Introduction

Existing customers are and will continue to be the best prospects for the organisation. Henry Ford has rightly said, "If there is any secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from his angle." This aspect was visible in the case of the calendar 'Kalnirnay', discussed above. Every marketer today is engaged in working towards satisfying every consumer for, they have realised that, while marketing is a core element of management philosophy, its success lies in focusing more on satisfying the needs of their customers.

The conventional argument put forth by organisations is that the purpose of production is consumption and this will be served provided (their) consumers' interest are attended to. This is because of the conventional response which evolves around what consumers think, i.e., satisfied customers are presumed to be loyal too. Moreover, in the long run, such loyal customers will help in bringing in repeat business, a higher share of their expenditure and referrals and word of mouth recommendations to other customers.

Nevertheless, ultimately only if the organisation is able to provide quality product or service which matches customer expectations that consumer satisfaction will be achieved.

Customerisation 

Customerisation can be defined as the process wherein all the employees of the firm interact directly with the customer and end user. Such a process enables them to have access to every person and function within the organisation, be involved in designing and fine tuning key products and processes and turn every interaction with the customer into a platform of interactive communication so as to add value and increase customer satisfaction.

Today, with the availability of multiple product or service choices, consumers are seeking 'value' for the money spent. Marketers on the other hand, are trying to identify this value which can attract and appeal to the customers through unique delivery methods. For this purpose, they are evolved around the process of customerisation, wherein the entire organisation (including all the employees) are engaged in identifying customer aspirations and perceptions and match it with suitable product and service offerings. All these efforts at building up a platform of interactive communication techniques are to add value as well as to increase the consumer satisfaction leading to consumer delight.

• Customerisation will help the organisation to:

• Focus on consumer needs and offer value added benefits to them. 

• Identify new customers, new market segments and new applications for existing products and services.

• Provide quality service to match the customer aspiration and requirement. 

• Help to enhance the organisation's operational efficiency through employees high motivational level and involvement.

• Enables the organisation to work towards total customer satisfaction and maximum customer delight.

The term satisfaction has originated from Latin and literally means (when translated to English) 'to have enough'. A customer is satisfied when she feels "Yes, I have had enough." So the entire issue before the marketer is to know what happens in the consumer's mind which prompts or enables her to make a judgement about a product or service offering.

The Relationship Between Consumer Expectations And Satisfaction

Consumer expectation can be said to be a belief or expectation or confidence of a certain outcome. Very often, consumer expectation is built up on a certain platform, which will accordingly affect the consumer satisfaction level.

In order to avoid consumer dissatisfaction, the marketer must adopt an approach wherein he can classify markets in relation to the degree of opportunity to deliver consumer satisfaction. The factors likely to influence consumer expectation and thereby their satisfaction level include:

• Market size

• Rate of growth of the market

• Stability of demand

• The 'price factor' influencing the purchase decision

• The consumer expectations of pre-and post-purchase service

• Consumer desire for product innovation.

• The level of competition (including both the existing as well as potential competitors) 

• The organisation's competitive strength in terms of price and product performance.

Consumer Expectation Levels

Consumer expectation can exist at four levels :

a) Expectation at the general level

A general expectation of functional aspects like quality, durability reliability, style etc., of a high level of quality of product or service along with some negative external effects. For instance, when Vijay Mallya launched his Kingfisher Airlines, there was a lot of consumer expectations (excellent inflight services, hard drinks offerings etc.) build up. Consumers expected a high level of services from the UB group Chairman's airlines, provided the government gave the permission (probable external negative effect).

b) Expectation at the category level

At times, consumer's expectation is built upon a particular product category or class.

For instance, Park Avenue realised that premium customers were interested in exclusive men's wear in line with global lifestyle. Their answer was in the form of offering a complete range of fashionable men's wear made from the finest of fabrics and exceptional craftsmanship, in line with the global fashion under the brand name of Park Avenue in the premium category level.

c) Expectation at the brand level

At the brand level, the consumer's expectation is built up on the basis of his or her knowledge and information about the expertise and reputation of the organisation. The brand name 'Canon' is immediately associated with camera. The company has been able build upon its customers expectation for making the best camera in the world in 1937 and even today it is known as a renowned brand in digital imaging. Other examples include brand names such as Xerox or McDonald's which have become identified with the product or service itself.

d) Expectation at the transaction level

Such expectations are built up at the time of a transaction between the customer and the organisation. When Vijay Mallya was launching Kingfisher Airlines, he had made a bold mission statement “We are not in the transportation business we are in the aviation hospitality business." Given the Kingfisher brand, the consumer expectation was built up at the transaction level itself - they expected a lifestyle, quality, and services and Kingfisher Airlines, by positioning their service offerings was able to address those needs too.

Consumers have the tendency to compare their expectations with their post-purchase experience. If this experience falls short of expectations, it is referred to as negative discrepancy. otherwise it is a positive discrepancy. Such discrepancies can induce customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

In a study titled 'Assessment of Quality of Banking Services in India' conducted by 'Consumer Voice' to analyse the perception of consumers and their satisfaction levels with their banks, certain interesting facts were revealed. Contrary to the popular belief, private sector banks did not score as well as other nationalized banks with the exception of Vysya Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. 

To a great extent, consumer dissatisfaction can be reduced, if organisations are able to offer reliable, qualitative and customized product or service offerings.

Trying to understand the 'why' of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction

Marketers are engaged in trying to understand the consumer's product or service usage outcome. This outcome can be characterized as satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It would be quite easy to measure overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This can be done by asking the consumers a question - "How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with our (mention the brand name) product or service offering?"

What is more relevant and challenging for the marketer is in trying to understand "why" customers feel the way they do. This aspect can be addressed by using two approaches. One approach could be to get the consumer rate a product or service on its various attributes. For instance, for a DVD player its CD support format, PMPO mega bass effect, Random play feature, FM tuning, compatibility and pricing. The overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction with these product attributes can be looked into to explain the customer's overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the DVD player. But this approach does not explain what causes satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

The second or theoretical approach helps to address this issue. Customer behaviour scholars have advocated that consumer satisfaction does not depend on the absolute levels of performance of the various attributes but more on a how the actual performance compares with the expected performance. Thus, if the product or service experience matches the pre-purchase expectations, it leads to customer satisfaction, and if it doesn't, dissatisfaction takes place. So, satisfaction or dissatisfaction will rise from the confirmation or disconfirmation of the consumer's expectation. This explaination is very relevant to how one makes intuitive sense of the everyday experience. For example, one may find the restaurant cleanliness unsatisfactory at the Coffee Cafe Day outlet but quite satisfactory in, say an ordinary restaurant. This is because one has a very high expectation from a Coffee Cafe Day outlet when compared to an ordinary restaurant.