Definition: Customer satisfaction indicates the fulfillment that customers derive from doing business with a firm. In other words, it’s how happy the customers are with their transaction and overall experience with the company.
What Does Customer Satisfaction Mean?
What is the definition of customer satisfaction? Customers derive satisfaction from a product or a service based on whether their need is met effortlessly, in a convenient way that makes them loyal to the firm. Hence, customer satisfaction is an important step to gain customer loyalty.
Organizations calculate the customer satisfaction score (CSAT), which is the average rating of a customer’s responses, the net promoter score (NPS), which indicates the probability that a customer refers a brand to another person, and the customer effort score (CES), which indicates how easy it is for a customer to do business with a firm. The customer satisfaction metrics are then used to estimate consumer behavior.
Let’s look at an example.
Example
Natalia is a marketing manager in a retail firm. Her firm has recently launched a new product and Natalia is asked to collect the information from 200 customer surveys and prepare a spreadsheet with the satisfaction metrics for the new product.
The main questions in the survey were:
- Are your expectations met with this product?
- How did the product perform?
- Overall, how do you rate the product?
- How do you rate your shopping experience?
- How likely is that you recommend this product to a friend?
- Are you satisfied with the way the company performs on this product?
- Are service representatives knowledgeable?
- Are service representatives professional?
- Is the company responding in a timely manner?
Using a scale from 1 to 10, Natalia calculates the satisfaction score by averaging the customer responses. Then, she calculates the net promoter score using a scale from 1 to 10, and finally, the customer effort score, using a scale from 1 to 10.
At the end of the day, she has drafted the following satisfaction measurement spreadsheet:
The company has a major satisfaction problem.
21.7% of the responders are satisfied with the product.
31.5% of the responders would recommend the product.
19.8% of the responders are satisfied with the customer service.
Although the product is rated high, the satisfaction metrics reveal that the customer needs are not entirely met. Hence, the company should change its service practices to retain its customers.
Summary Definition
Define Customer Satisfaction: Consumer satisfaction means the degree to which a company’s customers are happy with their purchase or experience with the company.
