Some of the most customer service intensive industries are considered to be the airline industry, the hotel industry, the telecom industry. These are industries that deal with customers on a one-on-one basis every minute of the day and therefore it is pertinent that they provide complete and competent service all the time.

A great way to learn about the manner in which a company can make a difference is to look at the top ranked companies in the industry and see what they are doing. Studying them also helps in giving an insight into what differentiates them from the pack. Let us take a look at some of the top ranked in terms of customer satisfaction and what really makes then stand apart.

1. Airline industry – JetBlue Airways has bagged the first rank among all economy and low cost airlines for the third time in a row. The survey conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. The fact that the customers continued to vote for JetBlue as their favorite airline even during the economic downturn goes to show the extent of loyalty that JetBlue customers have for the brand. Despite being a low cost airline, JetBlue treats each and every passenger as kind. They have been tuned to customer needs and have ensured larger legroom and they also have in-flight email and instant messenger services on board. Started as an airline that wanted to bring back humanity to the airline industry, they have stuck by their promise and each and every employee that is hired is assessed on the basis of safety, caring, integrity, fun and passion.

2. Telecommunications industry – J.D Power associates awarded the top rank to T-Mobile for the second time in a row in the wireless retail customer satisfaction survey held among wireless majors. The brand left behind brands like Verizon, Sprint and AT&T. The reason why T-Mobile has managed to stay on top of things is due to their performance on ‘quality of sales staff’, ‘price’ and ‘promotions’. Sales representatives explain the data plan in the most recent calls, and a third even discuss 3G offerings. Showing basic courtesies like being straight forward, smiling, maintain eye contact and the like have also helped immensely in putting T-Mobile where it is today.

3. Express delivery – Fedex has been known to obtain the best scores in the customer satisfaction domain. In a survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), it was found that Fedex was being considered as the best express delivery because they believe that there is an important connection between team member satisfaction and customer satisfaction. This company has ranked number 1 for 12 years consecutively and therefore they definitely know what they are doing. No doubt therefore that the company is also considered to be the most admired and trusted employer too. It has a team of more than 290,000 inspired team members that continue to stay absolutely and positively focused on specific aspects like safety, ethical and professional standards and the changing needs of the customers.

A page can definitely be taken from the customer satisfaction books of these top ranked companies to learn how to increase customer satisfaction.

There are various studies that mention how the cost of a new customer acquisition is ten times more than retaining one. And therefore companies know that when they have a customer they need to hang on to what they have. Proper customer satisfaction analysis is what can help in arriving at the action that needs to be taken to retain customers.

Just knowing the level of customer satisfaction is not enough. The level of satisfaction does not give diagnostics with regards to what should be done to improve the score and increase the level of happiness of customers. Neither does it help in understanding the various potential areas that can create customer delight.

What this essentially means is that there are various other metrics, other than the overall satisfaction that need to be tracked. A customer satisfaction dashboard is a great way in which various parameters can be tracked on a regular basis. There are also some software options that can provide customer satisfaction alerts in case the satisfaction of a particular area, region, division or center dips below a certain level.

Some of the must have metrics that should be used to create a customer satisfaction dashboard are listed below.

1. Customer Satisfaction Index – Most obviously, this is the most important parameter that should be used to create a customer satisfaction dashboard. The index should take into account all the information that is captured at an overall basis and create a ‘one-number’ index that can be tracked across various players in the industry.

2. Customer Satisfaction Index by Segments – While the overall index can provide an insight into the performance of the company or the brand as a whole, it is necessary that the same parameter should be tracked for various regions, divisions, dealerships or stores to be able to assess their performance. It is only fair that the various segment stakeholders be able to see their performance easily since customer satisfaction index is often an important KPI that is set for managers.

3. Trends in Satisfaction Levels – Not only is it important to look at satisfaction levels at an absolute level, the trend is also important. A time series customer satisfaction dashboard helps in understanding if the performance if dipping or not. This is helpful because at times a dip may not apparent if the company is still performing well. But a trend customer satisfaction analysis can help in taking corrective measures in time.

4. Customer Typology – This is an interesting analysis that you can do to understand the spread of the customers that you have. If you create a grid of customers based on low loyalty, high loyalty, low satisfaction and high satisfaction you can classify your customers into mercenaries (low loyalty, high satisfaction), evangelists (high loyalty, high satisfaction), hostages (high loyalty, low satisfaction) and goners (low loyalty, low satisfaction). This customer satisfaction analysis can also be done on an ongoing basis to understand the changing face of the customer base.

5. Driver Analysis – This analysis can be performed to understand the attributes that are genuinely important. It can be done by regressing the satisfaction scores of individual attributes to the overall satisfaction score. The higher the beta coefficient, the more important the attribute is towards increasing customer satisfaction.

6. Key Attributes – While it may not be able to put all the attributes that are being tracked on to a customer satisfaction dashboard, it may be pertinent to identify the top five attributes and create a dashboard for the same. This will help the managers to ensure that they never lose sight of the parameters that are extremely important for the client.

7. Issue Tracking – This is a relatively qualitative part of the dashboard where extremely disgruntled customers can be brought to the notice of managers by customer satisfaction alerts. These special cases can then be tackled to reduce and cap the damage that has been done. This is an essential part of customer satisfaction management since an unhappy customer can bring about immense bad word of mouth.

8. Changes in Important Attributes – While this is a customer satisfaction analysis that you do not have to do every time, creating such a dashboard and updating it once in a while is helpful. This is because you may not generally see changes in the attributes that are important very frequently in the industry unless you are in the technology niche. But creating a dashboard like this will help in remaining ahead of the crowd.

9. Comment Scroller – A comment scroller is a customer satisfaction analysis that allows a company to understand the positive and negative comments that customers share. Managers can look at this scroller to get insights into the manner their customers think.

10. Competitive Indexing – Customer satisfaction index can never be treated in isolation. It is always interpreted in relation to the manner in which competition performs. A competitive customer satisfaction analysis can be converted into a dashboard where the difference between the scores of the company and the nearest competitor can be seen at all times.

The customer satisfaction index has proven to be a parameter that is extremely good with predicting revenue and repeat sales. The measurement of customer satisfaction is mandatory for any industry. The periodicity at which you actually get the customer satisfaction done depends on the specific niche that you operate in and the extent to which the industry is dynamic.

A typical customer satisfaction survey collects information on the level of satisfaction at an overall level, repeat purchase intention, likelihood of recommendation and extent of differentiation at the least. These questions are asked for the company in question and also some key competitors.

Even though companies may get a complete customer satisfaction survey done every now and then, what is even more important is that divisions should set KPIs (Key performance Indicators) based on the results. This is especially important for customer facing teams that interact with customers on a daily basis.

Here is a list of the top 5 customer satisfaction KPIs that are used these days.

1. Percentage of extremely satisfied – All customer satisfaction surveys have an overall satisfaction question. This is collected on the basis of a 5 point or a 7 point scale. The percentage of people responding with a positive comment or the top 2 boxes (extremely satisfied and very satisfied) makes a good target. In some cases companies also ensure that the proportion of bottom 2 boxes (negative reactions) is not higher than a certain percentage.

2. Over customer satisfaction index – This is an aggregate of the overall questions that have been asked in the survey. This can be calculated as a weighted mean or as an index. The parameters that are generally used to calculate the customer satisfaction index are overall satisfaction, likelihood to repurchase, and likelihood to recommend. It is possible to create an index by scaling up each of these to 25. This would mean equal weights. If you scale up the top box or top 2 box proportions to varying levels (adding up to 100) you can create a customer satisfaction index. The weightings should be based on the specific industry and the parameters that are more important. In addition to that what is more important is to ensure that the weightings are kept constant while comparing the index over time or across various segments.

3. Net Promoter Score – This is a specific customer satisfaction index that is calculated based on a method that classifies customers into three categories – promoters, passives and detractors. The categorization is done usually on a 10 point scale for likelihood to recommend. The net promoter score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The promoters and detractors are based on the top 2 and bottom 2 proportions on the scale.

4. Deviation from competitor – A customer satisfaction KPI can also be based on the difference of the company’s performance from the main competitor. The objective here is for the parameter to always be positive and higher than competition. The level of advantage that a brand should have over competition should be specified for the KPI to be measureable. The competitor scores can be obtained by random surveys where users of competitive brands are sought or by asking the same questions from multiple brands users (those who use the company brand and another brand too).

5. Ratings on specific attributes – Last but not the least, there are always specific attributes that the company is focusing on in terms of performance. These differ based on the industry and could include some like ‘responsiveness’, ‘complaint handling’, ‘quality of query processing’, ‘knowledge of call center personnel’ and many more. The list of these parameters is generally generated based on focus group discussions before a survey questionnaire is finalized. The ones that are chosen to be set as KPIs could be those that are being talked about in advertising or those that have been identified in the previous round of customer satisfaction survey as the ones that need to be augmented. Percentage of people ‘extremely satisfied’ with the specific attribute can also be used as a customer satisfaction KPI.

What is important to note across all these customer satisfaction KPI’s is that they should be set judiciously. An extremely tough customer satisfaction KPI may result in the team feeling frustrated and exasperated while an easy one may not be challenging enough.

Some customer facing teams like call center teams have other kinds of customer satisfaction KPIs as well. These are calculated based on the performance on call and may not necessarily be obtained from a survey. Some of the KPIs include abandon rate, average speed of answer, idle time, average handling time, time in queue, on call resolution rate, turnover rate, contact volume, average number of calls per hour, time distribution, availability and utilization too.

Customer satisfaction KPIs can be used to create customer satisfaction dashboards. These can also be put up on the intranet for teams to monitor as they see their performance and change course along the way.

With increasing competition, the one thing that differentiates businesses is customer interaction. What is the one ‘feeling’ that the customer walks away with? While this aspect may not be as measurable as some of the quantitative gurus may like it to be, it is definitely a significant factor that dictates whether the customer will come back for more or not.

Before we get onto what aspects customers remember and the basis on which a customer interaction model should be created, it is important to understand the various kinds of interactions that customers have with company assets. Here are some of the most common touch points that exist.

- Product – This is often called the moment of truth in traditional marketing. While there are no set guidelines about the manner in which a product should interact with the customer, the usability of the product defines the customer experience. In products that are technology oriented, the ease with which the gadget can be operated and accessibility are aspects that matter. The more relevant the product is for the consumer, the experience is likely to be better.

- Sales people – This is an interaction where the human element comes in. Aspects such as depth of information, ability to answer questions adequately, comprehension capabilities, understanding of own product and competition can enhance customer satisfaction. Other aspects such as ensuring that the customer is at ease and mannerisms like smiling, making eye contact also play a significant role.

- Service resources – Service people need to understand that customers come to service centers when they have a problem. Empathy with the customer is a major part of the whole interaction since in most cases the customers are likely to be frustrated with the breakdown. A positive, calm and confident person with a pleasant personality can make a significant impact. Treating customers as individuals and anticipating their needs is what can delight them too.

- Call centers – Chatting with call center resources can be extremely harassing especially if you are trying to communicate your point and feel that the person at the other end does not understand.

- Online interaction with website – Increasingly people are communicating via emails and ‘contact us’ options on the website. This is another touch point that has become extremely important over the decade. Website design usability and accessibility is the one factor that dictates what customers remember about a company contributes to the ease with which customers can access information. This too has a significant impact on what the customer remembers of the company.

- Other touch points – In addition to the above mentioned aspects that govern customer experience, it is important to understand that any interaction with the company affects customer satisfaction in some way. Company advertisements dictate the level of expectations that a customer has and therefore it also impacts what customers remember of a company. There is also the aspect of word of mouth. While this is an area that cannot be actively controlled by the company, word of mouth in the traditional manner or on social networking sites impacts the overall expectations too.

Customer satisfaction is a relative term and it is important to understand that a customer experience can also be deemed good or bad depending on the level of expectation that the customer has. For example, when you expect that it will take about an hour to service your laptop and it is completed in less than 30 minutes, you are likely to go away extremely satisfied. On the other hand, if you expected it to finish in 15 minutes and it takes 30 minutes, you may go back as a disgruntled customer.

Another area in customer satisfaction that is critical to remember is that errors and mistakes on the company’s part can be handled extremely well if the human element is perfect. There are many companies that have actually gone on record apologizing to their customers in case of a bad product launch. There are also examples of companies taking back the product and replacing it with the newer version only to prove that they value their customers.

A customer satisfaction survey is an evaluation that any company serious about serving its customers undertakes. Car manufacturers, telecom service providers and white goods manufacturers conduct a customer satisfaction survey to understand where they stand vis-à-vis competition. In addition to that, a customer satisfaction survey also explains the specific parameters that need improvement.

A typical customer satisfaction survey has a few questions that can help you understand where you stand with regards to the performance of your product or the service that your company personnel are giving your customers. And if these few questions are analyzed in the proper manner, they can reveal all that you want to know.

Survey Questions for Customer Satisfaction Survey
Let us review the few questions that you would want a customer satisfaction survey to answer.

1. What is the overall satisfaction of my customers? How does it compare with the top 2 competing brands?
2. Are there specific sub groups that are more satisfied with my brand than others?
3. Has the satisfaction improved over the years?
4. What are the specific features or attributes that contribute to the overall satisfaction?
5. How does my brand or company perform on these important attributes or parameters?
6. What are my immediate action areas to improve satisfaction?

Now let us therefore consider what a customer satisfaction dashboard should look like and the various tabs that it should have to allow you to obtain a complete understanding of the main findings of your customer satisfaction survey.

Constructing Your Customer Satisfaction Dashboard

• Current overall satisfaction vis-à-vis competition – Here you shall be able to see the overall satisfaction in comparison to competition. This tab also contains displays of subgroups. So if you need to know whether the younger people are more satisfied with your brand than the older ones, you should be able to check this out in the dashboard itself. The same data can be sliced with regards to location, gender and other demographic variables.
• Customer satisfaction trended – A trend chart showing the manner in which the satisfaction of the customers has decreased or increased over the various waves of the survey is essential too. Here again, you may want to separate the trends by various subgroups that you want.
• Importance – At a more diagnostic level, there is a need to understand the specific attributes that contribute to overall satisfaction. Here, there are 2 levels at which the data can be viewed. The first is claimed importance that is captured from the respondent. Derived importance is calculated by carrying out a Driver Analysis wherein the satisfaction scores on specific attributes are tallied. Plotted as a 2×2 grid, the specific attributes fall into the following:



• High Claimed Importance and High Derived Importance – These are the ‘Motivator’ parameters that will increase the satisfaction levels if performance on these is improved.
• High Claimed Importance and Low Derived Importance – These tend to be the ‘Hygienics’. Increasing performance may not result in higher satisfaction but lowering performance may result in a drop in satisfaction levels.
• Low Claimed Importance and High Derived Importance – These are parameters that are ‘Opportunities’ and have not yet become as known as Motivators among competition. Caching in on this knowledge and working on these parameters can ensure higher satisfaction in the future.
• Low Claimed Importance and Low Derived Importance – These are often called the ‘Saver’ parameters since you can optimize the resources that you spend on these parameters.

Analyzing your performance based on these specific groups of parameters – Motivators, Hygienics, Opportunities and Savers can give you a great idea about the action area that you need to focus on.

Survey software such as Mineful’s can help you understand the data in a matter of a few minutes with the help of these powerful survey dashboards that you can automatically create.

In a customer satisfaction survey, typically the overall questions are used to arrive at a customer satisfaction index so that a single number can be used to compare products, stores, brands, or companies. If previous experience is lacking, one may need to arrive at the specific parameters of evaluation after conducting a small qualitative research with experts and customers in the industry. For example, broad areas covered in an employee satisfaction survey include compensation, work environment, policies, relationship with superior, estimate of future growth and the like.

A customer satisfaction survey may include aspects like responsiveness, attendant behavior and demeanor, performance, billing and more. A box plot of claimed importance and derived importance (calculated by regressing the performance of specific attributes with overall satisfaction) along with the performance on each attribute can actually tell you the whole story.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

• Overall satisfaction based on a typical 5 point scale
• Likelihood to recommend on a typical 5 point scale
• Likelihood of repeat purchase on a typical 5 point scale
• Assessment of competitive advantage
• Claimed importance of various parameters on a scale
• Assessment of performance for client brand/company and competition for the same set of attributes used in the importance question above

You can access any of the following customer satisfaction survey from our survey library, check them out:

- Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Customer Service Survey
- Customer Satisfaction Survey – for Service Firm

Customer satisfaction scorecards are becoming an increasingly popular way to make critical information available to a broad range of employees.

A scorecard or dashboard in a management information system serves the same purpose as the dashboard in a car. It displays complex operating data in a way that is easy to read and interpret. Dashboards require no special knowledge of statistics or information technology. They use widely understood presentation methods such as line graphs and bar charts. Their ability to summarize large amounts of data make them a powerful tool to help managers track customer satisfaction.

A typical customer satisfaction survey asks people to express their opinions about such things as quality, price, and ease of purchase. To be useful, the data generated by such a survey needs to be summarized and interpreted in a way that managers will understand. Dashboards perform this important function. A typical scorecard might track three categories of data on customer satisfaction: Key Indicators, Overall Satisfaction, and Reasons for Dissatisfaction. Instead of trying to analyze responses to 15 or 20 survey questions, a manager can tell at a glance how the company is doing in keeping its customers satisfied.

Slicing and Dicing Data
Dashboards offer simple ways to sort data. For example, a dashboard used by a chain of craft stores might display “helpfulness of sales staff” as a key indicator of customer service. Marketing executives could use this indicator to determine which stores are doing a good job of helping customers and which stores need to provide their staff additional training. This key indicator might also be sorted by customer service representative or by type of product purchased. Marketing executives might discover that some customer service representatives are not doing a satisfactory job, or they might find that customers want more help when shopping for certain types of products.

Customer satisfaction scorecards can also show how key indicators are related to overall customer satisfaction. For example, a dashboard might show that “knowledgeable staff” is more directly correlated with overall satisfaction than “ease of purchase.” This information might lead managers to devote more resources to training customer service representatives rather than adding cashiers.

Dashboards can also highlight trouble spots. For example, Mineful’s software can provide a robust analysis of “reasons for dissatisfaction” along with simple displays to identify areas that are most in need of improvement.

Tracking Trends
One of the most useful features of dashboards is their ability to illustrate trends. Businesses typically use dashboards to identify changes from month to month or from one quarter to the next. Is “overall satisfaction” trending up or down so far this year? Are the main reasons for customer dissatisfaction different from what they were a year ago? Which of our stores has made the greatest gains in customer satisfaction since we initiated our new training program? These are the kinds of questions that can be easily answered with dashboards.

Customer Satisfaction Scorecards from Mineful
Mineful’s dashboards enable clients to determine what types of information will be available to different types of employees. For example, a store manager might see data sorted by customer service representative, while a regional manager might see data sorted by store. The key to getting the most out of dashboards is to provide the right information to the right people in a format they can easily understand and use.

In an ideal world, retailers would like to use surveys to gain a better understanding of satisfaction and preferences for different types of customers — for example, plus-size women, do-it-yourselfers, or fitness enthusiasts. Mineful has engineered a fast, low cost solution to this problem. Mineful enables retailers to integrate survey data with information about customers including purchasing patterns, demographics, market segments, and location. The result is a clearer picture of different market segments.

Here’s an example of how a retailer might use this information. Suppose a retailer wanted to know if the sales staff in some departments or stores needed additional training. A customer satisfaction survey might ask questions such as:

• Did your salesperson seem knowledgeable?
• Did your salesperson help you select a product?
• Was your salesperson able to answer your questions?

Mineful allows the responses to these questions to be easily integrated with data about what customers purchased. Then the retailer can see which departments need more highly trained staff. The retailer could also determine which types of customers need the most assistance.
Survey data integration can also help a retailer see how customer satisfaction differs by market segment. For example, a survey might ask:

• Did you feel you had a broad enough range of products to choose from?
• Were you satisfied with the overall quality of the product selection?
• Were products displayed in a way that made shopping easy?

When responses to these questions are integrated with sales data, it will be easy for a retailer to see which markets are being served adequately and which departments need to redesign their product displays. Other survey questions might help a retailer identify which segments of their customers are more concerned with quality than price, and vice versa.

If a retailer attempted to ask for this information as part of a survey, it would create two problems. First, respondents might not be able to provide accurate information about such things as how often they shop or how much they typically spend. Second, asking for such information would make the survey considerably longer, and the longer the survey, the less likely it is that people will complete it.

Once a survey is completed, Mineful makes it easy to display the results. Users can create charts and graphs with just a few clicks. They can choose to display results using survey dashboards. Dashboards are visual displays of data that are easy to interpret. They can be adapted for different users to make them even more effective. For example, regional sales managers might see customer satisfaction charts for several stores, store managers might see charts for their own stores, and department managers might see charts for their own departments.

This approach to sharing survey results can help employees at all levels stay focused on the customer’s satisfaction, wants, and needs.

It has been a difficult decade for the hospitality business. The awful events of September 11, 2001, led to a sharp decline in leisure travel. Just when business was getting back to normal, the economy turned sour, forcing both business and leisure travelers to cut back on their plans.

In an effort to cut costs to cope with the decline in business, some hotels have reduced staff and eliminated some amenities for guests. But at what point do such cutbacks threaten guest satisfaction and lead to even further erosion in business? How can hotels boost customer loyalty by focusing on improving things that guests really care about? Those are the crucial questions that hotels must consider as they try to control costs while at the same time keeping their guests satisfied.

Knowing what to cut
In February 2009, research company TNS conducted a survey of 2,500 adults to determine how cuts in hotel services might affect their choice of hotels (http://www.quirks.com/articles/2009/20090505.aspx). Specifically, the survey asked about five types of reductions in services:

When people look for ways to trim their expenses in tough economic times, they turn first to discretionary spending, and at the top of the list for many people is money spent eating out. Most restaurants have taken a big hit in the current economic slowdown, but many are holding their own and a few are actually prospering. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2008, McDonald’s reported that its sales increased 5 percent in the U.S. and 7.2 percent globally. Why are some restaurants doing well while most are struggling? One of the answers is effective market research.

Focusing on value
It should be no surprise that customers are paying more attention to value in these challenging times. When people spend less on non-essentials, they want to be sure the money they do spend buys something worthwhile. But what does value mean to restaurant patrons? Is it primarily the quality of the food or the quality of the service or is it something else that might be a little harder to define? Restaurant research provides some interesting answers to these questions.
At its most basic level, value means meeting expectations. People have definite expectations for different types of restaurants — fast food, casual dining and fine dining. In these tough times, some restaurant managers might feel tempted to cut back in some areas, especially staff expenses. But if a restaurant fails to live up to customer expectations for service because it has cut staff, it will have a hard time keeping customers.

Creating a satisfying experience
Restaurant surveys that attempt to measure customer perceptions of value often focus on some obvious things. Was the food hot? Was it served promptly? How long did you wait to be served? These are important questions, but they represent only part of what is involved in restaurant satisfaction.

Most people go to a restaurant because they are looking for a certain type of experience. They might be looking for fun or elegance or just the pleasure of enjoying certain sights, smells, and tastes. Even patrons of fast food restaurants are looking for more than food. The kids’ menu at McDonald’s features “Happy Meals,” but adults want to have happy meals too. An effective customer survey attempts to evaluate all the factors that go into creating restaurant satisfaction.

Building customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is important for any type of business at any point in the business cycle, but it is especially important for the restaurant business when times are tough. Restaurant research has shown that customers who have a “highly satisfactory” dining experience are twice as likely to return to a restaurant than customers who say their experience was just “satisfactory.” They are also three times as likely to recommend the restaurant to their friends.

Highly satisfied customers also spend more, especially on items such as appetizers and deserts. This suggests that they may be enjoying their dining experience so much that they want to prolong it. Highly satisfied customers also tend to tip more, which in turn leads to highly satisfied wait staff.

So how can a restaurant determine if it is creating a highly satisfying experience for its customers? Some restaurants hire “mystery diners,” while others use comment cards or questionnaires. Another highly effective alternative is to conduct an online survey of recent diners. Online surveys provide a convenient way to ask about a variety of factors that affect customer satisfaction. Survey results can easily be analyzed to determine which combination of factors is most likely to create highly satisfied customers. See this restaurant satisfaction survey example to help you get started: http://restaurantsatisfaction.nisurvey.com.

Long-term restaurant trends
In times like these, it is understandable that restaurant managers are focused primarily on short-term results. It’s still important, though, to pay attention to long-term restaurant trends. In recent years, restaurant customers have shown a growing interest in two things: greater convenience and healthier menu choices. These trends are likely to continue.