Rising customer satisfaction
Wan Nur Syifa Wan Ahmad Tajuddin & Syafiqah Md Nayan
Universiti Kuala Lumpur
syifa.tajuddin@s.unikl.edu.my; syafiqah.nayan01@s.unikl.edu.my
Abstract: Customer complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction. It can also be described in a
positive sense as a report from a customer providing documentation about a problem with a
product or service. Normally dissatisfied customer with certain services or product will complaint.
Customer’s complaint is actually representing or highlights a problem, whether that’s a problem
with the product, employees or internal processes. Hearing those problems directly from
customers, may improve to prevent further complaints in the future. Research found that
customers’ whose complaints are handled quickly can often turn into loyal customers. In fact, a
study by Harvard Business Review found that customers who have a complaint handled in less
than 5 minutes go on to spend more on future purchases. Customer complaint can become very
profitable when organizations can resolve their problem quickly.
Keywords: Customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, competition
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Introduction
Customers are the substance of success for any business, and if customers are not treated right, the
business can lose its reason for existence (Aminuddin, Don, & Shamsudin, 2020; Hamzah, A. A.,
Shamsudin, 2020; Ilias & Shamsudin, 2020). If business are not taking care of their customers, or
becomes known for poor customer service, they can expect several things to happen and none of
them are positive for the business (Mokhtar & Shamsudin, 2020; Nur, Nik, & Shamsudin, 2020).
It is important to understand customer dissatisfaction in order to maintain a sustainable business
(Bin et al., 2016), given that the negative effects of customer dissatisfaction in service businesses
may be even greater than the positive effects of satisfaction (Affendy Abu Hassim, Asmat-Nizam,
& Mohd Farid Shamsudin, 2016). Businesses need money to survive. To make money, businesses
need customers (Hamzah & Shamsudin, 2020). Ideally these customers are happy, tell their friends
about you and keep coming back (Davras & Caber, 2019; Gerdt, Wagner, & Schewe, 2019; Liu et
al., 2019; Zhang, Zhang, & Zhang, 2019).
Customer satisfaction is the difference between surviving and thriving (Borishade et al.,
2018; Chicu, Pàmies, Ryan, & Cross, 2019). Customer satisfaction is key in creating a long-term
relationship with your customers (Sallaudin Hassan & Shamsudin, 2019; M. F. Shamsudin, Shabi,
& Salem, 2018). If you think back to the dating analogy, going through the sales process is just
like wooing your prospect to turn them into a customer (Razak & Shamsudin, 2019).
Keeping a long term relationship functioning is hard work. business need to keep delivering
value time and time again. Business need to achieve customer satisfaction (Cakici, Akgunduz, &
Yildirim, 2019; Fernandes & Solimun, 2018; Keshavarz & Jamshidi, 2018). 81% of satisfied
customers are more likely to do business with them again if they have a positive experience (Basha,
Mason, Shamsudin, Hussain, & Salem, 2015; Hasim, Shamsudin, Ali, & Shabi, 2018; M. F.
Shamsudin, Ali, Ali, & Shabi, 2019). 95% of customers will “take action” after a negative
Journal of Undergraduate Social Science and Technology Vol. 2 No. 2(2020)
experience like sharing concerns with friends and family, or churning (Abdur Rehman, Osman,
Aziz, Koh, & Awais, 2019; Amoako, Anabila, Asare Effah, & Kumi, 2017; Omoregie, Addae,
Coffie, Ampong, & Ofori, 2019; Quoquab, Mohamed Sadom, & Mohammad, 2019).
Ongoing satisfaction leads to loyalty. Once customers have placed trust in a company and
are assured that the company will continue to deliver high quality products, they will continue to
do business with them (S. Hassan, Shamsudin, & Mustapha, 2019). So once business decided to
keep customers satisfied and build a long term relationship with them, they need to know where
they’re going wrong.
Customer satisfaction is extremely important to business bottom line. Let’s put it into
perspective with numbers. Take the following business, RegalWater, selling drinking water. They
have 100 customers right now. Each of those customer spends $100 per month on average. If
RegalWater customer satisfaction is at 90% a month, they have 90 happy customers who will likely
continue to purchase from them. They also have 10 customers that are unhappy, and 95% of those
might churn. That means RegalWater has $950 of recurring revenue at risk this month. Next
month, things go horribly wrong. Their customer satisfaction is lower at 75%. RegalWater can
expect to lose $2375 of recurring revenue from unhappy customers churning.
According to the research, this RegalWater is putting an additional $95 of recurring
revenue at risk each month for each percentage point of satisfaction they lose. If they have more
customers, who spend more each month, lower customer satisfaction has an even bigger impact
on your business. Every unhappy customer is another hit to the bottom line.
Business brand’s reputation is incredibly valuable and not something to lose control.
However, with the internet, business reputation is the first thing to take a hit when they have an
extended streak of bad customer service that can lead to customer dissatisfaction (Ahmad & Scott,
2015; Kossivi, Xu, & Kalgora, 2016; Zimmerman, Liu, & Buck, 2009).
Customers today are quick to write negative reviews online when they have a bad
experience with a company (Kakar, Raziq, & Khan, 2017; Likhitkar & Verma, 2015). In addition
to leaving critical reviews, customers also vent their frustrations on social media for their friends,
family, colleagues, and the entire world to see (Kadir & Shamsudin, 2019; Salem, Shawtari,
Shamsudin, & Hussain, 2016; M. Shamsudin et al., 2015). 95% of respondents said they usually
tell at least one other person about a bad customer experiences with a company, while 54% said
they share it with at least 5 other people.
Conclusion
There is a clear need for any business organizations to look into customer satisfaction as there are
limited number of potential market to be shared against too many competitors. As a business entity,
marketing team should be more focus on understanding their customer needs and wants. Business
need to offer their best products and services that can meet customer needs. Business also need to
offer additional value added in order to attract more customer. Failing in providing the best services
to customer will lead to customer dissatisfied and that is costly.
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