One key problem of market research today is that is very much driven by quantitative assessments and KPI’s. Yet, as a market researcher or a business analysts, you should never forget that figures and indicators are not necessarily reflections of what customers think.
A good illustration of this principle is given by the video below, taken from Woody Allen’s movie “Annie Hall”.
In this scene a woman and a man, in couple therapy, answer the same set of questions asked by the therapist. Quantitatively their answers are the same and they both reflect dissatisfaction. What a qualitative approach tells however, is that the reasons for dissatisfaction are radically different.
Conclusion
Customer satisfaction surveys are, more often than not, completely missing their goals. They focus too much on the outcome (satisfaction, loyalty, word-of-mouth) and don’t answer this seemingly crucial question: why is the level of customer satisfaction what it is?
Take a moment to think about it. Satisfaction measurement tools like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) are too simplistic to give you an indication of what you should do. The NPS only reveals the firms’ obsession for reporting and control. Yet, few if any firms actually do something with the data. Continuous improvement is not on their agenda and that’s a pitty for customers. No wonder therefore that in 2013 post-complaint satisfaction was at the same as in 1976 ! For more information you may want to read the 2013 RAGE study on complaint handling.
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Posted in Marketing.
