Hasta La Creative!

By Sanjeev Jasani, VP, OgilvyOne, New Delhi

We have heard many companies claim how satisfied their customers are with them; they claim to have a satisfaction rating of 95 percent. However, it is very dangerous to define customer satisfaction simplistically, especially if you work out any customer plan or strategy based on oversimplified figures. Based on industry observations, any customer satisfaction measurement should cover the following variables:

• Product
• Service
• Relationship
• Price
• Convenience
• Brand/Image
• Total customer Experience

But what is customer satisfaction?
Sometimes we find that although we have delivered a high level of products and services to our customers, they are not as satisfied as we presume. What’s gone wrong? Technically we are bang on. We have tried to deliver a complete experience to the customer, then why isn’t he satisfied? The satisfaction equation is missing one element: customer expectation. It is created by your company and your competitors, as well. Be aware that the expectations of the customers are constantly increasing.

“The quality of your customers experience is not a direct result of the objective quality of your products and services. Instead, customer satisfaction is more a function of how closely your customers’ experiences with your business conform to their expectations.”

So if one were to look at it as an equation one could simplify it as follows:

Customer Satisfaction = Customer Experience – Customer Expectation

The larger the positive gap the more satisfied your customers are and the larger the negative gap the more dissatisfied your customers are.

Let me give you an example if it still isn’t clear. Recently I was in Jaipur and went to shop at the local market called Bapu Bazaar. I wanted to buy my mother a bandhni saari. I had heard that bandhni saari is a specialty of Jaipur and one shouldn’t leave without buying one. Obviously before I went there I had surveyed the market and planned my budget. I heard Bapu Bazaar was a pace where you could bargain heavily. I also knew that the rock bottom offer should be around 30% of the price listed by the store owner, and the list price of my favorite saari was RS 500. Thus RS 150 was the amount that I was willing to spend. So I walked into the shop and pretend that I was not interested, though I showed some minimum interest on one particular saari. When I was asked the price in my mind by the store owner, I knew the rules of the game was to offer an unacceptable price to make them counter offer to reach a deal. I offered RS 100 and started to walk away, and within seconds was called back and said the deal is done. What went through my mind? What do you think I would have thought and felt? The price is way below my budget, I got what I wanted. So what’s wrong?

I was now thinking if my offer of RS 100 was too high or if there are any defects in the saari. I still bought it but was surely not satisfied. I would have been more satisfied had I got the deal at RS 150 after rounds of negotiations and bargains.

Why? Because there wasn’t any real experience (negotiating & bargaining) and my expectations (to get the saari through clever tactics and the negotiation process) too were not addressed and met. Simply put: The customer experience was less than the customer expectation.

On the other hand, 2 years ago I ordered 12 books from Amazon.com to come by sea freight. After 12 weeks, my order arrived at my doorstep but when I opened it I found only 11 books. The delivery list attached showed 12 books.
What do I do? I emailed Amazon.com. In two days, the missing book was delivered by air. Bear in mind that during the whole exchange there are no questions asked. This “no question” experience far exceeded my expectation. So, has Amazon.com lost or gained? They’ve got me as an extremely loyal customer from now on, and I tell this story to everyone I know. Simply put: The customer experience is greater that the consumer expectation.
These simple experiences have enabled me to look at and understand customer satisfaction more closely. I’ve tried to put them down as an equation so that it could be simplified and easily remembered. So as I wander around in the local flee markets (I believe that the local shop keepers there are the best marketers and there is lots to learn from them) I’m constantly testing this equation to see if it works. Do tell me if you agree or disagree with this equation. I would be more than willing to listen and improvise.