Customer satisfaction: definition, challenges and advice for 2024
Everyone talks about satisfying your customers. Satisfying your customers is essential to retaining them. But could you define customer satisfaction precisely?
Are you still adopting best practices to improve our customer satisfaction?
Satisfaction is a major issue. The survival of the company depends on it.
Beyond words and declarations of intent, are you doing what is necessary to make your customers happy? Have you fully understood the harmful effects of dissatisfaction?
You decide to have lunch at this new restaurant that has opened in your neighborhood. The menu is tempting. The setting seems pleasant.
But once at the table, it’s chaos. The wait is long, the waiter is clumsy and rude. The soup is cold. And the place is very noisy.
You will never set foot in this restaurant again;
You will advise those around you against the place;
On TripAdvisor or another similar site, you will post a inflammatory review to report your experience.
This is what you get into when you don’t take customer satisfaction seriously. Knowing how to satisfy a customer then becomes essential.
In this article, we will review the fundamentals of the concept of customer satisfaction. We will detail the reasons why it must be a top priority. Finally, we will provide you with best practices for measuring and improving your customer satisfaction.
A restaurateur opens his establishment in an area that is very busy at lunchtime, for example, an area with many businesses.
Customer satisfaction in a restaurant
The food is average, the service is average. The customers are not really satisfied. But it’s there, it’s convenient and it’s the only place for lunch within a few miles. So the restaurant attracts a loyal clientele every day.
A few months later, a second restaurant opened its doors. The food was better and the waiters were attentive.
Very quickly, the news spreads. The first restaurant empties as the new one fills up.
What lessons should we learn from this story?
The concern for satisfaction arises from competition. As soon as competition exists, customer satisfaction becomes a lever for differentiation.
This is why the concept of customer satisfaction historically appeared in the 70s.
The Trente Glorieuses saw the emergence of mass consumption. The household equipment rate increased for many products: automobiles, household appliances, etc. And the brands engaged in fierce competition.
But, under the effect of the oil shock of 1973, consumption slowed down. What consequences for businesses?
If we combine increased competition with an economic slowdown, only the most successful companies can survive.
From then on, customer satisfaction becomes a necessary condition for the sustainability of the company.
Definition of customer satisfaction
Since the 1970s, all companies have agreed on the importance of customer satisfaction.
But what is customer satisfaction?
Before measuring it and implementing actions to improve it, we must first be able to define it.
However, there is no unanimous definition to date.
According to Wikipedia,
Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well the products and services provided by a company meet or exceed customer expectations.
Now let’s ask customers of our first restaurant: “Are you satisfied?”
Definition of customer satisfaction
A first customer responds: “Yes, I am satisfied. It is a stone’s throw from my workplace and it is correct for the price.” At the next table, another customer says: “No, really, this meal is disgusting, I will never set foot here again.”
With this example, we understand that the importance of customer satisfaction is a feeling that results from the customer’s comparison between their initial expectations and their perception of performance.
We can therefore distinguish 3 characteristics of customer satisfaction. They are:
Subjective : customers may have different levels of satisfaction for an equal service.
Relative : it depends on the customer’s prior expectations.
Evolutionary : expectations and/or perception can change over time.
To measure it, we must be able to “capture” it. If we retain the definition according to which satisfaction is “a feeling”, how do we measure a feeling? We must take into account the manifestations of satisfaction.
However, customer satisfaction is manifested through 4 dimensions.
The 4 dimensions of customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a complex concept because it manifests itself in several forms. To measure it well, companies must understand its 4 dimensions.
La dimension cognitive
The cognitive dimension is the most intuitive dimension of customer satisfaction. Companies have long measured customer satisfaction on this basis alone.
In practice, this involves asking the customer to judge the performance of a product or service.
Their level of satisfaction with different attributes : quality of food, speed of service, cleanliness of the place, friendliness of service, price
The importance he places on these attributes.
The point is to weight the satisfaction scores according to the perceived importance of the attributes.
So, if the customer says he is not satisfied with the speed of the service, we will make a difference depending on whether this is an important criterion for him or not.
The limitation of this cognitive dimension is that it corresponds to a rational vision of customer satisfaction. But it does not really take into account emotional criteria.
The emotional dimension
However, as we mentioned above, customer satisfaction is first and foremost a feeling . It is the result of a set of emotions linked to an experience.
Customer satisfaction is inherently subjective. It is a matter of emotions. It cannot be measured by simply seeking to rationalize.
Consider a customer who leaves a restaurant after a negative experience. How does he feel?
He will tend to feel disappointed, bitter. He will experience regrets about his purchase.
Conversely, the satisfied customer will feel a certain pride. The experience lived will have confirmed his choice. He will congratulate himself on his good taste and will have pleasure in enjoying the product or service.
