National customer barometer

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A national customer barometer (also known as the national customer satisfaction index) is the cross-industry measurement of satisfaction (and related issues) of companies and institutions in a nation or an economic area by means of periodic surveys by a neutral institution. Based on the results of such a longitudinal study - in the sense of benchmarking - company, branch , country and time comparisons can be made.

history

The consideration for the development of a national customer barometer is the assumption of customer satisfaction as an essential indicator for the efficiency of a company. This should emphasize the economic importance of customer satisfaction. The Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer (SCSB), founded in 1989, is the first implementation of this idea and enjoys strong popular and business support. The term “barometer” is intended to indicate that both the level and fluctuations in customer satisfaction are recorded. The SCSB was established as a research project by the University of Michigan and the Swedish Post as main sponsor. As part of the SCSB, around 40,000 to 50,000 customers are surveyed annually on individual industries in order to obtain meaningful satisfaction results for numerous industries.

Other important customer barometers that have established themselves after the SCSB are the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the European Performance Satisfaction Index (EPSI) and the Kundenmonitor Deutschland .

Importance of customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction has largely established itself as a key factor with a significant contribution to the economic success of a company.

A customer-oriented corporate strategy can increase customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction, in turn , has a positive influence on customer-related behavioral effects, in particular customer loyalty . The most important effects are as follows:

  • increased willingness to buy again from customers
  • Increase in willingness to pay
  • positive recommendation behavior
  • Reduction in willingness to switch to competing companies

These behavioral effects ultimately enable economic success.

Characteristics of customer barometers

As part of customer barometers, between 10,000 and 100,000 customers are surveyed annually on a variety of topics. This can be done in writing, in person or by telephone. For the most part, telephone surveys are used. Questions can be asked about expectations of the performance of an industry or a provider and how these expectations are met. In addition to satisfaction, the decisive reason for the satisfaction rating is often asked. In addition, information is often collected on repeat purchases, the intention to repurchase and recommend to others, barriers to switching and price tolerance, the duration of the customer relationship and complaint behavior .

Customer barometers are used to carry out extensive economic analyzes . The overriding goal here is to provide comprehensive evidence of the connection between customer satisfaction and corporate financial success: Customers should be equated with the capital value of a company. To do this, one subjects the customers' expectations , satisfaction and purchasing behavior to a detailed consideration.

The prerequisite for deriving concrete meaningful data from a customer barometer is the use of a suitable, realistic satisfaction model and an exact implementation of the empirical survey. Attention must be paid to the representativeness , validity , reliability and predictability of the data. The questionnaires of the various barometers often vary, as different approaches are followed to ensure the quality characteristics.

Advantages and possible uses

Benefits for companies

As part of the customer barometer, companies get inexpensive and easy access to customer, cross-competition and cross-industry key figures, which serve as the basis for optimizing the competitiveness of companies. The data from the national customer barometer can be used as an argumentation basis for internal company decisions. Furthermore, this knowledge, especially that of customer expectations, enables efficient use of company resources by setting other priorities that are adapted to the wishes of the customers. As a result, there is also an increase in the customer orientation of industries and companies. Sectors and companies rated negatively are sensitized to customer orientation and can change their corporate strategy.

Benefits for industries

The evaluation of the national customer barometer can help to uncover strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats of industries. It also serves as a basis for optimizing the competitiveness of industries and as a basis for deriving strategic decisions. Industry comparisons, which can be drawn from the customer barometer, show the development tendencies and growth opportunities of individual segments or industries and enable the identification and effective use of market gaps .

Benefits for consumers

The results of the national customer barometer can be used as a decision-making aid, as they contain information about the satisfaction of other customers when buying a product or a service. The customer barometer also simplifies the transmission of expectations and complaints to companies. Consumers therefore benefit from customer-oriented corporate strategies and can take advantage of improved offers.

Benefits for national bodies

The national customer barometer provides information on the need for action with regard to economic policy measures . In addition, the satisfaction ratings resulting from an analysis of the customer barometer serve as a control of the public service provision. An assessment is made here by comparing public services with market services. With the data from the customer barometer, the previous purely quantitative national accounts can be expanded to include the qualitative dimension and thus gain in informative value and comparative value. Finally, an international comparison can show economic differences and justify different trade decisions and strategic orientations of the individual nations.

literature

  • Manfred Bruhn: Quality management for services. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016
  • Hans Corsten, Stefan Roth (ed.): Handbook service management. , Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2017
  • Manfred Bruhn, Christian Homburg (ed.): Handbook customer loyalty management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag Wiesbaden 2010
  • Armin Töpfer (Ed.): Handbook customer management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008
  • Manfred Bruhn, Britta Murmann: National customer barometer. , Springer-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1998
  • Manfred Bruhn, Bernd Stauss (Ed.): Service quality: concepts, methods, experiences. , Gabler-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1995
  • Christian Homburg (Ed.): Customer satisfaction: concepts, methods, experiences. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag Wiesbaden 2016
  • Anton Meyer (Ed.): Fundamental questions and challenges of service marketing. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996
  • Claes Fornell: A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer. The Swedish Experience. in: Journal of Marketing. Vol. 56 No. 1 January 1992, pp. 6-21
  • Manfred Bruhn: National customer barometers as starting points for improving customer orientation. in: The company. , Vol. 52 No. 5/6 1998 pp. 271-295
  • Manfred Bruhn, Michael Grund, Theory, development and implementation of national customer satisfaction indices. in: Total Quality Management. , Vol. 11 No. 7, September 2000
  • Jan Eklof, Peter Hackl, Westlund A., On measuring interactions between customer satisfaction and financial results. in: Total Quality Management. , Vol. 10 No. 4/5, July 1999

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Armin Töpfer (Ed.): Handbook customer management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, p. 442
  2. ↑ Armin Töpfer (Ed.): Handbook customer management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008
  3. ^ Claes Fornell: A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer. The Swedish Experience. in: Journal of Marketing. Vol. 56 No. 1 January 1992, pp. 6-21
  4. ↑ https://www.kundenmonitor.de - official study site of the Kundenmonitor Germany
  5. ↑ Christian Homburg (ed.): Customer satisfaction: concepts, methods, experiences. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag Wiesbaden 2016
  6. ↑ January Eklof, Peter Hackl, Westlund A., On measuring interactions between customer satisfaction and financial results. in: Total Quality Management. , Vol. 10 No. 4/5, July 1999
  7. ↑ Armin Töpfer (Ed.): Handbook customer management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, p. 446
  8. ^ Manfred Bruhn, Britta Murmann: National customer barometer., Springer-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1998
  9. ↑ Armin Töpfer (Ed.): Handbook customer management. , Springer-Gabler-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, pp. 444–447