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Customer satisfaction used to be a USP for business, now it is a given – which means unless you are satisfying your customers needs, you are losing business.

But how do you satisfy customers?  Over at the Neuromarketing blog they covered off three scientific studies across very different groups of people to determine one of the key features of customer satisfaction.

Convicted felons were asked to rate the fairness of their legal process. Not surprisingly those with shorter sentences rated their process as fairer than those who were issued longer sentences. What was surprising though was the impact of the time their lawyers spent with them throughout the process. Those whose lawyers had spent more time with them considered the process fairer than those whose lawyers just made the essential contacts.

Venture capitalists were also surveyed about their satisfaction with the companies they are supporting. Those who had detailed and timely feedback from their companies had greater trust and support for their companies, no matter how they were financially performing.

Finally, a study was done on patients who were injured by doctors to work out why some patients sued the doctor and others didn’t. They found that malpractice cases came about when the patient felt they had been rushed or their views ignored or they were treated poorly. If the patient was treated with kindness and respect they tended not to sue the doctor who had made the mistake.

So what does that mean for business? The simplest take-away is that spending time with your customers is vital. Communicate effectively, listen and treat people with respect.  Do this before things go pear shaped (as they will sometimes do in business with missed deadlines, poor quality or mistakes) and you have a greater chance of retaining the customer rather than heading for a problem.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

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