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A Case Study On Measuring Customer Satisfaction



The important thing in customer satisfaction, sales training experts tell us, is not how good a company thinks it is, but how good the company's customers think it is. Customer satisfaction is not just about having good individual products and services but is about everything the customer associates with the company. Where the customers judgment differs from the company's own assessment there is obviously room for improvement.

But, before any improvements are made the company must understand where and on what scale they have to make improvements. They could analyse the complaints they receive, but not all customers complain. They could look at service and maintenance reports. But these are rarely sufficient and they certainly don't show how the company is judged in comparison with its competitors. This is often the reason why an independent and experienced market research institute is called in.

The customer satisfaction case study described below was carried out in a big, international actice manufacturer of PCs.

Anyone interested in measuring the level of their customers' satisfaction must first decide on the target group. In the business of IT products this is not an easy undertaking: they are sold to dealers, purchasing departments/ decision-makers and direct to users, and each one of these groups is highly heterogeneous.

Then you need to define what to measure. Here one should not try to find out as in the usual customer satisfaction studies:

Not how individual aspects of performance are generally judged, but also how they are rated particularly by those customers who attach the most importance to the given aspects.

Not how customers rate the company's actual performance, but establish what performances are most important to them - regardless of whether the organisation actually offers these.

Not how one's own customers judge one's own performance, but how one's own customers rate the performance of one's chief competitor.

And finally, not what customers say is of obvious importance for their buying decisions (usually price or reliability), but also how crucial the less tangible factors, such as the reputation of the brand, the company's image, confidence etc. are for them.

Answering these questions allows you to sift out the most important factors of customer satisfaction for your company

In the study a total of 400, 25 minute telephone interviews were carried out. A structured questionnaire was used for this, relating to the following subject areas:

1. Information about the company of the customer interviewed. In this question area it was established how many computers were installed and how they were used.

2. Areas of customer satisfaction. A list was drawn up of 30 material and non-material factors reaching from product performances (reliability, application, price/performance ratio) through sales support (dealer's specialist knowledge, quality, sales training provided) and service (speed, readiness to deliver) to brand image. The interviwees said how important they believed each individual characteristic was.

3. Areas of customer satisfaction. A list was drawn up of 30 material and non-material factors reaching from product performances (reliability, application, price/performance ratio) through sales support (dealer's specialist knowledge, quality) and service (speed, readiness to deliver) to brand image.

The interviwees said how important they believed each individual characteristic was.

The characteristics investigated (which were sifted out from a multiplicity of criteria) were derived from experience of the industry and from the findings of previous external group discussions, depth interviews and individual explorations.

4. Assesment of your own brand and your competitors brands. Every interviewee assessed the manufacturer's brand and two rivals, both generally and as regards each of the 30 characteristics. In addition, the intention to purchase was found out.

5. Quality of performance and expectations. In response to open questions, the interviewees had to compare the manufacturer's performances with their own expectations. At the same time they were also supposed to give examples of how they had been disappointed or pleasantly surprised.

In conclusion, by determining the individual results it was possible to show the different degrees of satisfaction of the various target groups. That enabled the computer manufacturer to gear its future measures more specifically to the requirements of the various target groups. These measures were then implemented and were supported by a programme of sales training to the sales team.


About Author Richard Stone :

Richard Stone a Director for Spearhead Training Ltd that runs management and sales training programmes aimed at improving business performance. You can see more information at => http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk


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Article Added on Thursday, September 2, 2010
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