Customer Satisfaction May Start With a Promise
An easy question to ask but a harder one to answer is what promotes customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is based on an expectation, a perception, and a feeling during or after an interaction. What is your promise?
The Promise
Brands have promises. Cadillac, BMW, or Jaguar may have a brand promise. So does Hyundai and Kia.
A dinner out at an Outback Steakhouse carries a different expectation from McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s.
An employee earning $90k annually has additional expectations when compared with the employee who earns $35k.
Similar expectations exist for a cup of coffee, a bottle of wine, or pair of shoes. Price sets precedence for the expectations and it elevates the factor of risk for customer satisfaction.
The lower the price, the lower the brand promise, theoretically making it easier to satisfy.
Are more people satisfied with a low-price experience as compared with a high price experience?
It would be hard to guess with so many factors conditioning any potential outcome. However, most would agree that a big price with poor outcomes is remembered long after the experience is over.
A low price with a bad experience is easier to forget. We may think, “I didn’t get much, but I didn’t expect it either.”
What is your commitment? Are you making big promises? Are you commanding a higher price?
Customer Satisfaction
It seems that is easier to give less, do less, and provide less because the expectations are lower. On the flip side of that, if we are always providing less is our customer satisfaction truly high or are we short changing the customer experience?
Does a $75 per hour employee work harder than a $14 per hour employee? Theoretically no, both should be 100% effort for one hour of work, but the expected value of the $75 per hour employee is much more.
What are you doing about customer satisfaction? Taking big risks with big promises, or just delivering the easy stuff.
It’s a choice and a mindset. It’s your brand promise and it starts with culture.
-DEG
Our actions, behaviors, and outcomes are driven by culture. So is customer satisfaction. It is why I wrote this book:
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
