Customer satisfaction how and what: What is customer satisfaction?

But what does that actually mean? The moment you want to meet the expectations of your customers, you must first have insight into those expectations. measure and improve customer satisfaction?

Understanding which factors determine customer satisfaction

Wanting to drive satisfaction presupposes that there is a clear picture in advance of the factors that determine customer satisfaction. This is where things often go wrong. Inside-out reasoning is used to determine which factors are likely to be important and this is incorporated into a questionnaire. If, as an organisation, you really want to have insight into the extent to which certain factors are important in customer satisfaction, you will have to ask customers. In doing so, it is wise to apply a certain degree of segmentation, as different factors may be important for one customer group than for another. You then use these factors to test how satisfied you customers are. This process ensures that you move from an inside-out to an outside-in approach. So from now on, you measure customer satisfaction using the factors that actually matter to you customer. After determining the right variables, it is a matter of setting up a continuous cycle of measurement and improvement.

The importance of customer satisfaction

Long ago, Treacy and Wiesema formulated value strategies: product leadership, operational excellence and customer intimacy. These are still relevant today. They are strategies that allow you to stand out from the competition because you outperform your competitor in certain areas. Also, always check whether you customer actually recognises your differentiation. If the customer does not recognise your distinctiveness, then this is a missed opportunity. Again, it is wise to apply outside-in reasoning: ask your customer. Regardless of which value strategy you choose, you will want to know whether your customer is satisfied with the way you implement it. This is precisely why you should put customer satisfaction at the heart of shaping your strategy at tactical and operational levels.

Improving customer satisfaction

What is customer satisfaction improvement? What does it deliver? That depends a lot on what you measure and how you measure it. If you want to measure what really matters to your customer and are also willing to make changes based on the results, only then is measurement valuable. Read more about measuring customer satisfaction in our next blog.

So what is customer satisfaction? And why is it important?

Customer satisfaction is a major determinant of whether or not you will remain a customer. Dissatisfied customers are more likely to walk away and advertise negatively. It is therefore important to have insight into the factors that determine satisfaction and how they are scored.