Satisfaction is a subject of great interest to market researchers. Satisfaction with companies and products is one of the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) a company needs to guide its progress. High satisfaction scores result in more sales, increased loyalty, and greater profits. It is the mark of a successful business and a high satisfaction score is the ultimate marketing accolade.
So what is satisfaction and what are the satisfaction norms? In the real world we don’t say to our friends and colleagues that the restaurant we have just eaten in was 8 out of 10, or that sunset was 9 out of 10. We use adjectives from the English language to describe how satisfied or dissatisfied we were. However, these variable descriptions would not allow us to arrive at a measure of group satisfaction and so we market researchers have to resort to measures on a scale. Numerical scales are favoured by market researchers and a scale from 1 to 10 is the most common one that is used.
In the world of business to business market research most successful companies achieve overall satisfaction scores in the corridor from 7 to 9 out of 10. A score of less than 7 is at the bottom end of the acceptable range and achieving an average score of more than 9 out of 10 is extremely hard. 8 out of 10 is a good average.
It was interesting to see the article in the Financial Times at the weekend that referred to research with the general public on satisfaction levels. Lo and behold, the results were very similar to what we find in B2B research. Average scores are in the 7 to 9 out of 10 corridor with professionals achieving higher ratings than those on lower incomes. Job interest and a good family life were important contributors to their high score.
There are some lessons for us here in business to business marketing. If relationships make for a high score of satisfaction in personal life, what do you think they do in our business life? If an interesting and engaging job makes for happiness in our personal life, what do you think interesting and engaging suppliers do for supplier satisfaction?
News Digest: Financial Times July 28/July 29 2007
Professionals are happiest
People in England rate their satisfaction with life at an average 7.3 out of 10, government research published today discloses. Responses varied according to occupation, with professionals seeming to be happier overall than pensioners, unskilled workers and the unemployed.
Future financial security was one of the biggest causes of dissatisfaction among the 3,600 people polled for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Feeling part of a community and health were other aspects of life with which people were least happy.
Three-quarters of the respondents rated their life satisfaction at seven or more when they were asked to pick a number from one to 10.
This rose to 7.6 out of 10 among respondents from the social grades A and B.
These two groups include professionals such as doctors, solicitors, accountants, teachers, nurses and police officers.
Satisfaction rates fell to an average 6.7 out of 10 for the social group E, which includes casual labourers, state pensioners and the unemployed.
People in this group were found to be more likely than average to have regularly felt depressed, unsafe or lonely in the fortnight before being interviewed.
Professional workers were more likely than average to have regularly felt happy, energised or engaged with what they were doing during the preceding two weeks.
Being able to spend time with friends and family was one of the most important factors that affected respondents’ lives.
Health and personal relationships were among the other most frequently cited factors.
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 9:46 am and is filed under Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, Market Research.
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