Customer satisfaction is the way the customer thinks about the company
and deals with the meeting or exceeding of expectation over the lifetime of the
products and/or services. A company’s loyalty and product repurchase comes
from achieving customer satisfaction. The measurement of customer satisfaction
is not an exact science because of its subjectivity. Because customer satisfaction
is non-quantitative in nature, it requires sampling and statistical analysis. There
is a gap between customer expectations and performance perceptions when
measuring customer satisfaction. As a result of this, it is important to establish a
linkage between customer satisfaction and bottom-line results. The term
“satisfaction” refers to the quality of products and services, ongoing business
relationships, price-performance ratios with respect to products and services, and
meeting and exceeding the customer’s expectations.