Companies looking to build a satisfied and loyal customer base need to realize that there are multiple drivers of customer satisfaction. Savvy company executives know that some of their greatest and potentially most enduring assets are their long run customer relationships. Trying to sustain a competitive advantage with new products is a frustrating game, where short term leads often erode quickly. But by satisfying customers, companies can nurture long term relationships and customer loyalty. What’s more, a small increase in customer loyalty can make a big difference in company profits. Mcdonald’s, for example, calculated back in the 1990s that just one additional visit per week by heavy users would boost annual sales by more than $10 billion dollars. Traditional retailers are fighting back, in part by asking suppliers to provide designs and products that are exclusive to their stores.

Essay About The Importance of Chemistry In Our Daily Life

Toys r us, for instance, has many products that can’t be purchased from other stores or websites. Retailers need to recognize that technological devices such as smartphones are upping the ante. Apple recognized this early on and developed its own brick and mortar stores where potential customers could see, hold and try products before buying them. To attract and retain customers, retailers will need to meet or exceed customer expectations throughout the shopping and buying experience. clause 8.2.1 in iso90: 20 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 qs90 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.

Essay on The Book The Great Gatsby

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.

A Master Thesis

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. 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. Process improvements, advent of new technology, changes in customer's priorities, improved quality of service provided by competitors are just a few examples.

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. What constitutes satisfaction? we cannot create customer satisfaction just by meeting customer's requirements fully because these have to be met in any case. 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.

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. We must develop a method or combination of methods that helps to continually improve service. Formal survey has emerged as by far the best method of periodically assessing the customer satisfaction. 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.

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. 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 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. 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.

Narrative Essay Photography

survey parameter product performance questions: provide rating on a scale of 1 10 on the following: consistency of product quality. survey parameter competitor performance questions: rate our performance on a scale of 1 10, as compared to your best vendor adherence to delivery schedule 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. 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. 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.