| Customer Satisfaction: What Does Quality Mean?
By Bart Allen Berry
In our ongoing research we have uncovered the ten statistical predictors of satisfaction in any customer-supplier relationship, for any product or service. This article is apart on a ten part series explaining each of the ten satisfaction predictors including: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Ease of Access, Efficiency, Environment, Teamwork, Commitment, Self Management, and Innovation.Quality seems to be ubiquitous term used to describe everything under the sun, but our satisfaction research goes deeper. When ‘quality’ is separated from the other nine domains of satisfaction it stands alone, with three distinctly identifiable subcharacteristics, with the first described here.
In the mind of the customer, ‘quality’ means ‘compared with the best’. The quality of any product or service is being compared with the best that the customer has personally experienced or that he has ever heard of. A golf course, for instance, might be very good, but the golfer will be comparing it with Pebble Beach on California’s coast orAugusta, site of the world famous Masters tournament. In the mind of the golfer, these might represent the upper limits of the quality standard and receive a ‘10’, and any other golf course would necessarily receive a lower score for quality by comparison, even if it scored a 9.75.
A particular hotel might have great quality, but in the back of his mind the customer is comparing it with the Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs or the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The customer might be enjoying a really great bowl of clam chowder, but it will have to outclass the soup he had in Ogunquit Maine last summer, that set the standard for a 10 in his mind. If he does find a better bowl of clam chowder however, and it becomes the benchmark for quality, the old one will still enjoy the favored number two spot, perhaps at a 9.8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Those with discerning taste constantly explore the upper limits of quality in every aspect of their lives. Aggressive suppliers of products and services who want to enjoy the highest levels of return and recommend from their customers, will be smart to benchmark the competition in detail, to continuously push each satisfaction dimension higher.
The second sub-characteristic of ‘Quality’, when it comes to customer satisfaction behavior refers to error and defect free delivery of a product or service. Right the first time according to customers, is a very important definition of quality and means that the product or service will conform to the customer’s specifications and requirements and will perform as promised without exception. Any parents who have opened and assembled toys for their kids on Christmas morning knows what this means when it doesn’t go right.
Right the first time means that new car model doesn’t get recalled, the software installs perfectly and works immediately with no further calls to technical support, the waitress gets the entire table’s order correct or the money budgeted by the city council for the municipal project is exactly the amount of money that gets spent. Customers like to deal with suppliers who deliver what they promise the first time, without having to return to exchange their product, buy an add on accessory, or return it for a refund.
The third sub-characteristic of Quality, when it comes to customer satisfaction in the mind of the customer, deals with the supplier’s front line personnel. These are the people that deal directly with the customer. According to customer expectations from multiple surveys in many industries worldwide, a high quality front line service person is one that is a subject matter expert, who can explain and answer questions regarding the product or service, and not only know about their own area, but have general systems knowledge of all other aspects of their company’s operations as well. This might mean not only knowing the specification so of the product itself, but where in the store other products can be found, what other services other departments offer or even something as simple as knowing store hours or directions to another branch. The quality expectation of the customer is that front line personnel are well trained and can provide the customerwith the support they need, regardless of who they interface with at the supplier’s company.
These three sub-characteristics are highly correlated with customer perceptions and evaluations of quality from our research.1) Quality compared with the customer’s internal benchmark.2) Error free, defect free and right the first time.3) Front line personnel who are subject matter experts and have general systemsknowledge.
Organizations who need to improve customer satisfaction should have intimate understanding of these aspects of their product and service delivery system. A focus on these factors will be a strong step towards building higher return and recommend rates, customer preference and loyalty.
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