Question of the Week
How do organizations gain, measure, and retain customer satisfaction and loyalty?
A: Given the current economic situation, all organizations seek ways to understand more about what customers want and to ensure that they retain customers.
As defined in The Quality Improvement Glossary by Donald L. Siebels, published by ASQ Quality Press, 2004, customer loyalty/retention is:
The result of an organization’s plans, processes, practice, and efforts designed to deliver their services or products in ways which create customer satisfaction so customers are retained and committed to remain loyal.
Bob E. Hayes writes in Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty, Third Edition: Survey Design, Use, and Statistical Analysis Methods, Quality Press, 2008:
Customer loyalty is not a unidimensional construct. Results of two studies show that there are three general types of customer loyalty: advocacy loyalty, purchasing loyalty, and retention loyalty. These can be reliably measured, and each provides unique and useful information regarding the quality of the customer relationship…. By measuring advocacy, purchasing, and retention loyalty, companies will be better able to manage their customer relationships to maximize growth.
These articles from ASQ may provide additional insight:
Imprint Analysis: A New Technology for Sensing Customers' Emerging Needs-The Key to Winning Their Loyalty
by Cristina Afors and Marilyn Zuckerman Michaels
Annual Spring Conference Proceedings, Association for Quality and Participation, March 2001
An imprint analysis is a business tool that takes into account hidden emotions that are the drivers of behavior for customers, shareowners, suppliers and employees.
Words, Words, Mere Words? An Analysis of Services Customers' Perception of Evaluative Concepts
by Florence Dano, Sylvie Llosa, and Chiara Orsingher
Quality Management Journal, April 2006
The concepts of quality, satisfaction, performance, attitude, and value are studied.
Your Customers Are Talking, But Are You Listening?
by Russ Westcott
Quality Progress, February 2006
The listen, collect, analyze, learn, improve (LCALI) process can help an organization capture important customer data for analysis and action.
What Do Online Customers Value?
by Nabil Tamimi, Rose Sebastianelli, and Murli Rajan
Quality Progress, July 2005
Burgeoning e-commerce sales point to the pivotal role of the Internet as an effective marketing tool. An online survey was used to determine which website design features have the strongest consumer appeal.
Customers: A Love/Hate Relationship?
by Russ Westcott
Quality Progress, July 2002
Focusing on customers means knowing what they need and how you affect them.
Peter F. Drucker: Delivering Value to Customers
by Gregory H. Watson
Quality Progress, May 2002
You have to manage for results, do the right thing right, and make serving the customer the center of everything.
Don't Measure Customer Satisfaction
by David C. Swaddling and Charles Miller
Quality Progress, May 2002
Customer perceived value is a better alternative to traditional customer satisfaction measurements.
Also see the following books and reports:
The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference
by Claes Fornell, 2007
Drawing from an extensive survey of American consumers and including examples from companies such as the Home Depot and UPS, The Satisfied Customer reveals some surprising conclusions about outreach strategy. It also teaches firms how to quantify and increase the value of their customer relationships - what Claes Fornell calls the Customer Asset.
Developing New Services: Incorporating the Voice of the Customer into Strategic Service Development
by Caroline Fisher and James Schutta, 2003
This book explains how to incorporate the voice of the customer into product and service development and uses the results to guide strategic planning for the organization.
American Customer Satisfaction Index Quarterly Reports
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a uniform, national, cross-industry measure of satisfaction with the quality of goods and services available in the United States.
Search the Knowledge Center for "ACSI" in the title field to find quarterly reports containing scores and high-level analysis of companies organized by industry.
