Robert Brecht’s Blog

In my last blog on Customer Insight, I discussed how important it is to any kind of marketing, including online marketing to know your target markets, i.e., understand who and where they are as well as how they think and make decisions.

Today I want to talk about customer satisfaction factors and their impact in our approach to e-commerce and online marketing.

Customer Satisfaction is a Moving Target!

Customer satisfaction factors are in the mind of the customer, i.e, their expectations. Customer expectations of what affects their satisfaction evolves over time. I will give an example later in this blog. The factors that influence customer satisfaction can be classified as:

1. Dissatisfaction Factors
2. Satisfaction Factors
3. Neutral Factors
4. Core or Critical Factors

Dissatisfaction Factors influence customers negatively. They are factors that customers have come to expect as part of the product or service. Customers have a perception of a product or  service and if your product or service fails to meet that expectation you will have a customer or a potential customer who will not purchase the product or service or who will not buy from you again. Actually that is the least of your problems. Dissatisfied customers will spread the word much more than satisfied customers. The Internet and social media sites make spreading the word easy with a few keystrokes. The good news is that research indicates that one only has to meet, not exceed, customers’ expectations to eliminate it as a Dissatisfaction Factors.

Satisfaction Factors are perceived as valuable things that motivate a customer. They may actually work at both the rational and impulse (emotional) level to to move a customer to purchase a product or service. Satisfaction Factors differentiate you from the competition. An organization should focus on its core competencies and customer benefits, along with good marketing communications to turn them into Satisfaction Factors. The result is a competitive advantage for your organization.

Neutral Factors have no impact one way or another on customer perception and satisfaction. Expending marketing and sales efforts touting attributes or benefits that are neutral in the customer’s mind is wasted effort.

Core or Critical Factors usually deal with the core or generic aspect of the product or service we are marketing. They can influence customers positively or negatively. They are fundamental issues with the product or service and the perceived need for it.  This is where an unreliable product or poor customers service will overwhelm all of the Satisfaction Factors associated with it. Similarly a product that addresses a critical perceived need will influence a customer positively towards it.

Over time there is an evolution of the satisfaction process. Once a attribute of a product or service penetrates the market, potential customers come to expect that attribute and it becomes a de facto standard. That means that what was once a Satisfaction Factor or product differentiator is now expected (Core Factor) and will someday become a Dissatisfaction Factor as more advanced attributes are part of the market. Customers’ expectations change over time as the market changes. That is why any organization must undertake continuouos efforts to improve their products and service if it is to maintain a competitive edge. Successful companies are continually developing new Satisfaction Factors as part of the process of doing business.

Let’s look at a car accessory as an example of this process. During the last couple of years we have seen car navigation systems as a significant Satisfaction Factor for customers. We are seeing more and more market penetration and the advent of relatively cheap portable navigation units. The result is that navigation systems are no longer the Satisfaction Factor they were three or four years ago. In time, they will become a Dissatisfaction Factor in that customers will expect them and will be unhappy if they are not part of the standard car package.

We have seen the same thing with website design. Take for example including a Privacy Statement. Such a statement at one time was a Satisfaction Factor. Today such statements are an industry standard and not having one is a Dissatisfaction Factor. Customers expect a website to protect their privacy and to so state what information is collected and how it will protect it. The same could be said for usability issues such as intuitive and consistent navigation within the website.

As always, your thoughts are welcom

Tags: Brand + Technology, Internet Marketing, Non Linear Internet Marketing, Online Marketing

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 11:39 am and is filed under Internet Marketing, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.