Voting With Your Feet — or (Computer) Mouse
The best sign of a satisfied customer?
Repeat business.
So, when it comes to things like groceries, gas, and dry cleaning — purveyors of such things can figure out pretty quickly how they’re doing.
Ditto for the web sites (and blogs!) which people patronize regularly.
Infrequent Transactions
But what about major purchases, like buying a car?
Or, umm . . . closer to home, buying or selling a house, which the average consumer only does once every seven years?
Then, I suppose you need to query people directly to find out what kind of experience they had.
Surveyed to Death
The problem is that consumers are now so bombarded with surveys — online, off-line, in-person, etc., many poorly conceived or too long — that the entire feedback “channel” has been degraded.
Want to show someone you were happy with the service you received?
Tell them.
Write a long-hand (vs. electronic) “Thank You” note.
Recommend them.
Sorry, market research-types, quantifying “customer satisfaction” is a tall order.
