{"id":5321,"date":"2012-02-02T02:22:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T10:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/2012\/02\/02\/the-abcs-of-customer-satisfaction\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T05:09:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:09:24","slug":"the-abcs-of-customer-satisfaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/the-abcs-of-customer-satisfaction\/","title":{"rendered":"The ABCs of Customer Satisfaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The following is a reprint of an article that appeared on Research Access by Dana Stanley. \u00a0Read and ask yourself how YOU spell SATISFACTION<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/thumbs-up11.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/thumbs-up11.jpg?w=415\" alt=\"Image\" \/><\/a> Later this week I\u2019ll be attending the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/conference.netpromoter.com\/npc\/sf2012\/\">Net Promoter Conference in San Francisco<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m really looking covering this event for Research Access. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/survey-templates\/customer-surveys\/\">Customer satisfaction<\/a> (or CSAT) measurement is a highly specialized, but vitally important, part of the research world. Yet I think there are many researchers and marketers who aren\u2019t terribly familiar with the ins and outs of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement. Here is a quick ABC guide to what you need to know about CSAT.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>S<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Satmetrix, known as the Net Promoter Company, is the firm that administers the Net Promoter methodology.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>A<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) is a methodology for measuring customer satisfaction.\u00a0\u00a0It factors in the following variables:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/top-customer-expectations\/\">customer expectations<\/a>, perceived quality, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/perceived-value\/\">perceived value<\/a>, customer complaints and customer loyalty.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>T<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Tracking c<\/strong>ustomer\u00a0satisfaction and loyalty are fluid; therefore, most measurement programs involve tracking scores consistently over time.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>I<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Indicator <\/strong>Customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of business success; that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to understand it and take action based on it.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>S<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveyanalytics.com\/secure-customer-index.html\">SCI <\/a><\/strong>The Secure Customer Index is a customer satisfaction measurement methodology developed by D. Randall Brandt.\u00a0\u00a0The SCI combines three elements \u2013 overall satisfaction, likelihood to continue using the service, and likelihood to recommend.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>F<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Future <\/strong>The purpose of customer satisfaction research is to assess current attitudes toward a company in order to predict purchase behavior in the future.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>A<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Answering the Ultimate Question is a book by Fred Reichheld that outlines the Net Promoter methodology.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><strong>C<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.netpromoter.com\/np\/calculate.jsp\">Calculating Your Net Promoter Score<\/a><\/strong>The Net Promoter score is just what the name implies \u2013 the net of customers who are \u201cpromoters\u201d minus those who are \u201cdetractors.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The core Net Promoter question asks on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely a customer is to recommend the company to a\u00a0colleague or friend.\u00a0\u00a0The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who give a score of 0 through 6 (\u201cDetractors\u201d) from the percentage who give a score of 9 or 10 (\u201cPromoters\u201d).<\/p>\n<h1><strong>T<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Truth <\/strong>Like all research, customer satisfaction research is a search for truth.\u00a0\u00a0There are different approaches, but the search for truth must continue unabated.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>I<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Index <\/strong>Most customer satisfaction methodologies yield an index; a single score which is easy for an organization to understand, and, importantly, can be the basis for positive action.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>O<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Out of Luck<\/strong>Firms that ignore customer satisfaction altogether will soon find themselves out of luck.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>N<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.netpromoter.com\/\">Net Promoter<\/a><\/strong> Net Promoter is a customer satisfaction measurement methodology, developed by\u00a0\u00a0Satmetrix, Bain &amp; Company, and Fred Reichheld.\u00a0\u00a0The Net Promoter Score is obtained by asking customers about their likelihood to recommend a\u00a0company to a friend or colleague. You can\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.regonline.com\/Register\/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1000752&amp;lbrd=1&amp;rtypeid=578994\">use this link<\/a>\u00a0to get a discount if you\u2019d like to join me at the Net Promoter Conference in San Francisco, February 1-3, 2012. I hope to see you there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is a reprint of an article that appeared on Research Access by Dana Stanley. \u00a0Read and ask yourself [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[250,203],"tags":[400],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The ABCs of Customer Satisfaction | QuestionPro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The following is a reprint of an article that appeared on Research Access by Dana Stanley. \u00a0Read and ask yourself how 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