Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in <a href="/facts/Marketing/LttVQ66t">marketing</a> to evaluate <a href="/facts/Customer_experience/WsurycBq">customer experience</a>. It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass <a href="/facts/Customer/oGqcqmhf">customer</a> expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified <a href="/facts/Contentment/l2LqPoI0">satisfaction</a> goals." Enhancing customer satisfaction and fostering <a href="/facts/Customer_loyalty/deMQ8RSK">customer loyalty</a> are pivotal for businesses, given the significant importance of improving the balance between customer <a href="/facts/Attitude_(psychology)/U9fTS27S">attitudes</a> before and after the consumption process.
<a href="/facts/Expectation_confirmation_theory/aFLkeNxe">Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory</a> is the most widely accepted theoretical framework for explaining customer satisfaction. However, other frameworks, such as <a href="/facts/Equity_theory/UdJ3LUyC">Equity Theory</a>, <a href="/facts/Attribution_Theory/pQCdLuCk">Attribution Theory</a>, <a href="/facts/Contrast_theory_of_meaning/ee3h9S1n">Contrast Theory</a>, Assimilation Theory, and various others, are also used to gain insights into customer satisfaction. However, traditionally applied satisfaction <a href="/facts/Survey_(statistics)/vgqyWzAY">surveys</a> are influence by biases related to <a href="/facts/Social-desirability_bias/bpKHtuvC">social desirability</a>, <a href="/facts/Availability_heuristic/BMwkXqxD">availability heuristics</a>, memory limitations, respondents' <a href="/facts/Mood_(psychology)/mnozVozL">mood</a> while answering questions, as well as affective, unconscious, and dynamic nature of <a href="/facts/Customer_experience/WsurycBq">customer experience</a>. 
The <a href="/facts/Marketing_Accountability_Standards_Board/3E6Fgbua">Marketing Accountability Standards Board</a> endorses the definitions, purposes, and measures that appear in Marketing Metrics as part of its ongoing Common Language in Marketing Project. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and monitoring their businesses. Customer satisfaction is viewed as a <a href="/facts/Key_performance_indicator/qVbntaF8">key performance indicator</a> within business and is often part of a <a href="/facts/Balanced_Scorecard/lo8AgBVE">Balanced Scorecard</a>. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a major differentiator and increasingly has become an important element of business strategy.

Customer satisfaction open-in-new

Customer satisfaction