Research Tips
Measuring Satisfaction
One of the most common reasons for doing market research is to investigate satisfaction (of customers, clients, employees, or other stakeholders). This is based on the belief that customers or clients who are satisfied will continue to patronise a given organisation, and that satisfied employees will do a better job and be less likely to quit. Often satisfaction ratings are good predictors of outcomes such as these, but sometimes they’re not.
When satisfaction is measured in isolation it may lead to incorrect conclusions. Satisfaction measurements are most meaningful when they are compared to the following measurements:
- Expectations and performance ratings. Satisfaction levels are influenced by the gap between expectations and performance. If the performance of a product or service exceeds expectations, people are satisfied. If expectations are unrealistically high, even good performance can lead to dissatisfaction.
- Satisfaction ratings for alternative products or services. Sometimes organisations that receive relatively high satisfaction scores find themselves losing patronage. One explanation for this is that while their satisfaction scores are high, the ratings for other organisations providing the same product or service are even higher. Similarly, dissatisfied customers (or employees) can’t leave if they don’t have alternatives and won’t leave if the alternatives are even less satisfying.
- Previous satisfaction ratings. Measuring satisfaction over time tends to be more useful than taking a single “snapshot”. Changes in satisfaction levels provide information about what’s working and give early warning signals when things are going wrong.