Best Practices: Enhance Customer Satisfaction's Impact

Satisfaction studies often cost a lot and consume vast research resources without ultimately improving business results. Why? The market intelligence organizations that conduct the research often take just a "reporting" approach, while the business units that receive the results — and often have compensation tied to them — debate the results rather than focus on the solution to the problem. Market intelligence organizations must adopt a consultative approach in which they act as a "partner, not just a reporter," to the business — an approach that not only counsels leaders on the results of customer satisfaction but also actively participates in bringing about a change in business results. This means aligning organizational metrics with customer satisfaction ones, delivering results in-person, and taking a larger role in understanding the business operations that the customer satisfaction scores measure.