What Is a Customer Satisfaction System?

A customer satisfaction system is a process companies use to measure their customers' attitudes toward goods and services. In many ways, unsatisfied customers can lead to lower revenue, smaller market share, and a poor brand reputation for a company. A system is necessary to measure customer attitudes, satisfaction, and happiness with a company and its products. This system typically includes a separate department that measures both internal activities and external reports. It can include many pieces to strengthen the process.

Creating a proper customer satisfaction system starts with identifying a company’s target market and first-time or repeat consumers. A company will most often start with these individuals in terms of feedback gathering. A target market represents the consumer base a company believes has the most interest in its products. The market may or may not include actual customers. First-time and repeat customers are the second group companies research in their customer satisfaction activities.

A customer satisfaction survey must draw a connection between the company and its customers. This connection often starts with consumer demand or desire, which represents what consumers want in a product. Companies then review products produced and sold through their normal operations. Any data gathered from consumers and the business or its products usually provide information on this connection. A company can, however, include other information in the system to learn more about consumers.

Often placed within administrative departments, customer satisfaction systems are normally organized as cost centers. This means the department or system only increases a company’s operating costs. A business must find a low-cost way to operate a customer satisfaction system. The most common methods are telephone calls, e-mails, or surveys sent directly to consumers at the time of purchase. These items require immediate or near-immediate information that answers set questions, providing a company with consumer feedback for the system.

Feedback is often an essential piece of a company’s relationship with its consumers, especially those buying goods or services for the first time. The information gleaned from the customer satisfaction system allows a company to understand current satisfaction and belief in the company. Companies often send the information on satisfaction surveys to those parties in the company directly involved in certain business activities. This allows internal individuals to better understand their own and their departments' impacts on the company’s overall activities. Major flaws or groups of dissatisfied consumers often lead to changes implemented to correct these issues in a business.