Learning Unit 3 : Importance of Customer Satisfaction

Confronting the service quality and customer satisfaction oriented era, the emphasis of customer requirement, service interests and customer satisfaction become the key value proposition of business strategic management. Among them, customer satisfaction is the core value of marketing conception. It originated from ‘Customer Satisfaction’ conducted by AT&T, ‘Moment of Truth’ adopted by a North European airline company, and ‘Benchmark of Customer Satisfaction’ carried out by American Vehicle Field. Moreover, Japanese enterprises value the worth of customer satisfaction so much that they made the year of 1992 as the year of Customer Satisfaction (CS).

The reasons that caused this fashionable trend are the changes in consumption. In the ‘Rational Consumption Age’ customers pay attention on function and prices. The criterion is between good and bad. Coming after it is the ‘Perceptual Consumption Age’: customers stress design and usage, and the criterion is between ‘like’ and ‘dislike’. The present ‘Touched Consumption Age’ focuses on satisfaction and joyfulness; therefore, ‘satisfaction’ and ‘un-satisfaction’ are the key points.

Customer satisfaction had a great impact on business management. It is illustrated as following:

• Customer Satisfaction Aids the Formation of Business Superior Competition
  Muller (1991) thinks that the emphasis on the traditional product quality no longer has advantageous superiority. Customer satisfaction will be the only competition weapon. Having high customer satisfaction will obtain continuous competitive superiority. In addition, customer satisfaction affects the business image and has a positive impact on brand and reputation. According to Rapp and Collins (1991), most of the businesses are alert on the importance of establishing a database for present potential customers. In Europe, America and Japan, almost all enterprises scheme a satisfaction-marketing plan for specific customers in order to take the lead in the respective markets.
• Customer Satisfaction is the Winning Point for Increasing Business Profits
  Customer satisfaction could enhance the profit ratio of a company; high customer satisfaction is the benchmark to win. The research conducted by Forell and Wernerfelt (1988) pointed out that an effective process of customer complaints and customer satisfaction can affect the business profit ratio.
• Customer Satisfaction becomes the key point of Affecting Purchase Behavior
  Customer satisfaction is the key issue of researching consumption behavior and influences the success of a company for the reason that it directly affects the loyalty and reputation. High loyalties will move high transfer obstacles. Satisfied customers will purchase same products again, talk about them with friends, neglect other products and buy related products.
• Customer Satisfaction is the Benchmark for Economics and Social Welfare
  Fornell (1992) regards the customer satisfaction barometer as the benchmark for national economics. It indicates that the economical performance of citizen welfare, public policies and consumption groups make customer satisfaction the goal of consumer welfare.