Does the product live up to the marketing promise?
One of the most important factors influencing customer satisfaction is whether the product and service that you offer live up to the claims that you make when promoting it. If you create the expectation that your product will deliver a particular feature or benefit, and it does not live up to this expectation then this can quickly lead to a potentially substantial determination in customer satisfaction.
How does it compare with other options previously used?
Another aspect that can influence customer satisfaction is how your product or service compares with other products that the customer has previously used. There may be aspects that – despite you not advertising them as things that your product provides – that customers expect due to their experiences with other products. Satisfaction is thus not only influenced by what you claim the product will do, but also what the customer thinks, or expects, the product to do.
How easy is the product to use?
Beyond whether your product has particular features, is how easy these features are to use. If your product has particular features, but they are not intuitive, or difficult to use, the customer may not take full advantage of your offerings, or feel frustrated when attempting to do so.
Is there a deterioration in performance over time?
Something else that can have a large impact on customer satisfaction is whether the product continues to function as expected over time. Some products may offer an initial high level of performance, yet deteriorate over time. Such reduction in performance will likely impact satisfaction – customers likely have some degree of expectation for who long a particular product may last (which may exceed the warranty period), and failing to last as long as this can impact satisfaction.
What is customer support like?
A final aspect that can influence customer satisfaction is the experiences that customers have with customer support. Not all customers will have an initial positive experience – there may be things that are confusing or dimensions that do not initially work. Whether aftersales support is able to rectify these issues, helping the customer understand how to use the product or rectifying defects can have a large impact on customer satisfaction.
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