3 Levels of Customer Satisfaction

3 levels of customer satisfaction inform a company of the probability of a customer coming for a repeat purchase, referring a friend, or even the likelihood of never returning.

Customer satisfaction is the degree to which a customer is happy with how exactly a company product or a service meets their expectation. There are 3 levels of customer satisfaction dependent on customers’ expectations.

1. Delighted level

2. Satisfied level

3. Dissatisfied level.

3 Levels of Customer Satisfaction

1. Delighted level

This is the level where customer expectations were met and even surpassed. The value for money of their purchase was way beyond what they expected. A delighted customer perceived a product to have more value than they had paid. They develop a happy emotional connection with a product or a service because the best they thought has been exceeded.

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2. Satisfied level

At this level, a customer’s expectations were met but could want more. They feel their purchase has value for money for what they paid for. Even though they might not be super happy or feel they got more than they paid. They are content with their experience with a product or a service in question.

3. Dissatisfied level

Here, customer expectations were never met. Their experience with a product or service was not as enjoyable. Thus, they feel that the money they paid for purchasing a good or service was spent the wrong way. Dissatisfied customer regrets their purchases and often express their frustration directly or indirectly.

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Why Customer Satisfaction?

Customers will always return to buy where their satisfaction was met or surpassed. They will even refer their friends to buy from such companies. Satisfying customers contributes to referral marketing done by the satisfied customer to their friends or family members. Monitoring the three levels of customer satisfaction can inform possibility of referral marketing.

In addition, customer satisfaction dictates whether a customer will be loyal or not. It directly dictates the stability of sales volume that the company will likely record. It is paramount to consistently meet customer satisfaction and try to follow up in case of dissatisfaction. Such follow-up is to resolve a customer’s conflict and make sure a customer is satisfied at the end of the day.

Why You Should Not Ignore Dissatisfied Customers?

Even though delighted and satisfied customers are of great value for a company’s profitability and business growth, it is a dissatisfied customer to worry about the most. Dissatisfied customers are likely to paint a bad image or even silently switch to competitors, as elaborated below:

1. Negative publicity

Dissatisfied customers are unlikely to let their frustration go unexpressed. They will use all means possible to share their emotional frustration to friends and family. In digital media, negative publicity about a company is risky. It could spread as fast as a bushfire, and it could take time and money for a company to cleanse itself from negative publicity.

Competitors could capitalize on how good they are at what a company has failed. It is for this reason a company’s market share is most fragile in case of negative publicity.

2. Losing customers to competitors

Some customers who have tried to express their frustration and got no resolution will likely exit silently. They will have given up on a company’s chances to improve their mistakes. Thus, a company will realize when it’s too late that it has lost a significant share of its loyal customers.

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