Tracking customer satisfaction

TRACKING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

There is a growing recognition among companies that serving and satisfying customers, rather than merely selling to them, is critical for competitive superiority in markets crowded with me-too products clamoring for attention.

Nevertheless, true commitment to customer service and satisfaction requires, among other things, the systematic tracking of how well a company is catering to its customer’s needs.

While providing customers with a communication channel is conductive to gaining an insight into their feelings, it is insufficient for tracking customer satisfaction effectively. Most customers may not bother to use such channels, especially if they believe that their feedback is unlikely to do any good— a belief that is frequently reinforced by callous company representatives who confront complaining customers. So, companies must augment passive methods with active, systematic research.

An effective tracking system must not rely solely on informal, qualitative approaches. Successful firms that have an excellent reputation for customer service— Marriott Hotels, Federal Express, Xerox, and General Electric to name a few –use both qualitative techniques as complementary approaches for collecting satisfaction data. These companies also view their own employees as internal customers and obtain formal and informal feedback about their satisfaction levels.

To be most beneficial, all customer satisfaction measurement systems should be ongoing and use multiple approaches. The accompanying table illustrates a system that be appropriate for services companies.

A Customer Satisfaction Tracking System

Type of research	Frequency	Purpose
Customer complaint solicitation	Continuous	Identify dissatisfied customer to attempt recovery Track service failure categories for remedial action.
Post-transaction surveys	Continuous	Obtain feedback while experience is still fresh and act on it quickly if negative patterns develop.
Customer focus group interviews	Monthly	Provide a forum for customers to suggest improvement. Offer quick, informal feedback.
Mystery shopping of service providers	Quarterly	Measure employee behavior for use in training and performance evaluation. Identify strengths and weakness in customer-contact service.
Total market quality surveys	Thrice a year	Assess a company’s service performance compared to competitors. Identify service improvement priorities. Track service improvement over time.