Column 9 · Satisfaction and Loyalty · Era 7, Frontier (2020s)
Satisfaction Payoff
Outputs: performance · Major · Cluster IV, Customer and Brand Assets
Description
Their meta-analysis of more than a quarter century of research found a robust positive relationship between customer satisfaction and firm performance, stronger for customer-based than for accounting measures, with moderators in measurement and context.
Managerial Implications
Across a quarter century of research, customer satisfaction has a consistent positive effect on firm performance, stronger for market-based outcomes than for accounting ones and varying by industry and measure. The payoff is real but not automatic. Managers should expect returns to show first in loyalty and share, then in profit, and should calibrate satisfaction targets to their industry rather than chasing universal benchmarks.