Satisfaction vs Purchase Behavior

Customer satisfaction is an important part of how companies create revenue. Studies have shown time and time again that high levels of customer satisfaction are important for things like purchase frequency, customer loyalty, word of mouth marketing, etc. Yet the results of customer satisfaction surveys sometimes show different results.

Companies will run their surveys only to find that satisfaction appears not to be linked with increased revenue. Deflated, many of these companies will give up or decide that customer satisfaction shouldn’t be a priority.

Nothing went wrong. The biggest problem that many researchers have is how they interpret satisfaction results. There is a tendency to believe that the more your customers are satisfied, the more revenue you will receive.

But to interpret results that way is to interpret them incorrectly. An increase in customer satisfaction does not necessarily mean an increase in purchases. Your business may operate differently, like so: Customer Satisfaction Score of 0 to 2: Customers leave.

Customer Satisfaction Score of 3 to 8: Purchasing remains the same. Customer Satisfaction Score of 9 to 10: Purchases increase. It may also operate on a completely different scale: Customer Satisfaction Score of 0 to 2: Customers leave.

Customer Satisfaction Score of 3 to 10: Purchasing remains the same. Or a different scale: Customer Satisfaction Score of 0 to 9: Purchasing remains the same. Customer Satisfaction Score of 10: Purchases increase.

Or a different scale: Customer Satisfaction Score of 0 to 1: Purchasing drops considerably. Customer Satisfaction Score of 2 to 3: Purchasing drops nominally. Customer Satisfaction Score of 4 to 5: Purchasing remains the same.

Customer Satisfaction Score of 5 to 7: Purchases increase slightly. Customer Satisfaction Score of 8 to 10: Purchasing increases considerably. Every business is different.

There is no one to one correlation between satisfaction scores and revenue. Neighborhood grocery stores, for example, may never lose customers if they are the only place in town that offers a specific product. Similarly, video rental places may lose customers regularly unless they have an arguably unobtainable customer satisfaction score.

Every company has its own products, its own customers, and its own factors to take into consideration when it comes to how satisfaction is related to revenue. There is no pre-determined scale for any business, anywhere. It is up to your company to determine the value that customer satisfaction scores have for your specific business.

You will need to find what your business’s scale is, and react accordingly. Sometimes it’s about finding more revenue streams, sometimes it’s simply about avoiding losses. Regardless, your own business falls somewhere on this scale, and your research will help you find out where.