HOW TO MEASURE VISITOR SATISFACTION AT EVENTS?

How to measure visitor satisfaction at events?

How to measure visitor satisfaction at events?

Chapter I

Customer satisfaction

1.1 Definitions of customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. (Charles, Marjorie, 2007, 17-18) In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.[1]

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer satisfaction for firms. Organizations are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. (Charles, Marjorie, 2007, 17-18)

Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organization's products. (DeSarbo, Lenard, Marcello, Jungwhan, 2004, 200-220)

Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed. Work done by Berry (Bart Allen) and Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined ten 'Quality Values' which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation. (Fischhoff, Ruth, 2003, 239-260) These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and are most often utilized to develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model.

 1.2 Importance of customer satisfaction 

Clear implication of the customer satisfaction has been granted along with the justifications and effects from the very productive implementation. J. Heskett's "service-profit chain" model has been adapted in lead to construe the bonds between profitability of a service organisation with customer satisfaction and dedication and the effects of this relationship. (Ellram, Edis, 2006, 20-28) Examples have been shown obviously based onto the former five covering examine from Lovelock's retain "Services Marketing: A European Perspective". Furthermore the permit of processes and way forth of customer satisfaction assessment has been illustrated. Finally way forth and approaches for customer satisfaction developments have been discussed. (Ellram, Edis, 2006, 20-28)

More and many service organisations nowadays separate that customer satisfaction is essential for finance success. Additional, grasp and looking forth towards what customers like and demand for the future, has commanded service organisations scrutinising for probable service attributes ...