2009 Q3 How Satisfied is Satisfied?
So you just completed your annual customer satisfaction survey and learned that your customers rate your company with an overall score of 7.2 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 represents extremely satisfied and 1 represents extremely dissatisfied. The overall score of 7.2 out of a potential score of 10 is an average of all questions and is referred to as the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI).
With a score of 7.2 the management team congratulates each other, interpreting the overall score as very good. Before making that conclusion it might be helpful to understand exactly what a score of 7.2 really means. Based on the surveys completed by SPG, the average CSI in our database is 7.8 based on the 100 most recent companies for whom we have conducted surveys. In other words, a score of 7.2 indicates that there is significant upside potential to further increase customer satisfaction.
Other organizations also benchmark results. For example, the University of Michigan calculates their American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores by major industry based on percentages. For 2008 companies in the food manufacturing industry posted an average scoreof 83 out of 100. By contrast, the airline industry posted an overall score of 62 out of 100.
Understanding the true meaning of customer satisfaction ratings and having the capability to benchmark against other companies provides meaningful comparisons and allows management to establish realistic goals in order to generate continuous improvement.