Customer Satisfaction versus Excellence versus Loyalty How do I Decide What Customer Satisfaction Scale to Use? Customer Satisfaction is a misnomer. Think about what it takes to be satisfied. Suppose we both go out to the restaurant. Chris goes to the nearest fast food restaurant, while you go to one of the finest restaurants in town. What would it mean to say that we were both “satisfied,” or even “very satisfied?” Obviously, we had very different experiences, and yet, we may both have given the same rating on our customer satisfaction surveys. In what sense were our experiences equal? In our experience, “excellence” is a more discriminating scale. If we were both asked to rate our dining experiences on an excellence scale, we would likely generate different scores. A scale we have often used is “Excellent – Very Good – Good – Fair – Poor.” Admittedly, this scale is not balanced. There are more positive scores than negative. This is done deliberately because most companies do fairly well in customer satisfaction. We want to discriminate between different levels of satisfaction. A more balanced scale would not accomplish that as well as this scale does. There are differences between using satisfaction scales and an excellence scale. Note that “Very Satisfied” and especially “Somewhat Satisfied” could mean almost anything on the excellence scale. That is, people who are very satisfied could rate their experience anywhere from "Excellent" to "Very Good" to "Good." These "satisfaction" ratings are not very discriminating. On the other hand, an “Excellent” rating represents almost assuredly a “Very Satisfied” experience. The excellence scale is much more discriminating, and that is what you desire from a rating scale: the ability to discriminate between different levels of performance. Why shouldn’t I combine all positive ratings? We have also seen many companies that combine all positive responses into one “satisfied” class. There is an obvious fallacy inherent in such actions. Data adapted from my friend Ray Kordupleski, formerly of AT&T, show how loyal customers were. Who stayed with AT&T after deregulation in the early 1980s, based upon their customer satisfaction ratings? Those who voted "Excellent!" Even when the customer rated AT&T’s long distance service “Very Good,” about 25% of the customers walked. If you look at data from those who rated the service “Good,” almost two out of three customers left AT&T. Does it look legitimate, given these data, to combine the top three positive categories? Obviously, not all of these customers were “satisfied.” The goal is to score in the “top box’ – to score “Excellent” with your product or service. This is the best way to ensure loyal customers when they have choice. A Checklist of Lessons Learned
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