With all the debate over the past few years about the Net Promoter Score, some people seem to have forgotten that Customer Satisfaction research can lead to deep insights about customers that will help organizations in many ways. Even the idea that higher levels of satisfaction are related to improved profits seems to have become a cliché. “Satisfaction would be nice,” some seem to say, “but I can’t focus on it now. Spending more time on sales is more important”.

Perhaps one reason for the lack of respect for customer satisfaction is the fact that the original studies are quite old. Perhaps too, managers think that focusing on the fundamentals isn’t as likely to pay off quickly. After all, it is easy to see and measure sales activity. But if you are chasing after the wrong customers that activity is likely to be inefficient at best, or even wasted. In today’s economy, it is critical to focus on the customers and prospects that will be profitable. And that doesn’t mean just the most obvious. Just because a customer is vocal doesn’t mean that they’ll be profitable.

Deeper insights from Customer Satisfaction (Beyond Net Promoter)