For a long time satisfaction was regarded as the key to customer loyalty. More recently this notion has come under scrutiny, and researchers are questioning the role of satisfaction as the key for customer retention. Writers such as Reichheld et al. (2000) suggest that a high proportion of satisfied customers do in fact defect to competitors, and that suppliers must achieve 'high satisfaction' or 'customer delight' in order to promote customer retention. Indeed, customer delight has become something of a buzzword. Before making a judgment we will examine the concept of satisfaction.
Satisfaction defined
Oliver (1981) defines satisfaction as 'a summary psychological state resulting from the emotion surrounding expectations [which] is coupled with the consumer's prior feeling about the consumption experience'. This definition has two important elements:
Satisfaction results from an emotional state: the causes of satisfaction differ widely between individual customers, since they arise from the emotional state of the individual.
Expectations influence satisfaction: further subjectivity arises from the fact that satisfaction arises from expectations; the higher the customer's expectations, the harder they will be to satisfy. Since these expectations are formed through unique personal experience, they will vary greatly from customer to customer.
The discontinuation model
The disconfirmation model describes the mental processes that lead to attitude change. It asserts that an individual's attitude towards a product will only change if his experience disconfirms (i.e. differs from) his expectations of the experience. This role of expectations explains the difference between satisfaction and delight. Customers are satisfied when the consumption experience meets their expectations and delighted when it exceeds them.
Rising expectations
Customers' expectations are based on product norm experience - their understanding of the value they should receive from the average supplier. As markets become increasingly competitive, so these expectations rise. Hence suppliers must continuously improve the value offered through their products if they are to maintain customer satisfaction.
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