day you should be able to use a point-and-click interface to create and deploy the survey.

Online and Web-Based - No software to install and no special requirements. Should be able to create a survey using a Mac/Linux/Windows from home or office or the beach!

Integrated Analysis Tools - No need for third-party analysis programs needed. Monthly billing - No long term contracts - For obvious reasons!

ConclusionTo Quote Frederick F. Reichheld's Harvard Business Review Article:

"The path to sustainable, profitable growth begins with creating more promoters and fewer detractors and make the net-promoter number transparent throughout your organization. This number is the one number you need to grow. It is that simple and that profound."

The quote underscores this basic concept. Online tools not only make it easy to implement such solutions but also assist you in pro-actively measuring the success of your relationship with your customers. A project that used to be a 3-6 month IT effort a few years ago can now be accomplished in a single day. Companies that take advantage of such process efficiency to further their own goals will have a distinct advantage over companies that ignore them.

Customer satisfactionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals."[1] In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and monitoring their businesses.[1]

It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is often part of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.[2]

Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers’ expectations. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability. These metrics quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective.[1]

Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need reliable and representative measures of satisfaction.

In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in “absolute” terms.[1]

The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only a few suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone plan contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone plan providers, because customer satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would easily have the option of leaving for a better contract offer.

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer satisfaction for firms.

Contents [hide]

1 Purpose 2 Construction (Measuring customer satisfaction) 3 Methodologies 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Purpose

A business ideally is continually seeking feedback to improve customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intentions and loyalty. Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of market perceptions. Their principal use is twofold[1]:

1. Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination of these data send a message about the importance of tending to customers and ensuring that they have a positive experience with the company’s goods and services[1]

2. Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is performing currently, satisfaction is an indicator of how likely it is that the firm’s customers will make further purchases in the future. Much research has focused on the relationship between customer satisfaction and retention. Studies indicate that the ramifications of satisfaction are most strongly realized at the extremes. On a five-point scale, individuals who rate their satisfaction level as “5” are likely to become return customers and might even evangelize for the firm. (A second important metric related to satisfaction is willingness to recommend. This metric is defined as "The percentage of surveyed customers who indicate that they would recommend a brand to friends." When a customer is satisfied with a product, he or she might recommend it to friends, relatives and colleagues. This can be a powerful marketing advantage.) Individuals who rate their satisfaction level as “1,” by contrast, are unlikely to return. Further, they can hurt the firm by making negative comments about it to prospective customers. Willingness to recommend is a key metric relating to customer satisfaction.[1]

[edit] Construction (Measuring customer satisfaction)

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.[3] Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level, but it is almost always reported at an aggregate level. It can be, and often is, measured along various dimensions. A hotel, for example, might ask customers to rate their experience with its front desk and check-in service, with the room, with the amenities in the room, with the restaurants, and so on. Additionally, in a holistic sense, the hotel might ask about overall satisfaction “with your stay.”[1]

As research on consumption experiences grows, evidence suggests that consumers purchase goods and services for a combination of two types of benefits: hedonic and utilitarian. Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of the product. Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and functional attributes of the product (Batra and Athola 1990)[4].

Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organization's products.

Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L)[5] between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the "confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the "gap" described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation.

The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey [6] with a set of statements using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured. Their satisfaction is generally measured on a five-point scale.

Customer satisfaction data can also be collected on a 10-point scale.[1]

Regardless of the scale used, the objective is to measure customers’ perceived satisfaction with their experience of a firm’s offerings. It is essential for firms to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need accurate measurement of satisfaction.[7]

Good quality measures need to have high satisfaction loadings, good reliability, and low error variances. In an empirical study comparing commonly used satisfaction measures it was found that two multi-item semantic differential scales performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian service consumption contexts. According to studies by Wirtz & Lee (2003)[8], they identified a six-item 7-point semantic differential scale (e.g., Oliver and Swan 1983), which is a six-item 7-point bipolar scale, that consistently performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian services. It loaded most highly on satisfaction, had the highest item reliability, and had by far the lowest error variance across both studies. In the study[8], the six items asked respondents’ evaluation of their most recent experience with ATM services and ice cream restaurant, along seven points within these six items: “please me to displeased me”, “contented with to disgusted with”, “very satisfied with to very dissatisfied with”, “did a good job for me to did a poor job for me”, “wise choice to poor choice” and “happy with to unhappy with”.

A semantic differential (4 items) scale (e.g., Eroglu and Machleit 1990)[9], which is a four-item 7-point bipolar scale, was the second best performing measure, which was again consistent across both contexts. In the study, respondents were asked to evaluate their experience with both products, along seven points within these four items: “satisfied to dissatisfied”, “favorable to unfavorable”, “pleasant to unpleasant” and “I like it very much to I didn’t like it at all”.[8]

The third best scale was single-item percentage measure, a one-item 7-point bipolar scale (e.g., Westbrook 1980)[10]. Again, the respondents were asked to evaluate their experience on both ATM services and ice cream restaurants, along seven points within “delighted to terrible”.[8]

It seems that dependent on a trade-off between length of the questionnaire and quality of satisfaction measure, these scales seem to be good options for measuring customer satisfaction in academic and applied studies research alike. All other measures tested consistently performed worse than the top three measures, and/or their performance varied significantly across the two service contexts in their study. These results suggest that more careful pretesting would be prudent should these measures be used.[8]

Finally, all measures captured both affective and cognitive aspects of satisfaction, independent of their scale anchors.[8] Affective measures capture a consumer’s attitude (liking/disliking) towards a product, which can result from any product information or experience. On the other hand, cognitive element is defined as an appraisal or conclusion on how the product’s performance compared against expectations (or exceeded or fell short of expectations), was useful (or not useful), fit the situation (or did not fit), exceeded the requirements of the situation (or did not exceed).[11]

[edit] Methodologies

American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a scientific standard of customer satisfaction. Academic research has shown that the national ACSI score is a strong predictor of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and an even stronger predictor of Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) growth. On the microeconomic level, academic studies have shown that ACSI data is related to a firm's financial performance in terms of return on investment (ROI), sales, long-term firm value (Tobin's q ), cash flow, cash flow volatility, human capital performance, portfolio returns, debt financing, risk, and consumer spending.[12] Increasing ACSI scores has been shown to predict loyalty, word-of-mouth recommendations, and purchase behavior. The ACSI measures customer satisfaction annually for more than 200 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors. In addition to quarterly reports, the ACSI methodology can be applied to private sector companies and government agencies in order to improve loyalty and purchase intent. Two companies have been licensed to apply the methodology of the ACSI for both the private and public sector: CFI Group, Inc. and Foresee Results apply the ACSI to websites and other online initiatives. ASCI scores have also been calculated by independent researchers, for example, for the mobile phones sector,[13] higher education,[14] and electronic mail.[15]

The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed in the 1980s by Professor Noriaki Kano that classifies customer preferences into five categories: Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Indifferent, Reverse. The Kano model offers some insight into the product attributes which are perceived to be important to customers.

SERVQUAL or RATER is a service-quality framework that has been incorporated into customer-satisfaction surveys (e.g., the revised Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer[16]) to indicate the gap between customer expectations and experience.

J.D. Power and Associates provides another measure of customer satisfaction, known for its top-box approach and automotive industry rankings. J.D. Power and Associates' marketing research consists primarily of consumer surveys and is publicly known for the value of its product awards.

Other research and consulting firms have customer satisfaction solutions as well. These include A.T. Kearney's Customer Satisfaction Audit process,[17] which incorporates the Stages of Excellence framework and which helps define a company’s status against eight critically identified dimensions.

For Business to Business (B2B) surveys there is the InfoQuest box.[18] This has been used internationally since 1989 on more than 110,000 surveys (Nov '09) with an average response rate of 72.74%. The box is targeted at "the most important" customers and avoids the need for a blanket survey.

In the European Union member states, many methods for measuring impact and satisfaction of e-government services are in use, which the eGovMoNet project sought to compare and harmonize[19].

These customer satisfaction methodologies have not been independently audited by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) according to MMAP (Marketing Metric Audit Protocol).

[edit] See also

Business case Customer Service Customer Loyalty The International Customer Service Institute

[edit] References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Farris, Paul W.; Neil T. Bendle; Phillip E. Pfeifer; David J. Reibstein (2010). Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 0137058292. The Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) endorses the definitions, purposes, and constructs of classes of measures that appear in Marketing Metrics as part of its ongoing Common Language: Marketing Activities and Metrics Project.

2. ̂ Gitman, Lawrence J.; Carl D. McDaniel (2005). The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, Ohio: South-Western. ISBN 0324320280.

3. ̂ John, Joby (2003). Fundamentals of Customer-Focused Management: Competing Through Service. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 9781567205640.

4. ̂ Batra, Rajeev and Olli T. Athola (1990), “Measuring the Hedonic and Utilitarian Sources of Consumer Attitudes,” Marketing Letters, 2 (2), 159-70.

5. ̂ Berry, Leonard L.; A. Parasuraman (1991). Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality. New York: Free Press. ISBN 9780029030790.

6. ̂ Kessler, Sheila (2003). Customer satisfaction toolkit for ISO 9001:2000. Milwaukee, Wis.: ASQ Quality Press. ISBN 0873895592.

7. ̂ Wirtz, Jochen and John E. G. Bateson (1995), “An Experimental Investigation of Halo Effects in Satisfaction Measures of Service Attributes,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 6 (3), 84-102.

8. ^ a b c d e f Wirtz, Jochen; Chung Lee, Meng (2003), “An Empirical Study on The Quality and Context-specific Applicability of Commonly Used Customer Satisfaction Measures,” Journal of Service Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, 345-355.

9. ̂ Eroglu, Sergin A. and Karen A. Machleit (1990), “An Empirical Study of Retail Crowding: Antecedents and Consequences,” Journal of Retailing, 66 (Summer), 201-21.

10. ̂ Westbrook, Robert A. (1980), “A Rating Scale for Measuring Product/Service Satisfaction,” Journal of Marketing, 44 (Fall), 68-72.

11. ̂ Retrieved from: “Customer Satisfaction Measurement.”12. ̂ Vikas Mittal; Carly Frennea (2010). "Customer Satisfaction: A Strategic Review and Guidelines

for Managers." Marketing Science Institute: MSI Fast Forward (10-701).13. ̂ Turel, Ofir; Alexander Serenko (2006). "Satisfaction with mobile services in Canada: An

empirical investigation". Telecommunications Policy 30 (5-6): 314–331. doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2005.10.003. http://foba.lakeheadu.ca/serenko/papers/Turel_Serenko_tp_published.pdf.

14. ̂ Serenko, Alexander (2010). "Student satisfaction with Canadian music programs: The application of the American Customer Satisfaction Model in higher education". Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 35 (4). http://foba.lakeheadu.ca/serenko/papers/Student_Satisfaction_ACSI_Published.pdf.

15. ̂ Dow, Kevin; Alexander Serenko, Ofir Turel, Jeff Wong (2006). "Antecedents and consequences of user satisfaction with e-mail systems". International Journal of e-Collaboration 2 (2): 46–64. doi:10.4018/jec.2006040103. http://foba.lakeheadu.ca/serenko/papers/JeC_Dow.pdf.

16. ̂ Johnson, Michael D.; Anders Gustafssonb, Tor Wallin Andreassenc, Line Lervikc and Jaesung Cha (2001). "The evolution and future of national customer satisfaction index models". Journal of Economic Psychology 22 (2): 217–245. doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(01)00030-7. ISSN 0167-4870.

17. ̂ Bluestein, Abram; Michael Moriarty; Ronald J Sanderson (2003). The Customer Satisfaction Audit. Axminster: Cambridge Strategy Publications. ISBN 9781902433981.

18. ̂ Customer Satisfaction Surveys - InfoQuest worldwide B2B customer satisfaction syrveys19. ̂ European Commission: eGovMoNet: eGovernment Monitor Network.

A simple way to measure customer satisfaction

Let your customers tell you what you should ask them so you can improve what matters most.

Most people in business know they need feedback from customers in order to make service delivery and product design more in line with customer needs and expectations. But too often, the process of measuring customer satisfaction and perception is more complex and convoluted than it needs to be. Here is a simple approach that gives you punchy customer feedback, without overloading the customer with a thousand and one questions. [this article contains references to chartscontainedin the original article by Stacey Barr, to obtain a copy of the full article with charts,please email Stacey Barr] the steps in measuring and managing customer satisfactionThe following sections outline a sound and simple approach for measuring and managing customer satisfaction:

1. know who your customers are;2. understand your customers' needs;3. measure your customer service performance;4. focus on priorities;5. improve your processes.

Know who your customers are:

Purpose to set a context in which you can produce reliable and useful measures of service performance

Process 1. identify all your current customers

2. gather all the relevant information you have to describe the relationship of each customer to your business (eg how much business they give you, where they are located, what industry they are in, etc...)

3. use this information to define market segments that group similar

customers togetherOutcomes · a clear segmentation of your customer base

· a ‘customer frame' or list of customers from which to select a representative sample (or census) for research

Understand your customers' needs

Purpose to determine how customers define ‘quality of service' and therefore what you should be measuring to monitor your quality of service

Process 1. enlist the help of qualified researchers (to ensure reliability and validity of the information obtained)

2. choose an appropriate method for exploring what customers feel are the most important attributes of the type of service you provide to them

3. select a small number of customers from each market segment and invite them to participate in this research

4. carry out the research using qualified researchers to maintain objectivity and validity

5. summarise the research results to identify the most important attributes of service

Outcomes · a list of approximately 10 key service attributes (which together constitute how customers define quality of service)

 Measure your customer service performance Purpose to determine what are the priority areas you need to focus on to improve

your quality of service (and therefore business performance)

Process 1. enlist the help of qualified researchers (to ensure reliability and validity of the measures)

2. choose an appropriate method for obtaining measures from your customers (eg telephone interviews, face to face interviews, self-completion questionnaires, etc...)

3. decide on any supplementary information that you might need from customers to interpret their satisfaction (eg industry, geographical location, size)

4. design a ‘measurement instrument' (eg a survey questionnaire, a list of questions, rating scales)

5. select a sample (or census) of customers from the ‘customer frame' (qualified researchers have special methods for doing this so that the sample is large enough to be reliable and random enough to be representative)

6. carry out the research using qualified researchers to maintain objectivity and validity

7. summarise the research results to construct measures of service performance

Outcomes · overall satisfaction with service, for example:[please email Stacey Barr to obtain a copy of the full article with the referenced chart][the original article from Stacey Barr contains example graphs, please email Stacey Barr for a copy of the original article

· knowledge of the relative importance of each key service attribute (ie what matters most to our customers)

· knowledge of the degree of satisfaction customers have with each key service attribute

· knowledge of the current priorities for improvement of customer service performance, for example by plotting each attribute of service on a performance quadrant chart like this one:

[please email Stacey Barr to obtain a copy of the full article with the referenced chart]· additional information about the diversity among customers from the supplementary information such as demographics or general comments· additional information about the diversity among customers from the supplementary information such as demographics or general comments

 Focus on priorities Purpose to avoid wasting valuable resources on “oiling every wheel that squeaks”,

and instead focus those resources on improvements and changes that will generate the greatest improvement in overall customer satisfaction

Process 1. put your attention on the red quadrant (the lower right hand box in the graph)

2. follow up with customers, if necessary, to get a deeper insight into how these red quadrant attributes might best be improved

Outcomes clear direction for improvement

 Improve your processes Purpose to translate the customer satisfaction priorities into action that results in

future increases in customer satisfactionProcess 1. identify which of your core processes impact on the customer

satisfaction priorities 2. establish improvement teams to map and analyse those processes to

find out specifically where to make improvements 3. allocate resources to the chosen improvements and establish a team

to make those improvements 4. onitor the effectiveness of the improvements (eg using performance

measures as lead indicators of customer satisfaction)

Outcomes · processes that are better aligned to serving customers· increased customer satisfaction

and so...

This five phase approach to measuring and managing customer satisfaction is simple and sound. Research is used to gather objective information without being overly scientific. The framework focuses on prioritising, which is critical in a complex business environment. The information comes directly from your customers.

The results will directly impact your customers' satisfaction as well as supporting:

business plans to align goals and objectives with customers; performance measurement through identifying which non-financial performance

outcomes are worth tracking; employee relations (or human resource) plans to help guide the customer focus of

employees; marketing plans to retain existing customers and identify opportunities for new

customers. Why measure customer satisfaction?

First of all, nurturing relationships with the individuals listed in your customer management software can save you money in the long run. Remember that retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than winning new business - and satisfied customers often provide the most effective marketing by recommending your company to their friends, family and colleagues.

Customer satisfaction surveysAsking your customers their opinions directly via a survey works well for gathering information on people's feelings and reactions to your products.

Who? Most businesses will want to distribute their survey to as many customers as

possible. Still, there may be times when you would prefer to reach a particular demographic, those who have bought a specific product, or a customer segment that follows certain purchase habits.

What? Before you begin putting together your survey, make sure you know its main objectives. This forward thinking will help ensure you are collecting the most relevant and useful information from your customers.

Some basic questions to pursue include whether the person was satisfied with their purchase, how happy they were with the service, how likely they are to buy from you again and whether they would recommend your business to others.

When writing the survey, remember that you can include closed questions - much like a multiple choice test - or open questions, which welcome any type of response. Some business owners find the first too limited, while the second can be difficult to analyze. Combining the two (e.g. asking for further comments after a choice) may provide the best of both worlds.

Finally, it's best to keep your questions short and succinct so that respondents find the survey straightforward to complete.

When? Many experts say surveys are most effective when administered as soon as possible after a customer's purchase, because they will be more likely to remember pertinent details and give constructive feedback.

How often should you survey customers? The answer largely depends on your business and the relationship you have with your customers. If someone only needs your service on an annual basis, it makes sense to conduct a survey at that time. Or, if purchases are more irregular, you may want to include an opportunity to comment with every order.

How? Surveys can be conducted in a number of ways. For example, in a bricks-and-mortar store, you could include comment cards with every purchase or mail out longer versions to particular individuals identified with your customer management software.

Many businesses find they get the best response rate from online customer surveys. Consider directing online shoppers to a survey page directly after they complete a purchase or sending a survey link in your regular email communications. Providing an incentive - such as a random drawing for a prize - can encourage responses.

Focus groupsOrganizing a focus group is another handy way to find out what people think of your business - and this is especially good for testing the viability of new products or services. Generally, these groups are fairly small, with no more than 10 to 15 people.

One advantage to focus groups over surveys is that they allow for more in-depth

questions and tend to product more exhaustive responses. The facilitator can also follow up on particular points or help guide the conversation in a different direction. Focus groups can be videotaped, so the results can be analyzed at a later date.

Next stepsAfter you have gathered information, you can begin to identify common patterns and trends. What general and specific changes can you make to address the feedback? Is there any additional staff training that needs to be implemented?

It is also important to follow up with customers to let them know how you have responded to their suggestions. This will show people that you are actually invested in improving their experience, as well as encouraging similar feedback from customers in the future.

  Tag : Customer service , customer support , live support , live help

Methods of Measuring Customer Satisfaction inShare0

Managing customers’ satisfaction efficiently is one the biggest challenge an organization face. The tools or methods to measure customer satisfaction needs to be defined sophisticatedly to fulfill the desired norms. There are following methods to measure customer satisfaction:

1. Direct Methods: Directly contacting customers and getting their valuable feedback is very important. Following are some of the ways by which customers could be directly tabbed:

a. Getting customer feedback through third party agencies. b. Direct marketing, in-house call centers, complaint handling department could be treated

as first point of contact for getting customer feedback. These feedbacks are compiled to analyze customers’ perception.

c. Getting customer feedback through face to face conversation or meeting. d. Feedback through complaint or appreciation letter. e. Direct customer feedback through surveys and questionnaires.

Organizations mostly employ external agencies to listen to their customers and provide dedicated feedback to them. These feedbacks needs to be sophisticated and in structured format so that conclusive results could be fetched out. Face to face meetings and complaint or appreciation letter engages immediate issues. The feedback received in this is not uniformed as different types of customers are addressed with different domains of questions. This hiders the analysis process to be performed accurately and consistently. Hence the best way is to implement a proper survey which consists of uniformed questionnaire to get customer feedback from well segmented customers. The design of the prepared questionnaire is an important aspect and should enclose all the essential factors of business. The questions asked should be in a way that the customer is encouraged to respond in a obvious way/. These feedback could received by the organizations can be treated as one of the best way to measure customer satisfaction.

Apart from the above methods there is another very popular direct method which is surprise market visit. By this, information regarding different segment of products and services provided to the customers could be obtained in an efficient manner. It becomes easy for the supplier to know the weak and strong aspects of products and services.

2. Indirect Method: The major drawback of direct methods is that it turns out to be very costly and requires a lot of pre compiled preparations to implement. For getting the valuable feedbacks the supplier totally depends on the customer due to which they looses options and chances to take corrective measure at correct time. Hence there are other following indirect methods of getting feedback regarding customer satisfaction:

a. Customer Complaints: Customer’s complaints are the issues and problems reported by the customer to supplier with regards to any specific product or related service. These complaints can be classified under different segments according to the severity and department. If the complaints under a particular segment go high in a specific period of time then the performance of the organization is degrading in that specific area or segment. But if the complaints diminish in a specific period of time then that means the organization is performing well and customer satisfaction level is also higher.

b. Customer Loyalty: It is necessarily required for an organization to interact and communicate with customers on a regular basis to increase customer loyalty. In these interactions and communications it is required to learn and determine all individual customer needs and respond accordingly. A customer is said to be loyal if he revisits supplier on regular basis for purchases. These loyal customers are the satisfied ones and hence they are bounded with a relationship with the supplier. Hence by obtaining the customer loyalty index, suppliers can indirectly measure customer satisfaction.

Performing your original search, customer satisfaction measures, in PubMed will retrieve 6614 records.

Acad Emerg Med. 2003 Jul;10(7):812-5.

1

Customer satisfaction measurement in emergency medical services.Kuisma M, Määttä T, Hakala T, Sivula T, Nousila-Wiik M.

Source

Helsinki EMS, Helsingin kaupunki, Finland. markku.kuisma@hel.fi

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

The annual patient volume in emergency medical services (EMS) systems is high worldwide. However, there are no comprehensive studies on customer satisfaction for EMS. The authors report how a customer satisfaction survey on EMS patients was conducted, the results, and the possible causes for dissatisfaction.

METHODS:

Two prospective customer satisfactions surveys were conducted in an urban EMS system. Consecutive patients treated by EMS received a postal questionnaire approximately two weeks after service. Satisfaction was measured in a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent). Neither EMS personnel nor patients were made aware prospectively that patient satisfaction would be measured.

RESULTS:

Response rates to the surveys were 36.8% (432/1,175) in 2000 and 40.0% (464/1,150) in 2002. The mean general grades for the service were 4.6 and 4.5, respectively. Patients reported the highest degree of dissatisfaction when they were not taken to their hospital of choice, when they perceived that the paramedics were not able to meet their needs, and when paramedics did not introduce themselves or communicate directly with the patient's relatives. In high-volume calls (i.e., frequent chief complaints), the general satisfaction was highest in patients with arrhythmias, breathing difficulties, and hypoglycemia. Patients with drug overdose included the highest proportion of unsatisfied patients. None of the background variables (e.g., gender, transport decision, working shift) was statistically related to general patient satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study shows that customer satisfaction surveys can be successfully conducted for EMS. EMS systems should consider routinely using customer satisfaction surveys as a tool for quality measurement and improvement.