Richard Cooper looks at Customer Satisfaction Measurement and asks if we’re really tackling the issue head on
It always interests me to see how, when you look at satisfaction levels across business sectors (such as banking, travel, airlines, telecommunications, foodservice), the auto industry generally tends to perform fairly well. Having studied the auto and other industries for years and having been behind many of the studies (both syndicated as well as the proprietary tracking studies that drill down to dealership level), I’ve often wondered why that is.
Is it really because customers are more satisfied with their auto experiences? Or is there something more to it? I actually think it’s the latter. As an industry, we’ve become pretty good at “writing to the test,” not just in the questions we ask, but in common practices at the front line. This came through loud and clear as I was doing some research on dealer websites the other day.
Here’s what I found on one dealership’s site under the service tab:
The manufacturer will soon be contacting you with a short survey regarding your recent sales/service experience at our dealership. Please take the time to answer all of the questions with a 10 rating. Anything less than a 9 is considered a failing grade. If you feel you are unable to rate us a 10, please contact us before completing your survey and we will do our best to correct any of your concerns.
Manufacturers and dealerships are spending significant amounts of money gathering customer experience information and trying to understand how to make improvements. But how does the customer perceive the practice and how does it help in the long run? Studies have shown that coaching can have the opposite effect and cause the customer to provide a lower score, especially when they are asked to complete a survey. But there is only one score customers can actually give. The whole point of conducting surveys is to understand what’s going right and what’s going wrong.
HEART AND HEAD
As consumers, we use both rational and emotional inputs when making decisions. Quite often, the emotional inputs far outweigh the rational ones. Just think of the times you have felt or said to someone, “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I just feel more comfortable there and I like the people.” It’s the intangible factors like these that keep us going back to and supporting the same business. When it comes to measurement, this is something in which we often struggle as an industry.
Granted, it’s not that easy. There have been many studies conducted on the role of emotion in the retail environment. One that caught my eye was published by Singapore’s Universitas 21, a global network of research organisations (including some Canadian academic institutions).
Here’s a statement from that report:
The significant role of emotional satisfaction in influencing behavioural intentions presents a new challenge to retailers. More importantly, retailers should shift their efforts from a single concentration on merchandise breadth, depth, and quality, to include an emphasis on creating a pleasant and entertaining experience for customers who are interested in more than just the product. In doing so, retailers can effectively position and distinguish their store by building on the relationship between store atmosphere and customers’ emotional states.
The writer acknowledges that the study referred to a more typical retail environment, but consumers are increasingly likely to have the same expectations no matter which retail environment they visit.
The standard practice in the auto industry is to ask questions about things like process (did the dealership do this or do that?), the politeness and knowledge level of staff and whether or not the vehicle was ready when promised. These are all vital pieces of information, but the missing piece is in understanding how your customers feel about their experience in the dealership.
Think about the things that make you feel comfortable in a business or in a retail environment and that make you want to come back again. Those factors have as much, or more, to do with how you feel as they do with the transaction or process you experienced. You’re much more likely to forgive a mistake when the business you’re dealing with is one you really feel comfortable with and that you trust.
GO AND SEE
There are ways of capturing trust in surveys, but it can also be helpful to practice a little “genshi genbutsu,” the Japanese practice meaning “go and see.” If you put yourself in the shoes of a customer and take a walk through your dealership, what do you see? How do you feel?
Would you keep coming back and giving them your business? Do you get a positive buzz when you watch the activity? It’s much more than mystery shopping, it’s looking at your business through the eyes of a customer to understand what they perceive. If you’re doing surveys of your own it would be helpful, not just to replicate the existing rational questions, but also to ask more pointed questions about aspects such as:
- Trust;
- Feeling of comfort;
- Feeling valued as a customer;
- A sense of the values of the business;
- The way the staff interact;
- A sense of the priorities of the staff;
- Whether or not the staff are engaged or
- “just doing a job;”
- The sense of energy and purpose in the business.
Each time a customer looks at your website or walks into your dealership, your business is being judged, just as you judge each retail or service experience you have. Current surveys do not capture that kind of information — it’s about time we did a better job of doing so. “Feel good” performance won’t replace excellence in doing the job, but it’s a critical component in creating customer loyalty.
