Businesses have been trying to assess how their customers feel for a long time. Obviously there is an inherent belief that a happy customer will buy again (actually the science reveals that it is LOYAL customers – see below – that buy again, not just satisfied ones.) And it can definitely be said that customer perception is reality when it comes to measuring customer satisfaction.
Assessments have been as informal as a conversation across the counter and as inexpensive as a postcard. Mail surveys, mall intercepts, telephone interviews, and online surveys are all methods in use. There is also a methodology that asks just a few questions and creates a Net Promoter Score.
The science of customer satisfaction measurement has come a long way. We developed a superior measurement methodology with our partner Echo Strategies in the early 1990’s and have continually improved it based on our experience and clients’ needs. We believe these are the necessary elements for a good, valid and representative customer satisfaction study:
V V G Marketing has conducted customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement in many industries – heavy industry to consumer markets.
Some other tricks to employ include having your employees also complete the survey and compare how they think customers feel with the actual. Depending on the size of the company and products you produce you may also want to analyze the data by product, region or department. Finally, while using an assessment like we described above provides an insightful picture of customer perceptions, the greatest value will occur to you when you do periodic measurements to assess improvement.
Assessments have been as informal as a conversation across the counter and as inexpensive as a postcard. Mail surveys, mall intercepts, telephone interviews, and online surveys are all methods in use. There is also a methodology that asks just a few questions and creates a Net Promoter Score.
The science of customer satisfaction measurement has come a long way. We developed a superior measurement methodology with our partner Echo Strategies in the early 1990’s and have continually improved it based on our experience and clients’ needs. We believe these are the necessary elements for a good, valid and representative customer satisfaction study:
- A representative sample of your customers. Unfortunately, this is highly unlikely using a mail-back piece or an online survey. These can be used for supplemental information, but they do not allow you to control the sample. A representative sample is necessary for you to make valid conclusions about your customers’ perspective.
- Develop a list (say 25 to 30) of important customer satisfaction attributes with an internal cross-functional team and test it with some trusted customers.
- Measure both the importance and performance of product/service attributes.
- Include ratings of your main competitors’ performance.
- Don’t forget to ask about price!
- Perform an analysis of stated importance and derived importance (i.e., use a regression analysis) that reveals attribute impact on overall satisfaction.
- Include the 3 questions indicating loyalty – overall satisfaction, referral, and repurchase intentions to create a loyalty index.
- It is probably best to use a third party to gather the information in a blind fashion to avoid any customer (or employee) bias.
V V G Marketing has conducted customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement in many industries – heavy industry to consumer markets.
Some other tricks to employ include having your employees also complete the survey and compare how they think customers feel with the actual. Depending on the size of the company and products you produce you may also want to analyze the data by product, region or department. Finally, while using an assessment like we described above provides an insightful picture of customer perceptions, the greatest value will occur to you when you do periodic measurements to assess improvement.