Customer Satisfaction

What is consumer satisfaction?

Customer Satisfaction level is the degree of satisfaction provided by the product of a company as
measured by the number of repeat customers. It refer the things we want at time Customer
satisfaction has been considered the essence of success in today’s highly competitive market. It
is mentioned that the customer is the king. It is argued that profit and growth are stimulated
primarily by customer loyalty. It is found that loyalty is a direct outcome of customer
satisfaction. Generally speaking, if the customers are satisfied with the provided product the
probability that they use the product again increases. Also, satisfied customers will most
probably talk enthusiastically about their buying or the use of a particular product. The
importance of customers has been highlighted by lots of researchers and academicians all around
the world. Top performing companies believe that customers are the purpose of what they do and
they very much depend on them; customers are not the source of a problem and they should
never make a wish that customers „should go away‟ because their future and security will put in
jeopardy. That is the main reason why companies are focusing much attention on customer
satisfaction, loyalty and retention.

Influencing factors of customer satisfaction

 Price of product
When price of any product vary from time to time then it influence the satisfaction level
of user of different services.

 Quality of product
Many times when quality of any product is not so good then it influence the customer
satisfaction level.

 Availability of Product
If product is not easily available to the customer at their place then customer satisfaction
is also influenced.

 Demand & Supply of goods

Sometimes demand for any product is very high but Supply is not going according to
demand then, customer satisfaction is also influenced due to change in the level of
demand and supply.
  Other factors
Other factor like friends suggestion, customer taste & preference, also influences the
customer satisfaction in very broad sense.

Customer Satisfaction: Perception of product Quality

When it comes to customer satisfaction, it all comes down to perception: How the customer sees
and experiences the product provided by your business company. It’s not what you believe or
think, not what your studies or focus groups tell you, but what your actual customers feel,
experience, and say. So your bottom-line, are tied to customer satisfaction and quality. In turn,
quality is measured along two dimensions, the physical and the performance.

Consumer Behavior and the Marketing Concepts

The first of the three orientations is frequently labeled the production orientation, As the term
implies, the focus during this period was gearing up manufacturing skills in order to expand
production- to make more products.

The second business orientation is a sales orientation, with a time frame extending roughly from
the 1930s to the early to mid-1950s. The focus of this business orientation was to sell more of
what the manufacturing department was able to produce.

To consider what consumers wanted, rather than what the company finds easiest to
make or least expensive to make, is in keeping with the marketing concept. Accepting a
marketing orientation corresponded to the beginning of this business orientation, which leads to
the core philosophy of marketing, namely the marketing concept.

Consumer Behavior and Brand Success

There may be a need to analyze consumer behavior strategies in combination with marketing mix
elements of specific brands to obtain insights into the success or failure of a brand. This kind of
analysis may involve more than one concept of consumer behavior and cover a combination of
concepts. These concepts, which explain a brand’s success, can vary from one product category
to another, given the nature and intensity of competition in each product category. This kind of
analysis will result in the following advantages:
  A marketer can formulate a brand strategy after considering a number of concepts
associated with a competitive situation.

 A pioneering brand will have followed a specific strategy for success, and it will have to
combine a few strategies to sustain the success achieved.

 A follower brand will be interested in identifying the “gap” in strategies devised by the
pioneering brand and a combination of concepts are likely to be helpful.

 In a number of consumer product categories (both FMCGs and durables), advertising or

marketing communication is given a lot of importance in the formulation of a brand’s
strategy.

Customer Value, Satisfaction, Trust, and Retention

Since its emergence in the 1950s, many companies have very successfully adopted the
marketing concept. The result has been more products, in more sizes, models, versions, and
packages, offered to more precisely targeted target markets. This has resulted in an increasingly
competitive marketplace.

PROVIDING CUSTOMERS WITH VALUE

Customer value can be thought of as the ratio between the customers’ perceived benefits
(economic, functional, and psychological) and the resources (monetary, time, efforts,
psychological) used to obtain those benefits. Perceived value is relative and subjective. For
example, diners at an exclusive French restaurant in Washington, D.C., Where a meal with
beverages may cost up to $300 per person, may expect unique and delicious food, immaculate
service, and beautiful décor.

Developing a value proposition and looking for the impact of emerging ”megatrends” are
influential factors in attaining successful positioning of a brand.
ENSURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customer satisfaction is the individual consumer’s perception of the perception of the product
or service in relation to his or her expectations. As noted earlier, customers will have drastically
different expectations of an expensive French restaurant and a McDonald’s, although both are
members of the restaurant industry that tend to cater to segments of consumers, or sometimes the
same consumers under different circumstances. The concept of customer satisfaction is a
function of customer expectations. A customer whose experience falls below expectations will
be dissatisfied.

With respect to satisfying consumers, a widely quoted study that linked levels of
customer satisfaction with customer behavior identified several types of customers. On the
positive side, there are completely satisfied customers who are either loyalists who keep
purchasing, or apostles whose experiences exceed their expectations and who provides very
positive word-of-mouth about the company to others. In contrast, on the negative side there are
defectors who feel neutral or merely satisfied and are just as likely to stop doing business with
the company.

BUILDING CUSTOMER TRUST

Closely related to the challenge of satisfying consumers is the challenge of establishing and
maintaining consumer trust in a company and its products. The challenge of securing consumer
trust is not only of concern to product and services companies, but it is also of paramount
importance to both online and off-line retailers, as well as online and off-line product-and
service-rating establishments.

Still further, trust is the foundation for maintaining a long-standing relationship

with customers, and it helps to increase the chances that customers will remain loyal. If for some
reason a situation occurs where a customer’s relationship is a risk in terms of trust, there is also
the related concept of delight, in which a company seeks to recover in the eyes and minds of
customers by setting things right with the customer, and further demonstrates to that customer
that he or she is valued as a customer.
SECURING CUSTOMER RETENTION

A strategy of customer retention is designed to make it in the best interest of customers to stay
with a company rather than switch to another company. In almost all business situations, it is
more expensive to secure new customers than to keep existing ones. Studies have shown that
small reductions in customers defections produce significant increases in profits because (1)
Loyal customers buy more product; (2) Loyal customers are less price sensitive and pay less
attention to competitor’s advertising; (3) servicing existing customers, who are familiar with the
company’s offerings and processes, is cheaper; and (4) Loyal customers spread positive word of
mouth and refer other customers. Furthermore, marketing efforts aimed at attracting new
customers are expensive; indeed, in saturated markets, it may be impossible to find new
customers.