Is “Satisfied” Good Enough?
Posted by heatherrast on January 13th, 2009This is one of those posts that has been noodling around in my, well, noodle for awhile. The idea struck me one day while driving when I passed a sign jabbed crookedly in the ground at a street corner. You know the type, screen printed on a sheet of thick plastic with prongs on one side to hold it securely in the ground? I typically notice these types of signs (I fret about the poor people dodging traffic to install them) but my sense is that they’re often used for commodity service providers like lawn care. And I think they’re part of the marketing bag-’o-tricks used by questionable insurance carriers and weight-loss programs. Any-who.
I tried to snap a pic (JK, Officer) but no dice. The gist of the message was “I’m Satisfied with Mr. Carpet.” Mr. Carpet, presumably, is a retailer of floor coverings. The approach was a weak (an non-attributable) customer testimonial. And the execution did nothing to enhance my perception of the brand, succeeding only in striking me as random and apropos of nothing. The channel seemed odd and certainly out of context (what’s the likelihood of me thinking about my carpet needs sitting at the corner of Ellis and Edgewood?).
“Satisfied” is a possible characterization (albeit an unacceptable one) for my kids’ school work (along with “Exceeds” and “Needs Improvement”). Satisfaction really would not be my goal were I to endeavor to recarpet/refloor my home. For that kind of money, I’d be striving for elation. I’d want a floorcovering that met my practical needs while providing the ideal user experience (pile, padding, stain resistance) and delivering an aesthetic quality to my rooms.
Are my standards too high? Or is “Satisfied” not really a mark of achievement (for a business) in your opinion?
“Satisfied,” to me, means something didn’t suck. It didn’t miss the mark entirely, but there were areas where it left me wanting or frustrated. Overall, “Satisfied” is manageable, provided there wasn’t a significant investment of my time, money, or convenience. “Satisfied” is relative to what, exactly?
But “Satisfied” is far from remarkable.
To be distinguishable, companies need to be remark-worthy. The Net Promoter Scale needs to be considered (“How likely are you, Ms. Consumer, to recommend Mr. Carpet to your close friends?”). The most remarkable thing I’ve discovered about Mr. Carpet (the Cedar Rapids franchise) is that they don’t even have a Web site. And while that truly is remarkable (hello! can you say room simulator? guide to color? glossary of textures? online calculator? etc.), I don’t think that’s necessarily what they were going for.
Something about this whole “Satisfied” sign leaves me curiously…unsatisfied.
What do you think? Overreacting? Overanalyzing? Right on the money? I want to know!
Tags: Customer Satisfaction Customer Experience Brand Loyalty
It all comes down to your perspective.
Like many businesses Mr. Carpet shows up in communities after devastating natural disasters (see 1000-year floods) and targets those homeowners needing to find quick & cheap solutions. After several months, Mr. Carpet follows the next catastrophe to the next state or community.
Mr. Carpet certainly can’t advertise a ‘good selection’ or ‘top quality’ and wouldn’t dream of a promise to guarantee the workmanship. He probably buys one or two styles in mass quantities to get huge discounts. A website would only increase accountability (and expense) for a company that make a practice of avoiding it.
For most people, being satisfied isn’t how we’d like to feel about the interior design of our home, but we aren’t the target of these primitive ads. For those people hoping to avoid bankruptcy while rebuilding an entire house on what FEMA provides, simply being ’satisfied’ might sound like a very good option if it means saving a couple grand.
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That “advertising” campaign is such a loser on so many fronts! As you pointed out,it doesn’t do ANYTHING to establish trust in the company. (If anything, it made you more leery of the company.) However, in addition to choosing the WRONG media- it’s NOT really an “actual” testimonial because it’s not attributed to anyone.
What makes it sad is that they chose such a WEAK term in their fake testimonial!! I mean, if you’re going to write your own testimonial – make it a strong forgery!!
Perhaps it was an attempt to go “against the flow”. You know – instead of bigger- better – best they decided to go with “eh, so-so”. You did notice – but not in a good way!
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I agree that it depends on your brand offering.
Am I satisfied with my kitchen sponges? Yes. Am I going to blog about them? Probably not. Not every product must be remarkable. Some of them just need to work.
For other brands (and indeed entire industries), “Satisfied” would be a giant step up, but its dangerously close to customer indifference which is BAD for companies whose success relies on passionate users.
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I completely agree. The scale should look more like:
- I’m in love
- It was great!
- It was pretty good (I am satisfied)
- Not bad, but could have been better
- Not exactly everything I hoped for
- It sucked. never again.
If “Satisfied” or “customer satisfaction” is the best we can do, then we need to rethink the vocabulary behind customer ratings.
Great post.
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In this TED Talk, Malcolm Gladwell talks about happiness … and explains it via Howard Moskowitz’s psychological approach. Apparently we only need to be 78% happy. Note, that is not 100% satisfied … but reframing how we measure and assess our business relationships can really be valuable.
http://www.servantofchaos.com/2008/06/78-happy.html
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Ideally, satisfaction is not good enough.
But in reality, I’ll take satisfaction over frustration any day. So many companies have pissed me off that just a basic amount of competence would be excellent.
Beyond Satisfaction is a good thing to shoot for, but I’m not seeing it come from certain already successful (lazy) companies.
Small or medium sized companies would do well to aspire to something greater than satisfaction, but as far as I’m concerned: Satisfaction is more than I would expect. Therefore, when I experience satisfaction, it is totally awesome.
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There is a VAST difference between customer satisfaction (which is just table stakes) and customer loyalty. Satisfaction means a customer’s expectations were met. That’s it. It doesn’t mean that the customer is willing or likely to do business with you again, much less that they’re willing to evangelize on your behalf.
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It’s a good thing if there are only two options – satisfied and not satisfied. Although Mick Jaggar did seem to put a very high value on it. When satisfaction is in short supply, it may be all you need.
I’m satisfied as long as I know people are doing their best and always working on getting better. When they only do what is absolutely necessary, I would rate that as less than satisfactory. And yet that’s where “satisfactory” seems to lie on the rating scales – at the point where the basic minimums are achieved.
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Twitter: heatherrast
Good stuff being said here, thank you for contributing.
Mr. Perspective–I think your moniker is apropos. My approach to this topic is maybe on a more theoretical one, perhaps yours is a more practical one. I believe what you’re suggesting is that in any given market, there are subsets of consumers who make choices for certain products based on economics and other situational factors. Maybe under separate circumstances they would have the luxury of filtering their decisions differently. In this case, Mr. Carpet has a product, there’s an audience with a need, and opportunity is made and met.
Kathy–I gather your view was very similar to mine. What do you think of my response to Mr. Perspective? Do you see his point? I’m thinking Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes into play on this one.
Jeremy–I think you make a good distinction that I failed to make. There are commodity products (and commodity services) that by nature of their benefit/solution just aren’t the inspirational type. Sponges, as you suggest, aren’t likely to attract a mass audience inspired to act upon any feelings they may have, no matter how strong. They’re simply not viewed as that important. Some might say writing instruments could fall in the same camp (discounting luxury segment) but then again, Sharpie has done a good job of defining a position and gaining share by cultivating people to care.
Oliver, I think you and I have similar gauges. And maybe it has something to do with establishing standards for products and services and determining our “love factor” based on a set of criteria–price, convenience, ease of use, emotional appeal, etc. I really want to *love* a product, and anything less leaves me feeling unfulfilled.
Gavin, interesting angle you bring into the mix. Happiness is different from satisfaction. Could this be akin to how we can forgive a blunder from a trusted brand when they are quick to address it with honesty and transparency? I may not be happy with the event (blunder), but still a fan because we have made a connection over core issues (UX, price, selection, performance, etc.). But this implies a relationship, not simply a transaction, as Mr. Perspective suggests.
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Twitter: heatherrast
Wow, Michael, sounds like you have had some bad consumer experiences. Your needs are routinely not met (it would seem) and there’s little to no recourse. Are you resigned to tolerate under-delivered brand promises? Can you name two consumer brands (packaged goods, retail food, electronics, whatever) that in your opinion meet the mark?
Katie, I’ll respectfully disagree. I don’t think ’satisfaction’ necessarily (at least at face value) equates with met expectations. I think satisfaction is on par with ambivalence. It means it didn’t suck enough to pursue recourse or recompense. It means, “I didn’t like that, but not enough to raise hell so let’s just get out of here and move on.” And certainly ’satisfied’ does not equate to loyalty or repeat purchase or evangelism/promoter. I think those are elevated states of mind/perception that can only be achieved or possibly sustained by delivery of a superior product/service wrapped up in a user-centered experience.
Deb–”when satisfaction is in short supply, it may be all you need” I think this observation ties in with Mr. Perspective. Sometimes your core preferences must be set aside just to ‘git ‘er done’ because you might not be able to afford the luxury of applying your regular standards. But I think this is a situational filter, one that under circumstances XXX might be applied to a consumer with a need. I don’t think ’satisfied’ should be a state of achievement a company should aspire to hold in the minds of their consumers. What’s that statement? We rise to our current state of inadequacy? Something to that effect. ‘Satisfied’ will not help a company keep it’s edge, and certainly won’t position it for growth.
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I never want to be just satisfied…even if it is a kitchen sponge.
(Seriously, I have been using the same brand for 10 years because I love it!) The secret is that when companies accept that they don’t just want their customers to be ‘just satisfied,’ they will become the standard that their competition struggles to reach.
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Heather/Jeremy – The flip side of the commodity product issue. I want my sponge to work as it should. If it does, I will become a loyal customer, like Beth Harte, and stick with that brand for the next 10 years. Will I blog about it? No. Will I Tweet about it? No. etc…
However, if the sponge performs very poorly, and doesn’t meet the basic needs that a sponge should, can we say the same? I’m much more inclined to blog or tweet if my expectations weren’t met. Or if the product disappointed in a unexpected way. Even if it is a sponge. Some times, little events can create huge ripples across the pond. It just takes the right person (victim).
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[...] Is “Satisfied” Good Enough? [...]
Twitter: heatherrast
Today, Todd Schnick (@toddschnick) tweeted out a URL about never leaving customers satisfied. I’m including that here along with excerpt from Web page to throw more into the dialogue mix.
” Creating satisfied customers is no longer good enough. Satisfied customers will leave for a competitor almost as quickly as will an unsatisfied one. You’ve already focused on creating a top-notch product or service. Now focus on creating a top-notch customer experience. ”
URL: http://www.growthanswers.com/expert/
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