Indicators of Customer Satisfaction
The world is fast changing due to technological advancements. Through advancements in technologies, the world has been turned into a global village. There are no boundaries in the world market as the society has been turned into a single unit that is accessible to anyone who is willing and able to conduct business in various regions. However, this comes at a cost.
Competition is made rife as each firm tries to outsmart another in the market (Lancastre & Filipe 2005, p.15). E-Market has been popular as it enables marketers to reach customers located in different parts of the world easily. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal for every marketer. A marketer can determine customer satisfaction through several ways.
As Hui-Chih (2008, p. 23) says, it is easier yet more challenging to measure customer satisfaction in an e-market as compared to Brick-and-Moter market. As this scholar observes, an e-market is large and to monitor it, it demands a comprehensive understanding of factors that play off in determining the level of customer satisfaction and how customers respond when satisfied.
This scholar observes that customer satisfaction can be measured in two ways. The researcher can involve customers in determining their satisfaction. Conversely, the researcher can conduct the survey without letting the concerned customers know that a survey is being done.
According to Allen (2004, p. 47), customer satisfaction can be determined in a number of ways without letting the customers know that a research is done on them. This scholar says that customer satisfaction can best be determined by customer loyalty. A customer will always remember where and when he or she got the best value out of his or her purchase.
A satisfied customer will develop a tendency of going back to the same place where he or she got satisfaction. Chang and Wong (2010, p. 8) asserts that in an e-market, this would be determined by an increased repeat purchase from the customer. The concerned marketer can devise a program where customers are identified with a specific code.
The program should be able to record the frequency with which a specific customer makes repeat purchase after the initial purchase. This should then be recorded for analysis. A marketer can follow up records of specific customers selected randomly from the firm’s website.
The trends of the customer selected will be a measure of their satisfaction. If the purchase shows loyalty of the product from the company, then a marketer would correctly conclude that the customer is satisfied (Claudia & Sweeney 2010, p. 16).
Customer satisfaction can also be determined through inquiries by the current customers of availability of related products. Kioses and Pramatari (2006, 2006) say that it is not easy to develop trust in an e-market. This is because of the various conmen who pose as genuine traders and rob from the public. However, if a company successfully develops trust with its customers, they are most likely to stay with it.
When the current customers are satisfied with the company’s current products, they are more likely to make inquiry of other products that the company stocks. This would be an indicator that the customer is satisfied with the current products of the firm (Pucihar, Hrvačanin, & Jeriha 2002, p. 44).
According to Allen (2004, p. 52), customer satisfaction in an e-market can be determined through observation of the time customers take on the website of the company and the frequency with which they visit the site.
A satisfied customer would visit the website looking for the item that was previously bought or new products that the company has brought into the market. Kioses and Pramatari (2006, p.12) affirms that a marketer can develop a program that would enable him or her monitor the time taken by the customer at the company’s online store as a way of determining the level of customer satisfaction.
Another way through which customer satisfaction can be determined in an e-market is through direct communication with customers. Hui-Chih (2008, p. 23) says that some customers always express their satisfaction in a direct way.
Such customers would get back to the company through the website or any other forms of communication and inform them that their last experience with the firm was fantastic or otherwise. A marketer can therefore devise a method of compiling such a report to determine the level of customer satisfaction.
E-Marketplace and Customer Satisfaction
Lancastre and Filipe (2005, p.14) say that online marketing has features that makes it easy for customers to make purchase of various products. A customer can easily determine the products that are available in the market by viewing various websites of companies offering the desired products.
As Hui-Chih (2008, p. 24) puts it, it brings the market to the living room of the customer. As such, customer satisfaction must be given a priority by a marketer. With market easily accessible to the customer, moving to another firm’s product is only a click away.
According to Chang and Wong (2010, p. 8), use of e-Market has brought competition between firms a notch higher. There is need to have a base of satisfied customers for the business to be sustainable. This scholar says that the current market is very competitive as customers are exposed to various firms offering similar or closely related products. There is therefore need for the marketer to ensure that customers are satisfied.
List of References
Allen, B 2004, “The e-Marketplace:Creating and Capturing the value in B2B e-commerce”, e-marketplace journal Vol. 8, no. 13, pp 47-86.
Chang, H & Wong, K 2010, “Adoption of e-procurement and participation of e-marketplace on firm”, Information and Management, Vol. 7, no. 8, pp 8-12.
Claudia, M & Sweeney, E 2010, “E-Business in Supply Chain Management Coordination in Intelligent:Modeling and Implementation”, E-Business in Supply Chain Management, Vol. 3, no. 1, pp 16-17.
Hui-Chih, K 2008, “An Investigation into the Determinants of Repurchase Loyalty in the E-Marketplace”, System Sciences Journal, Vol. 4, no. 2, pp 22-24.
Kioses, E & Pramatari, K 2006, “Factors Affecting Perceived Impact of Electronic Marketplaces”, eValues Journal, Vol. 3, no. 2, pp11-12.
Lancastre, A & Filipe, L 2005, “The relationship between buyer and a B2B e-marketplace”, Industrial Marketing Management , Vol. 4, no. 1, pp 11-16.
Pucihar, A., Hrvačanin, M & Jeriha, A 2002, “Use of eMarketplace for Public Procurement”, eReality: Constructing the eEconomy, Vol. 15, no. 1, pp 40-46