The Value of Customer Satisfaction

By “Andrew Mennie”, General Manager eGain Communications EMEA

What is the connection between customer satisfaction and the bottom line?

Ever wondered how much customer satisfaction is worth? We all know and

Accept that it is a strategic goal for all organizations involved in the delivery

of customer service. Yet in all my experience as a professional in this arena,

I have never come across a customer services director who could articulate the

Financial value of customer satisfaction to their business. Conversely, I have

Never met a customer service Director Who wasn’t measured on it. How

Bizarre. Big business is happy to measure it but doesn’t know what its worth.

One of the reasons for the difficulty in making the connections, is the

Intangibility of customer churn. That is to say, how dissatisfied does a

Customers have to be before they leave and sign with the competition? What

Might be an intolerable experience for one customer may well exceed all

Expectations of another. Then there’s competition. What if there isn’t any?

Before deregulation how concerned were the large utility companies with

Customer satisfaction or British Telecom comes to that. Interesting therefore

That the telecoms sector is where war is being waged on customer

Satisfaction Could it that be high customer satisfaction attracts new customers

and helps retain existing ones? Sounds like that could be worth something.
There is no question that customer satisfaction is difficult to measure, but why
Is measurement so essential?
22

As a student I opened my first bank as an adult with a major high street

Bank. They attracted me with their offer of a $ 10 deposit to the account. I

Stayed with them through the four years of university, through the gradually

Increasing overdraft, the unintentional forays beyond the overdraft limit, the

lost ATM cards, the replacement cheque books, the minimal deposits, the

Regular and very small withdrawals. Except for the penalty charges for the
Overdraft excursions the bank made very little money out of me, and in fact

Incurred untold cost in maintaining me as a student customer.

All that effort, clearly with the goal of keeping me in my earning years andreaping back their investment.

In fact I felt consciously loyal to them at thatpoint and even recognize that it was my turn to pay them

back. So why wastheir customer service so poor once I became a full-time employee? I stayedwith them

for several years using them for mortgage service, investment andinsurances but eventually churned to

one of the first telephone banks. I havebeen with them a few years now and every time I phone them they

are awareof my recent communications with them, request that I have made and theydon’t try to sell an

unwanted insurance policy at the end of every call.