Consumer satisfaction. Meeting the needs of consumers. Measuring customer satisfaction with surveys

H W Y Y Y Y Z

customer satisfaction -

customer satisfaction (ukr) customer satisfaction (eng) Kundenzufriedenheit (germ) la satisfaction de la clientèle (fr)

customer satisfaction- the ability of a product or service to meet the needs of the consumer as much as possible according to its qualities, for which the product (service) is purchased, as well as the ability of the company that produces the product or provides the service to satisfy the consumer's needs for the product or service as much as possible.

There are four main components of the impact on Customer Satisfaction: the main features of the product or service that consumers expect from all producers of the product or service; product service and support system; the ability to compensate for damages and the ability to meet the personal needs of consumers. The evaluation of customer satisfaction is based on the study of two factors: an understanding by a customer-oriented organization of the relationship, on the one hand, between customer satisfaction and its constancy, and on the other hand, with profit. The second factor is the business tools that help the organization to fully understand the problems of perception, behavior and attitudes of its customers.

The consumer satisfaction index is an indicator calculated on the basis of a set of assessments of the quality of services and goods made by the buyer. In other words, the evaluation of the product is made by those who prefer to buy it. This indicator often differs from the share of the product in the market and the level of its sales, as it reflects the attitude of consumers. What is consumer satisfaction? It includes his expectations from the product, the image of the company itself, the perception of the price and quality of the product. An indicator of loyalty is a positive assessment of the value of a product or service by the consumer and the degree of his readiness to repeat the service or purchase. The Satisfaction Index on a national scale is a very important information tool for the country, as it contains initial data that individual companies can use, in particular, to determine their own market position or improve the quality of their services.

Measuring customer satisfaction is important tool to determine the steps for the further development of the company. The degree of customer satisfaction is a kind of “voice” that allows you to hear the requirements, wishes and reasons for customer dissatisfaction, and take them into account in further work. To do this, it is desirable to use various sources of information and be able to cooperate with consumers in order to anticipate their possible needs.

Consumer satisfaction assessment is a marketing research that allows you to determine how satisfied the consumer is with the quality of service, product quality, how loyal he is to this company, etc. The assessment is based on the study of two factors. The first is an assessment of the level of understanding by organizations and their staff of the difference between their own profits and the degree of customer satisfaction, and what determines the constancy and preferences of the latter. The second factor is the study of those ways, means of business, which directly relate to the attitude, perception and behavior of the consumer. Similar studies are being carried out different ways one of which is a survey. The customer satisfaction questionnaire is a kind of document that is proposed for completion and consists of three parts: appeals to the consumer, the questionnaire itself and instructions, and feedback. The questionnaire itself can look like a table with sections: the subject of assessment, assessment criteria and the assessment itself, or it can be a test where you need to put a tick, or have a different look, in accordance with the task. Such questionnaires may be sent by mail, may be offered for completion in outlets.

The consumer chooses the tourism product that is the greatest value for him. Consumers seek to maximize value, based on the acceptability of the cost of finding the desired tourism product, the level of knowledge about the tourism product, the possibilities of movement and the level of income. They form a certain idea of ​​the predicted value and act on its basis. After that, they compare the actual value they received with the expected value, and the result of this comparison affects the degree of their pleasure and behavior when buying a tourism product.

customer value

Customer value provided is the difference between total customer value and total costs consumer when purchasing this tourist product - the "benefit" of the consumer.
Consumers purchase a travel product from the travel companies they perceive to offer the highest customer value—the difference between total customer value and total consumer spending.
Total customer value is the total sum of the values ​​of the tourism product, service personnel and form of presentation that the buyer receives when purchasing this tourism product.
Total consumer spending is the total amount of monetary, time, energy and psychological costs associated with the acquisition of a tourism product.
Low offer price ensures supreme value provided and, consequently, the higher education institution the interest of consumers in the acquisition of a tourist product. The value provided should be exalted as "customer benefit".

Obviously, buyers make choices based on the very prerequisites and restrictions, sometimes making purchases that promise greater benefits for them personally, and not for the travel company. However, the concept of customer value is applicable in many situations and summarizes many observations well. The concept assumes that the seller must first evaluate the combined customer value and customer costs associated with their own marketing offer and those of competitors. Then it is necessary to determine how this offer is carried out in terms of the concept of customer value of the information provided. If the travel agent finds out that competitors are providing more value, then he has two options. He may try to maximize total customer value by enhancing or enhancing the customer's benefit in terms of both the product itself, the service, the staff, or the image of the tourism product. Or it can reduce overall consumer spending by lowering the price of the tourism product, by making it easier to transfer to the destination of the tourism product, or by assuming some of the buyer's risk by offering a warranty.

The degree of satisfaction of consumer expectations

The degree of satisfaction of the consumer from the perfect purchase depends on how it meets his expectations. Consumers may experience varying degrees of satisfaction. If the properties of a tourism product differ from those expected, then consumers are in an unsatisfied state. If the properties meet expectations, then consumers are in a state of pleasure. If the properties of a tourism product exceed expectations, then consumers have a state of deep satisfaction or pleasure.

Customer expectations are formed on the basis of past shopping experiences, the opinions of friends or co-workers, as well as marketing information, information about competitors' travel products, and promises. Travel companies need to be careful about setting the right level of expectations. If they form low expectations for a tourism product, they will satisfy buyers, but will not be able to achieve a high level of sales. High expectations for a tourism product can disappoint buyers. For example, Holiday-Inn launched a campaign a few years ago called "No Surprises," in which it promised to rid its customers of all the problems associated with accommodation and service. However, holiday-inn customers still faced certain challenges, and as their expectations were exceeded, many of them were left unsatisfied. Therefore, Holiday-Inn was forced to end this campaign.

Consumer-oriented travel companies provide them with a convenient opportunity to voice their complaints and suggestions. Hotels set up suggestion boxes, check-out customers are asked to fill out comment cards, and special lawyers are hired to deal with complaints from dissatisfied customers. Some consumer-facing travel companies provide hotlines for consumers to call for information, suggestions or complaints.
Such systems help travel companies not only solve problems quickly, they are also the source of many good ideas to improve tourism products and services.

Measuring customer satisfaction with surveys

Simple complaints and suggestions cannot help a travel company to fully determine how satisfied consumers are with its tourism product. Studies show that consumers are dissatisfied with every fourth purchase they make, but less than 5% of these dissatisfied consumers will complain - most of them simply prefer the products of another travel company. And as a result, the travel company loses its customers.

Responsible travel companies use the method of directly measuring the level of consumer satisfaction by conducting regular surveys. In order to obtain the opinion of consumers about various aspects of their activities, travel companies send out questionnaires or conduct a random telephone survey of consumers who have recently used the services of a travel company.
Other useful way customer satisfaction assessment is the recruitment of special people who, pretending to be ordinary consumers, purchase the tourism product of various travel companies, and then report their observations to management. In order to test how the employees of the travel company cope with problems, these pseudo-consumers sometimes create problems on purpose. service personnel. For example, in a restaurant, they may complain about the quality of the food they are offered in order to see how the wait staff will behave.

Analysis of the reasons for the loss of consumers. Travel companies need to communicate with consumers who have stopped shopping or gone to competitors to understand the reasons for this phenomenon. They must not only conduct farewell interviews, but also monitor the loss rate of consumers. The rising level of consumer loss indicates that travel companies are unable to provide their consumers with an adequate level of services.

Sometimes the level of customer satisfaction can be quite difficult to interpret. When consumers define their level of satisfaction in terms of specific aspects of a travel company's performance, such as delivery, they may define good delivery in very different ways. Good delivery might mean on-time delivery, complete order fulfillment, or something else. The travel company should also take into account the fact that two consumers may express "deep satisfaction" for very different reasons. Some are in a state of pleasure almost constantly, while others are almost always dissatisfied, and in this case, they are satisfied. In addition, managers can manipulate their customer satisfaction ratings. They may be extremely accommodating to consumers just before the survey itself, or they may not include dissatisfied consumers in survey results.

Although consumer-facing travel companies strive to satisfy their user more than competitors, they do not strive to achieve the highest possible level of consumer satisfaction. A travel company can constantly improve customer satisfaction by lowering the price of a tourist product or increasing the volume of services provided, but such actions lead to a decrease in profits. The success of a travel company depends not only on consumers, but also on many other people, including employees of the travel company, intermediaries and shareholders. The desire to spend more on improving customer satisfaction can cause an outflow of funds aimed at satisfying these other “partners”. Thus, the goal of tourism marketing is to provide customer value while maintaining the profitability of the tourism company. Finally, the travel company must provide a sufficiently high level of customer satisfaction and, at the same time, an acceptable level of satisfaction of other participants in the marketing process. This requires striking a fine balance: the travel company must simultaneously increase customer value and customer satisfaction, but do it in such a way that the hotel premises are not left with bare walls.

Delivering customer value and ensuring an appropriate level of satisfaction

Customer value and satisfaction levels are important ingredients in the marketing formula for success. Consider the concepts of the value chain AND the value delivery system.
The travel company must evaluate the cost and effectiveness of each activity that creates value and look for ways to improve it. In addition, it must take into account as a benchmark the costs and performance of competitors. If it turns out that the firm can perform certain activities better than competitors, then it may have advantages.
The success of a travel company depends not only on how well the various departments perform their work, but also on how well they operate. It happens very often that individual divisions put their own interests as the main task instead of taking care of the general welfare of the travel company and the end consumer.

To solve this problem, travel companies should pay more attention to the smooth management of the main components of the process. entrepreneurial activity, which mainly come down to the processing of incoming information and cooperation between various functional units.

Value delivery system

To achieve competitive advantage, a travel company must consider not only its value chain, but also pay attention to the value chains of its customers. Today, many travel companies are collaborating with supply chain partners to improve the efficiency of their customer value delivery system.
Customer value delivery system - a system consisting of the value chains of a particular travel company, as well as its suppliers, intermediaries and, finally, consumers, who work together to provide value to consumers.

As travel companies seek to outperform the competition, they are forced to work closely together. Competition has intensified in the modern tourism market, there is no place between individual travel companies. Instead, it occurs between the value delivery systems created by these competitors.
In the new approach, marketing "takes over" the development and management of the value delivery system to serve the target customer segments. Today's tourism marketing executives need to think beyond selling tourism products, but also about driving the development of better tourism products, actively collaborating across departments to manage key elements of the business process, and establishing close collaboration with external partners.
In addition to building sustainable relationships with their partners, in the supply chain, modern travel companies must work to strengthen their relationships with end consumers and increase their commitment to tourism products.

Travel companies should be attentive to the level of "leakage" of consumers and constantly strive to reduce it. First, the travel company must determine the level of customer retention, then the reasons for the "leakage" of customers and identify those that can be influenced or eliminated. Of course, with customers who leave this region, or with clients - entrepreneurs who leave a certain business, nothing can be done. On the other hand, certain measures can be taken to retain consumers who “leave” travel companies due to poor quality of tourist products, poor service or very high prices. A frequency distribution chart should be used, which reflects the percentage of consumers who have abandoned the tourism product for certain reasons.
It is possible to estimate the loss of profit as a result of an increase in the level of customer loss. For each consumer, it coincides with the value that the travel company would receive for the time during which the consumer would remain its client.
The cost of reducing leakage should also be assessed. If the costs are lower than the losses from losing customers, then the travel company should incur additional costs to retain customers.

The need to retain consumers

Travel companies that are successful today are doing everything possible to keep their customers. Many tourism markets are already quite stable, and not many new consumers are being added to the main tourism product categories. Competition is intensifying and the cost of attracting new customers is rising. In these tourism markets, the cost of attracting new customers is five times higher than the cost of satisfying the needs of existing customers. Attack marketing is much more expensive than defensive marketing, since it requires significant expenditures on various activities aimed at poaching satisfied customers from competitors. One report found that if a travel company could reduce customer loss by as little as 5%, it could increase profits by 25-85%.

Thus, despite the fact that modern marketing is aimed at forming a set of marketing activities that should ensure a high level of sales and attract new consumers, the first line of defense of the company is formed by ways to retain consumers. And the best way to do this is to provide a high level of customer satisfaction that pays off with a high level of customer loyalty to the firm's travel products.

Relationship marketing involves building, maintaining and expanding strong relationships with consumers and other travel company partners. Relationship marketing is focused on long-term cooperation. Its goal is to provide the consumer with long-term value, it requires all departments of the travel company to work together in the field of marketing as a single team that must serve consumers, it includes the establishment of relationships at many levels - economic, social, technical and legal, the result of which should be a university consumer favor.

Levels of relationship with consumers
- Basic. Travel companies sell a tourist product, but are not interested in its future fate.
- Reactive. Travel companies sell the tourism product and invite consumers to call and ask any questions that arise after purchasing the tourism product.
- Responsible. Travel companies call consumers shortly after the sale and ask about their experiences, wishes or complaints. This information helps the travel company to continuously improve the offer system.
- Active. Travel companies or intermediaries call consumers from time to time with suggestions to improve the travel products that are in them, or to purchase new ones.
- Affiliate. The travel company is constantly with consumers and other partners in search of ways to offer the highest value.

The marketing strategy of the relationship of a travel company will depend on the number of its consumers and on the level of profit received by each of them. For example, travel companies with a large number of consumers, each of which brings a small profit, practice basic marketing. In travel markets with few consumers and high income levels, most sellers practice affiliate marketing.

Studying the value system of consumers

Consumers, based on their value system, choose alternatives to a tourism product, evaluating them according to a set of tourism destinations and thus determining the tourism product that they will buy. It is not easy for the consumer to formulate his value system. So instead of having him think about attributes in isolation, during linked analysis, consumers express their thoughts about products as a whole and then, based on mathematical analysis, the value system that underlies their choice is determined.

The study of the value system of consumers on the basis of related analysis is carried out in the following sequence:
1. Identification of relevant tourism products.
2. Choice of the method of presentation of tourism products to consumers.
3. Select the type of measurements.
4. Determining the type of consumer attitude towards tourism products.
5. Choice of methods for analyzing the collected data.

When tourism products are discovered, the researcher usually develops an initial list of them, which is refined based on the opinion of specialists. Sometimes they gather a small focus group.
At the second stage of the analysis, it is determined whether to conduct research on the basis of the entire set of tourism products (full profile analysis) or on the basis of only a part of them.
Partial analysis is usually carried out when the tourist product is described by a large number of tourist destinations, which in this case are divided into several groups. Next, a sequential assessment is carried out using each group of tourist destinations. Then a system of values ​​is determined for the entire set of tourist destinations.
When using ranks, all the products under study are compared explicitly, and the evaluation is carried out, say, on the basis of the method of pairwise comparisons.

In the second variant of the ranking method, respondents are first asked to categorize the products being evaluated into three categories:
1. I like it very much.
2. Like average.
3. Like it a little or don't like it at all.

Then the ranking is done within each group. The implementation of this approach requires the use of a full profile analysis.
Studies have shown that the use of rating and rank measurements in identifying the degree of consumer preferences gives similar results. The rank order is used more often, since it is based on quantitative estimates"the magnitude of the intention to make a purchase" or "the degree of attractiveness of the tourism product." The choice of measurement scale is largely determined by the characteristics of the measurement conditions and the ability of respondents to give reliable results.

When determining the type of consumer relationship to a tourism product, two main approaches are used:
- It turns out the advantage;
- It is determined to what extent the consumer likes the product or the intention to buy it.

Let us explain the difference between these two approaches using the example of choosing between two tourism products:
The choice depends on whether the respondents answer the question:
"Which resort benefit do you provide?" or “Which resort are you most likely to buy a ticket to?” A consumer may prefer resort A, but due to the lack of sufficient money to buy a ticket to resort B.
Both approaches are often used in practice. The choice depends on what the research focuses on: market share or sales volume when it comes to estimating the size of the tourism market, which is characterized by the intent of consumers to buy or not to buy a tourism product.
The choice of methods for analyzing the collected data depends on previous decisions. Thus, if a rating is used, i.e. you need to indicate, for example, how much you like the product under study on a scale from 1 to 10, then the value system is built on the basis of regression analysis. If respondents estimate the likelihood of a purchase, then based on the regression model, estimates are obtained that lie in the range from 0 to 1. In addition, it is possible to use regression analysis in binary variables (0.1).

In addition to the main, traditional direction of using the results of similar marketing research, aimed at determining the relative importance of individual tourism destinations and obtaining the resulting estimates of individual tourism products, can be used for the purpose of segmentation. This refers to segmentation based on benefit. In this case, based on cluster analysis, depending on their value system, the respondents are grouped into separate segments. Within each segment, the value systems of individual consumers are similar.
Using additionally also other segmentation criteria, segments for market development or target tourism markets are selected.

In addition, the results of such studies can be used to predict the market share and sales volume of competing tourism products. In this case, consumer assessments of alternative tourism products are derived. On the basis of assessments, a system of consumer values ​​is determined. Based on this system of values, it is possible to determine the value of any tourism product, which is not even considered when forming the system of values ​​itself.

The main condition for using linked analysis is the ability to describe the studied tourism product using a set of tourism destinations. It is important to identify such a set of tourist destinations so that individual attributes are perceived by consumers as independent, i.e. the value of one attribute did not depend on the value of the other. Further Applications this method assumes that respondents are familiar with the category of tourism product that is being studied. Thus, this method is inapplicable for studying categories of a tourist product (fundamentally new) that are unknown to the consumer. Since, according to the results of the analysis, it is possible to improve individual tourist destinations of a certain tourist product, the attributes must have a specific real meaning.

The organization should monitor information regarding the perception by consumers of the organization's compliance with their requirements, as one of the ways to measure the functioning of the QMS K. To do this, it is necessary to use methods for obtaining and applying this information (GOST R ISO 9001:2001, clause 8.2.1).

Measurement and monitoring of customer satisfaction is based on the analysis of information related to customers. The collection of such information can be active or passive. Management should take into account that there are many sources of information related to customers, so it is necessary to develop effective and efficient processes for collecting, analyzing and using this information to improve the organization's performance. The organization should identify internal and external sources of information about customers and end users that are available in written and oral form. Examples of customer related information (ISO 9004:2000) are:

• consumer and user reviews;
• feedback on product prospects;
• customer requirements and contract information;
• market needs;
• data on the provision of services;
• information related to competition.

Management needs to keep in mind that measuring customer satisfaction is a vital tool for QMS. Request, measure and monitor by the organization feedback on customer satisfaction provide information on an ongoing basis. This process reflects compliance with requirements, meeting the needs and expectations of consumers, as well as the price and delivery of products.

An organization should develop and use sources of customer satisfaction information, collaborate with its customers to anticipate future needs, and plan and develop processes to effectively and efficiently address customer feedback. Through the planning of these processes, it is necessary to define and implement data collection methods, including sources of information, frequency of data collection and analysis. We list the sources of information about customer satisfaction:

• consumer complaints;
• direct communication with consumers;
• surveys and surveys;
• collection and analysis of subcontracted data;
• target groups;
• reports of consumer organizations;
• messages in various media;
• the study of industries and economics.

Consider, as an example, a system solution to such a problem as determining product satisfaction.

The presence of a base of loyal customers provides the company with constant, predictable income financial resources necessary to ensure the stability and planning of new projects. That is why monitoring customer satisfaction has become one of the most important areas of a holistic customer satisfaction management system.

What is consumer satisfaction?

First you need to clarify that the concept of "satisfaction" is present in many areas of human activity. We will need to consider this concept from different positions and analyze their differences.

In Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary, the word "satisfaction" means the feeling of someone who is satisfied with the fulfillment of their aspirations, desires, needs: to get full satisfaction from work, a sense of satisfaction Ozhegov S. I., Shvedova N. Yu. Dictionary Russian language: 80,000 words and phraseological expressions / Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of the Russian Language. V. V. Vinogradova. -- 4th ed., supplemented. - M.: Azbukovnik, 1999. - p. 756..

Basically, the concept of satisfaction is described in psychological sources. The compilers of the large psychological dictionary, Meshcheryakov and Zinchenko Meshcheryakova B.G. The large psychological dictionary / B.G. Meshcheryakov. Moscow: Prime Eurosign. - 2003. - P. 672., they believe that satisfaction (English satisfaction) is a subjective assessment of the quality of certain objects, conditions of life and activity, life in general, relationships with people, the people themselves, including themselves yourself (self-esteem). High degree satisfaction with life, obviously, is what is called happiness.

What Ozhegov called “work satisfaction,” Meshcheryakov described in his dictionary as follows: job satisfaction is an emotionally colored evaluative representation of the subject of activity about the result of his labor activity, about the very process of work and the external conditions in which it is carried out.

The concept of "satisfaction" (as well as its opposite - "dissatisfaction") is used in many psychological and sociological works (Aseev; Belova; Gatman; Kitvel; Likhachev; Murutar; Naumova; Khaav; etc.). However, the authors do not disclose the essence this concept and therefore it often replaces another concept - "satisfaction" http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Psihol/dict/17.php.

Basically, the phenomenon of satisfaction is studied from two positions - general psychological and socio-psychological (or social).

Within the framework of the general psychological approach, satisfaction is considered either as a state or as a motive. In the first case, satisfaction is understood as a feeling of pleasure, a state of contentment, joy experienced by the subject, whose wishes and requirements are satisfied. Satisfaction / dissatisfaction as a state is considered, for example, by N. D. Levitov, M. I. Dyachenko and L. A. Kandybovich. There.

There is also an opposite trend. So, P. M. Jacobson uses the term “satisfaction”, although, in fact, we are talking about factors that contribute or do not contribute to the formation of satisfaction.

A peculiar interpretation of satisfaction and satisfaction, completely confusing the understanding of these phenomena, was given by K. K. Platonov. http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/ Under the satisfaction of achieving the goal, the author understands the feeling that arose on the basis of the emotion of resolution after an effort of will. Satisfaction, according to this author, is a mental phenomenon, a polar need, as a reflection of the elimination of need. But is the elimination of need not the achievement of the goal? What then is the difference between satisfaction and contentment?

Representatives of the social and socio-psychological approaches consider satisfaction as an assessment of the activity and its conditions, an assessment of the results of this activity. Since evaluation is a special case of attitude manifestation, satisfaction is also considered as one of the aspects of the problem of attitudes. Understanding satisfaction as a relationship to something seems to us the most adequate.

There are grounds for replacing one concept (“satisfaction”) with another (“satisfaction”). They have much in common, both in origin and in their functions. And they talk about satisfaction and satisfaction when it comes to: 1) meeting needs and achieving goals; 2) about expressing an attitude towards something, since both concepts carry an assessment; 3) about motivation, since both phenomena can participate in this process as motivators; 4) on the elucidation of the mechanisms for the formation of satisfaction, which are often replaced by mechanisms for the emergence of satisfaction.

However, the similarity of the causes and conditions for the manifestation of these two phenomena should not overshadow the fundamental differences in their essence and manifestation. The first difference concerns what they characterize. Satisfaction characterizes a one-time and most often short-term act (work performed, a perfect deed, a satisfied need). Satisfaction characterizes long-term events, activities.

This gives rise to the second difference related to the speed of formation of both phenomena: satisfaction arises after a single achievement of the goal, satisfaction - only after the repeated achievement of the goal, when a person is convinced of the high probability and even the guarantee of satisfying his needs.

The third difference lies in the duration of both phenomena: satisfaction as a state lasts a relatively short time, while satisfaction as an attitude towards something persists for a long time.

The fourth difference is in the dynamics of the intensity of both phenomena when the same goal is repeatedly achieved: the experience of satisfaction becomes weaker, and satisfaction, on the contrary, increases.

Already from these differences it is clear that satisfaction manifests itself as an emotional reaction, as an experience of pleasure, and satisfaction - as an emotional attitude, attitude.

The fifth difference is that satisfaction can be experienced both at the biological level (for example, a feeling of satiety, comfort) and at the social level (pleasure from listening to music, reading a book, winning your favorite team in today's match, etc.); Satisfaction is only a social phenomenon, experienced at the level of the individual.

The sixth difference is that satisfaction is a multimodal phenomenon, while satisfaction is a unimodal one. This means that satisfaction is experienced in different emotional states: joy, malevolence, organic pleasure, and dissatisfaction - in sadness, annoyance, disappointment; satisfaction is qualitatively always the same (as a positive attitude), as well as dissatisfaction, regardless of the characteristics of what caused them (work, housing, achievements, in general, one's life).

So, satisfaction is a specific psychological phenomenon, different from satisfaction. Satisfaction can be defined as a stable long-term positive emotional attitude (attitude) of a person towards something, arising as a result of repeatedly experienced satisfaction in some area of ​​life and activity and expressed in the form of a judgment. Satisfaction can be defined as a positive experience by a person of his emotional reaction to the actions and deeds performed or committed, as well as the events that have occurred or are occurring.

Between satisfaction and satisfaction there is a functional relationship, but not an identity. Satisfaction is the primary phenomenon, and contentment is secondary.

Marketing has its own point of view on satisfaction.

Here we can talk in general about the concept of "consumer satisfaction", since it is the analysis of the consumer that focuses on marketing.

The well-known classic of marketing F. Kotler Kotler, F. Fundamentals of Marketing / F. Kotler, G. Armstrong, D. Saunders, V. Wong. - M.: St. Petersburg; Kyiv: House "William", 1999. - P.180. considers this concept from the standpoint of customer satisfaction with products that he has to deal with every day.

Recently, marketing has been considered from the social and ethical side. Philip Kotler became the founder of this concept. In many printed publications in marketing mainly refer to his definition of satisfaction, as well as to customer satisfaction itself.

The degree of consumer satisfaction with a purchase is determined by the ratio of his expectations and the actual qualities of the purchased product. Satisfaction (according to Kotler) - a feeling of contentment or a feeling of disappointment that occurs in an individual who compares his preliminary expectations and the real qualities of the purchased product (or the results of its use) Kotler, F. Fundamentals of Marketing / F. Kotler, G. Armstrong, D. Saunders, W. Wong. - M.: St. Petersburg; Kyiv: William's House, 1999. - P. 186. Kotler closely associates satisfaction with the quality of the goods.

It follows from the definition that customer satisfaction is a function of expectations and actual product performance. If the actual performance of the product turned out to be lower than the preliminary expectations, the consumer feels disappointed. When the characteristics of the product match the expectations, the buyer experiences a sense of satisfaction. If the product's performance is better than imagined, the customer's satisfaction level is even higher, in other words, he is satisfied.

Famous American entrepreneur L. Bean, founder and head famous company L.L. Bin, which bears his name, says this about the consumer in a memorandum binding on all employees of his firm: “The consumer is the most important person who ever visited your office or contacted you by mail. The consumer is independent on us, on the contrary, we all depend on him.The consumer does not interfere with our work, he is her main goal and meaning. We do not provide a service to the consumer when we take care of him. On the contrary, he is doing us a huge favor by contacting our firm. The consumer is the one with whom you cannot argue, who you cannot make fun of. No one has ever benefited from arguing about something with their consumer. The consumer is the one who brings us his desires. Our job is to fulfill these desires with a profit both for us and for him" Khrutsky V.E. A new type of consumer. / V.E. Khrutsky // http://www.elitarium.ru/2005/12 /07/ .

But in fact, the first to formulate this position was the Great Son of the Indian people M. Gandhi, when he worked in the bank of India.

Postulates of Mahatma Gandhi:

The customer is the most important person in our office.

1. He does not depend on us.

2. We all depend on him.

3. He is not an obstacle to our work.

4. He is her target.

5. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it.

6. We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

7. He is doing us a favor by giving us this opportunity.

"The customer is always right" is the life credo of a marketing-oriented company or enterprise that wants to succeed. And it cannot be otherwise. However, it is not enough just to say that the consumer is king and God. It is also necessary to understand what it actually means, what exactly it manifests itself in and how the company behaves with its consumer.

Enterprises and firms striving to become truly marketing-oriented organizations should keep in mind that once satisfied needs and requests of people are no longer needs and requests in the full sense of the word. As the saying goes, a service rendered is no longer a service. And it becomes useless to continue to orient its production to the satisfaction of such needs.

Where the basic needs of people are fully satisfied, people increasingly begin to need services and information, as well as those products, the very appearance of which is caused by an increase in the consumption of services and information.

Thanks to advances in communication and information where more and more people are able to think, compare and compare before making a purchase. But even under these conditions, the rate of growth in demand for all types of services outstrips the growth in demand for products.

The social structure is becoming not only more and more complex, but, as it were, mixed, including in the demographic and regional plan. It is becoming more dynamic, changing daily. This, in turn, constantly generates new and new consumer demands both among those who have changed their social status and within the same social group. The number itself social groups is also constantly increasing. All this together makes traditional approaches and marketing methods less effective.

Today, in order to succeed in the market, organizations must plan for the production of what most enterprises, firms in an industry or business area are not only unaware of, but even have no idea about.

And the main rule that should be followed here is to look for where, in what way an organization (albeit a little) can gain comparative advantages over possible competitors, how it can stand out in the market, attract some consumers. In search of these comparative advantages, in essence, all marketing efforts should be directed, regardless of whether the organization is taking root and promoting its products and services in an already established market or is taking on the creation of a new one.

The quality of a product or service is very often not the main reason for low customer satisfaction. More often than not, organizations attract the wrong customers or are unable to win back a customer after they have had a negative experience with the company. Therefore, we can talk about two types of consumers: "correct" or target, i.e. those whose needs the organization must be able to satisfy positively financial result for themselves and "wrong", i.e. those whose needs the organization cannot satisfy profitably. The appearance of the wrong customers in the structure is the result of a poorly organized process of attracting new and retaining old customers. The conclusion, respectively, is this: to quickly detect the "wrong" consumers and not spend labor and money on them. financial resources organizations.

And what else do they want, what do buyers expect from modern manufacturers today? Without understanding this, it is also difficult to expect to be able to create a proper customer service. Without understanding this, it is difficult to organize modern marketing at the enterprise in general. Without knowing what consumers want, it is pointless to conduct surveys, write questionnaires, and implement many other marketing activities. It's just that the organization will not be able to find the right questions, to put them correctly in front of consumers.

What do consumers want from modern manufacturers? For their money they want to receive:

Goods and services of the highest quality;

Ease of use of the product Additional services giving them more and more comfort in everything;

Solving those problems that are difficult for them to cope with;

An atmosphere of predictability in relation to the product, always clearly knowing what awaits them and what they can count on if the unforeseen happens;

The ability to return their money or receive other sufficient compensation (replacement) in the event that the product turns out to be defective, not meeting their expectations Skryabina N. How to benefit from consumer complaints./ N. Skryabina, S. Fomichev // Business perfection. - 2008. - No. 6. - P.16-18. .

At the same time, authors and researchers in the field of quality management have generally recognized the relationship between customer satisfaction/loyalty and enterprise profitability. The key to the company's success in the market is satisfied customers who remain committed to the company.

The relationship between customer satisfaction and the profitability of the organization can be illustrated by the diagram shown in Fig. 1. Fukulova Y. Conspiracy for love. / Y. Fukulova // Secret of the firm. - 2009. - No. 4. - P. 48 - 52. .

Fig.1.

HELL. Nikiforov, the author of the book “Quality Management”, believes that customer satisfaction is a complex of a large number of components that are different for different enterprises and consumers Nikiforov A.D. Quality management / A.D. Nikiforov. - 2000. - P.22.

From the point of view of the quality management system, customer satisfaction is determined by the quality of the product. What exactly is meant by a “product” and its “quality”? A product is anything that can satisfy the desires or needs of consumers. Goods can be physical objects, services, persons, locations, organizations, and ideas.

Quality - the degree to which the characteristics inherent in the product meet certain requirements Ibid. P.21 The obvious factor good quality product - a smile on the faces of buyers, indicating their satisfaction. However, this is not enough to judge its quality and does not give confidence that buyers will choose our product in the future.

This is how the “product as a whole” looks like on the example of car service services (Fig. 2) Bychkov V.P. Efficiency of production and entrepreneurship in car service./ V.P. Bychkov, N.V. Penshin. - M.: TGTU, - 2007. P. 141 .:

Fig.2.

Customer orientation is now at the top of the requirements for all organizations and it is no coincidence that it is one of the main principles underlying international standards ISO 9000 series.

The concept of "customer satisfaction" is also compared with the concept of "customer loyalty".

"Loyalty" (from French or English loyal - faithful), 1) loyalty to current laws, regulations of authorities (sometimes only formal, external). 2) Correct, benevolent attitude towards someone or something Big Encyclopedic Dictionary ..

Consumer loyalty is the commitment of customers to a brand, motivated by a well-established habit of buying the same product, product or use the same service, insensitivity to the price of the product, rejection of alternatives.

It is the presence of this loyalty, that is, the favorable attitude of consumers to a given organization, product or service, that is the basis for a stable sales volume. Which in turn is a strategic indicator of the success of the organization.

Speaking of loyalty, we can also assume that those consumers can be called loyal who remain with the organization for a sufficiently long time (compared to the life of the product) and make repeated purchases at the same time.

One of the foundations of loyalty is the positive experience that the consumer has received in the process of purchasing / consuming this product or service.

A significant contribution to the study of the loyalty effect was made by Frederick Reichheld (President of the international consulting firm Baind and Company). He collected material on the conduct of marketing research carried out by various companies on the subject of establishing the degree of customer satisfaction.

Reichheld defined loyalty as a quality that is inherent in the user of a value (goods, services), who from time to time returns to his source and passes this source by inheritance. In other words, loyalty is devotion to one's source of value. A loyal customer does not change the source of value and recommends it to his surroundings.

According to the researcher, those areas of activity that require high intelligence and professionalism (insurance, banking, publishing) are most sensitive to the effect of loyalty.

Loyalty also means some figuratively positive attitude of consumers in relation to everything related to the activities of the organization, products and services produced, sold or provided by the organization and with regard to the company's personnel, the image of the organization, trademarks, logo, etc. Meyers H. Branding The Digital Age./ H. Meyers, R. Gerstman; per. From English. A. Baskova. - Palgrave Macmillan. - 2001. - S.102-113. .

Regular customers these are mainly those who make repeated purchases of the same brand. Many experts consider this factor (making repeated purchases) as a key factor in the development of the organization. The longer the consumer communicates with the company, the more valuable he is for her in a financial sense. Such consumers can be figuratively called long-term consumers. They buy more, require less attention in terms of service and staff time, are less sensitive to price changes, and help attract new customers. What is most remarkable about them is the lack of so-called start-up costs to win their loyalty.

Obviously, loyalty is based on a sense of satisfaction. Therefore, one of the important questions is how to measure the degree of customer satisfaction with a product or service, and what dependence is loyalty.

To achieve customer loyalty and company profitability, a long period of work on customer satisfaction management is needed.

While customer satisfaction survey results are an important indicator, relying on them primarily can be lethal to an organization. This kind of research can provide a huge amount useful information, but it is not enough to determine the strategy of the organization or the process of innovation of new products. Therefore, organizations should also use other methods to determine the needs of current, potential and former customers.

Satisfaction is a feeling experienced only after the purchase and use of the product. At the same time, the company's product or brand is perceived not in isolation, but in comparison with real or imaginary products / services that can replace them. The concept of targeting consumers in marketing is seen as meeting or exceeding their expectations, and expectations depend on the choice offered in the market. By exceeding consumer expectations in price and quality, consumers can be expected to return to the organization.

Due to the fact that consumer preferences are based on significant differences between competitive offers, consumer expectations are internally related to:

What competitors offer (known or potential);

What was promised;

What seems reasonable based on past experience;

What is the loss depending on the price and the cost of mental and physical effort.

According to the model of N. Kano (Noriaki Kano), there are three levels of satisfaction (Fig. 3):

Fig.3. Model N. Kano Kano Noriaki. "Attractive quality and must-be quality" (in Japanese). Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control. - 1984. - No. 14. - P. 39-48.

To decide whether to meet/exceed consumer expectations, they should be compared to satisfying their desires. The level of expectations of the consumer is the level of feasibility of his ideas, while the level of desires is the level of ideal sensations, i.e. ideal consumer guide.

The expected quality of a product is what may or may not induce a purchase. There are generally accepted service standards that most companies in the business adhere to. If the company does not adhere to generally accepted standards of product quality, customers may refuse to purchase, and with the improvement of product quality, customer satisfaction practically does not increase. For example, the size of a bedspread on a bed in a hotel: it should be at least as large as a mattress, but if the bedspread is larger than standard sizes, this does not significantly affect customer satisfaction.

We can conclude that whatever the definition of "customer satisfaction" is, this factor will always be at the head of the goals of any organization. But it is not enough to know what to manage, it is also important to know and be able to properly manage the selected object.

It doesn't matter who is the consumer of the product. In any case, he is the highest authority, whose opinion is the law, and not to listen to him in the most obsequious way means to put the well-being of business on the brink of suicide.

Thus, from all of the above, as a basic concept for ourselves for this work, we will define the concept that is “consumer satisfaction” as overall rating the experience of the organization's customers in acquiring and using the products, services or services provided by those organizations.

Profit from Customer Satisfaction

The inventory level decision is another merchandising decision that affects customer satisfaction. The marketer would like the firm to have a stock of goods sufficient to immediately fulfill all customer orders. However, it is unprofitable for the company to maintain such large stocks. As the level of customer service improves, inventory costs skyrocket. Management will need to know whether sales and revenues will increase enough to justify the increase.

Marketers need to be interested in what decisions about the transportation of goods are made by their firms. The choice of the carrier determines the price level of the goods, the timeliness of their delivery, and the condition of the goods at the time of their arrival at their destinations. But all this in turn will affect the degree of customer satisfaction.

Long-term benefit for the customer I Z S 0 and O X 7. Momentary customer satisfaction Low High

After determining the characteristics of the market structure, it is necessary to evaluate the marketing strategy of competitors. In particular, the enterprise must establish which territorial markets are saturated and which are not target markets of competitors with the level of service and quality provided by competitors.

According to the substantive changes, the ISO 9001 2000 standard has a revised title that does not contain the term "quality assurance". The latter reflects the fact that the requirements for total quality management systems established in this standard are not only focused on ensuring the conformity of the quality of products and (or) services, but also include the need for an organization and demonstration of its ability to achieve customer satisfaction, in particular by improving the quality of products and services. It should be emphasized that much more attention is paid to customer satisfaction in this version of ISO standards, which is clearly seen in the model of the process of general quality management, presented in the new version of these standards.

The competitiveness of a product depends not only on functional suitability, but also on the degree of consumer satisfaction with the whole complex of product properties, the conditions for its delivery and use. In the case of specifying a product group (for example, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, instrument making, etc.), you can use indicators of safety, reliability, ergonomics, maintainability (included in the concept of quality), reflecting technical features and product specifics

Rice. 8.1. Improving customer satisfaction with products

The organization shall determine and provide the resources required to implement and maintain the quality management system and to continually improve its effectiveness and to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements.

Determination of customer satisfaction.

Product (product) indicators Value (rating) Scale 1-5 Customer satisfaction

Technology improvement. The advent of computers has brought with it a constant expansion of the financial services industry and a decrease in the cost of transaction costs. As in other industries, technology has a significant impact here. Electronic funds transfer, ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, personal computers that allow you to conclude financial transactions without leaving your home, as well as telecommunications - everything has changed, i.e. the ways of providing financial products and processes, including the pricing process, have become completely others. Structurally, costs have been reduced through automation, and technology has reduced the number of intermediaries in financial institutions. The accuracy and speed of transactions are many times increased, which increases the satisfaction of the consumer, whether it is a depositor, a corporate borrower, an investor or a corporate issuer.

Communication with the consumer. For successful companies, the consumer represents the focus of their work, since it is from him that the main information for the organization comes. Customer satisfaction for such firms is at the core of their organizational culture.

The essence of the exogenous efficiency of the functioning of a certain legal unit (firm) lies in the ability to produce such products and perform such services that would correspond to the preferences of buyers in the distribution of income that has developed in society. In other words, this criterion for a particular organization is its effectiveness from the point of view of consumers, i.e. entities external to the firm. Naturally, the adaptability of public and private economic structures to consumer satisfaction in different conditions and situations may be different.

Consumer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is measured through their attitude to the organization as a whole (flexibility, activity, responsiveness, openness), to products and services (price, reliability, on-time delivery, compliance, environmental friendliness), to sales and after-sales support (technical assistance, quick response to requests, quality of technical documentation, warranty service). Specific indicators can be the number of awards received, complaints and complaints received, the proportion of regular consumers.

Satisfying consumers with high quality and affordable color printing services in modern equipment leading countries of the world.

Immersion in needs - a method of systematically studying what the consumer is not satisfied with by temporarily working with him (observation from the inside). In the case of consumer products, there is a constant use of manufactured goods by employees of the company as testers.

Customer Satisfaction and Employee Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction Low

If your interlocutor declines the offer to participate in the business, then you can build your presentation around the products (remember your company's guarantee of customer satisfaction). You can talk to him about the possibility of participating in the business another time, after your interlocutor has time to get acquainted with the advantages of your products. It is considered advantageous to leave this option open for oneself.

Many executives believe that the marketing department is just one branch of the firm that employs self-made planners, researchers, advertising and promotion specialists, customer service workers, new product developers, product and brand managers responsible for market segmentation. and, of course, sellers. Them general work consists in analyzing the market, identifying new opportunities, formulating marketing strategies, developing specific activities, budgeting and monitoring all this. However, this point of view is not entirely correct. In addition to the above, marketing should orient the company to meet the needs of both the entire market and individual consumers. The number of consumers is limited, and without them the company cannot exist. In order to attract and retain customers, it is necessary to take a variety of actions. Customer satisfaction depends on a myriad of factors, many of which—delivery reliability, billing accuracy, telephone communication—are outside the scope of the marketing department. Therefore, marketers have to make significant efforts to ensure that the entire company works for customers and unconditionally deliver on their promises.

The growing importance of quality, price and customer satisfaction. At different times in different places different people there is a different motivation for making a purchase (convenience, status, style, characteristics, service, etc.). When making a purchase decision, today's consumers are increasingly thinking about the quality and cost of the product. Some companies manage to work in such a way as to improve the quality of products and at the same time reduce costs. Their main principle is to constantly offer more for less.

One of the main factors determining the possibility of carrying out foreign economic activity in the foreign market is the level of competition for a particular product or service. In other words, having determined consumer preferences for this type of product, an enterprise must investigate the level of saturation of each specific market and the degree of consumer satisfaction with the offered analogous goods. As a rule, these data can be obtained from secondary (press, specialized bulletins, statistical data or previous studies) or by obtaining primary information directly from the analysis of the current market situation (methods of trial purchases, consumer opinion polls, observation, etc.).

Based on surveys or in another way, first of all, customer requirements for the product (A1 ... A4) are justified (top left in Fig. 10.6) and their value is evaluated by the consumer in the form of priorities (top center rating scale from 1 - half to 5 - very Good). For each requirement (from A1 to A4), the degree of implementation (scale from 1 to 5) is recorded in the form of customer satisfaction as