Most Companies Miss The Boat On Customer Elation

Consulting | John Cashmore | December 29, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Working together to solve the problem

As a market researcher regularly conducting customer satisfaction studies at all levels of the supply chain, I am amazed at how many firms regularly conduct what I would call “bellybutton-viewing” customer satisfaction studies.

Recently, I subjected myself to an electronics/computer retailer’s online customer satisfaction survey. The study asked my impressions of the store from the outside and inside. I was asked about the staff, from floor sales folks to cashiers-pretty typical stuff. At no time, however, was I queried about my entire experience, which includes what happened after I left the store.

The survey didn’t ask the right questions to discover that it took me four trips to the retailer to solve what I was told was a simple problem. I finally resolved the situation, with some help from the retailer’s people, but it took me a total of 6.5 hours, multiple trips to the store and 40 miles worth of gas (admittedly, I am “technologically challenged”).

The survey I took provides a composite snapshot as to whether the merchandising and training departments along with operations management are doing their jobs. What it failed to do was provide any meaningful measure of “customer elation.”

What is customer elation? It is the level of satisfaction that will drive me to do business with that entity again. Equally important, it is a level of satisfaction that will lead me to tell anyone I care about-even some folks that I don’t care about-how “elated” I was with my experience buying from that business.

Much has been published about customer elation in recent years. Some researchers recommend asking the question, “Would you recommend our product/service/location to one of your relatives or close friends?” This same question, however, was recently challenged in an American Marketing Association publication as being only one of multiple ways to determine elation.

The article explains how many researchers and private entities now use the “net promoter score” (as advanced by Fred Reichheld of Bain & Co. in the December 2003 Harvard Business Review). It then goes on to question the value of such scores, noting that one limitation is that answers and scores can vary depending on when the question is asked.

Let’s assume for the moment the question is good to ask-when is the right time to ask it? Should it be asked and correlated to other questions relative to store appearance and employee performance attributes? How can one test the performance of the store, but never ask about the products purchased at the store? This is my favorite navel-gazing exercise of all.

“How was your shopping/dining/installation/travel experience today?” This question is all about the immediate supplier. Many savvy marketers are convinced that consumer memories are focused only on the buying experience. In my opinion, this is far from the truth.

For example, if a woman goes into a store to purchase a dress, is the elation really in the store, or is it when someone compliments her at a party on what a fabulous dress she is wearing? She expects store personnel to tell her it looks beautiful-that is their job. But when she is complimented on the product, she thinks well of the store, the product and her ability to make such a selection, and will probably return for a future purchase.

The product itself is part of the experience, but how many companies measure how the experience was after the customer has left the store and had a chance to use the product? This is where the true elation is or is not experienced.

A window buyer may find your people friendly and professional, think the showroom is beautiful and be grateful that their house wasn’t destroyed during the installation process. But if he or she thinks some of the windows are a little hard to open and close a few weeks later, are they going to be elated enough to recommend your company to a friend?

Too many producers, resellers, retailers and distributors think about products only when they are in their possession. And unfortunately, many of them will never know the true customer satisfaction or elation level, because the customer and product have left the premises.

Author: John Cashmore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Views expressed by Authors/Users/Subscribers etc on this website are completely their personal views and in no way reflect the views of their employers or any connected parties. Please view our detailed Terms & Conditions.

Aspiring Consultants can seek free & valuable advise by Clicking Here