Value Satisfaction and Quality

Consumers usually face a broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need. How do they choose among these many products? Consumers make buying choices based on their perceptions of the value that various products and sendees deliver.

The guiding concept is customer value. Customer value is the difference between the values the customer gains from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining the product. For example, Federal Express customers gain a number of benefits. The most obvious is fast and reliable package deliver;'. However, when using Federal Express, customers may also receive some status and image values. Using Federal Express usually makes both the package sender and the receiver feel more important. When deciding whether to send a package via Federal Express, customers will weigh these and other values against the money, effort and psychic costs of using the service. Moreover, they will compare the value of using Federal Fjxpress against the value of using other shippers-UPS, DHL, the postal service - and select the one that gives them the greatest delivered value.

Customers often do not judge product values and costs accurately or objectively. They act on perceived value. Customers perceive the firm to provide faster, more reliable delivery and are hence prepared to pay the higher prices that customer value

The consumer's assessment of the product's overall capacity to satisfy his or her n<xds.

customer satisfaction The extent to -which a product's perceived performance matches a buyers expectations. If the product's performance falls shore, of expectations, the buyer is disatisfied. If performance matches or exceeds expectations the buyer is satisfied, or delighted.

total quality management (TQM) Programmes designed to constantly improve the quality of products, service and marketing processes

Federal Express charges. Customer satisfaction depends on -A product's perceived performance in delivering value relative to a buyer's expeetations. If the product's performance falls short of the customer's expectations, the buyer is dissatisfied. If performance matches expectations, the buyer is satisfied. If performance exceeds expectations, the buyer is delighted. Outstanding marketing companies go out of their way to keep their customers satisfied. Satisfied customers make repeat purchases, and they tell others about their good experiences with the product. The key is to match customer expectations with company performance. Smart companies aim to delight customers by promising only what they can deliver, then delivering more than they promise.5

Customer satisfaction is closely linked to quality. In recent years, many companies have adopted total quality management (TQM) programmes, designed constantly to improve the quality of their products, services and marketing processes. Quality has a direct impact on product performance, and hence on customer satisfaction.

In the narrowest sense, quality can be defined as 'freedom from defects'. But most customer-centred companies go beyond this narrow definition of quality. Instead, they define quality in terms of customer satisfaction. For example, Motorola, a company that pioneered total quality efforts in the United States, stresses that 'Quality has to do something for the customer ... Our definition of a defect is "if the customer doesn't like it. it's a defect".' Customer-focused definitions of quality suggest that a company has achieved total quality only when its products or services meet or exceed customer expectations. Thus, the fundamental aim of today's total quality movement has become total customer satisfaction. Quality begins with customer needs and ends with customer satisfaction.

Today, consumer-behaviourists have gone far beyond narrow economic assumptions about how consumers form value judgements and make product choices. We will look at modern theories of consumer-choice behaviour in Chapter 7. In Chapter 11, we will examine more fully customer satisfaction, value and quality.

exchange

The act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.

Continue reading here: Exchange Transactions and Relationships

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