How to boost Customer Satisfaction

by HBR and G.Tomas M. Hult and Forrest V. Morgeson

An article from Harvard Business Review today makes us pay attention to the customer experience. Despite all the analysis tools and efforts undertaken, customer satisfaction is in free fall.

G. Tomas M. Hult of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Forrest V. Morgeson Director of Research at the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) list the top 10 areas to focus on to satisfy customers and create greater profit at lower risk.

Customer satisfaction is a strategic asset:

The focus is on managing the optimization related to customer satisfaction.

Understand customer expectations:

Companies can and should delight customers by providing an extraordinary experience, but with realistic goals.

Quality performance is important:

According to ACSI, quality refers to reliability and personalization, but personalization dominates reliability as a driver of satisfaction. We live in a "mass customization" economy, which translates into satisfaction being more sensitive to customization than to reliability of products and services.

Value is more or less a matter of price:

It is important to drive satisfaction and economic growth through a value proposition based on price rather than product or service quality.

Satisfaction is never guaranteed:

Satisfaction is a critical indicator of a national economy's macroeconomic growth and the evolution of that country's economy.

Appreciate complaining customers:

Companies that handle complaints satisfactorily build more customer loyalty and develop more competitive brands, products and service.

Stick around and be loyal:

Millennials are among the most loyal customers of any cohort. Near-perfect complaint management often leads to even higher loyalty than customers with a trouble-free experience.

Satisfied customers drive bottom-line results:

Thanks to numerous scientific studies, the causal link between customer satisfaction and financial performance is extremely strong. Customer satisfaction is a positive predictor of stock market performance that reliably outperforms the S&P 500 Index and affects many performance factors such as productivity, market share, revenue, sales growth, cash flow, profitability, return on investment (ROI), cost of capital, stock price, shareholder value, stock market risk, etc.

Correcting disconnects between the company and the customer:

A customer's journey with a company's brands, products and services is an important aspect of the buying and retention process. Managers tend to overestimate customer expectations, perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty, while underestimating customer complaints.

Know the ecosystem through scientific measurement:

A growing customer base generally means that satisfaction, on average, tends to fall due to the increasing diversity of customer needs and wants. Today, Apple exemplifies a highly connected ecosystem and a cause-and-effect understanding of its brands, products and services in the marketplace, but value propositions for Apple and all businesses are an ongoing challenge.

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