CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH DESIGN 1.

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1.1 Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and monitoring their businesses.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

PHILIP KOTLER defines Customer satisfaction in the following words:

Customer satisfaction is 'the level of a person's felt state resulting from comparing a product's perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to the person's expectations.

It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is often part of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers expectations. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability. These metrics quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-ofmouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective. Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need reliable and representative measures of satisfaction. In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel even though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in 'absolute' terms. The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T(American Telephone and Telegraph) and Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only a few suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone plan contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone plan providers, because customer satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would easily have the option of leaving for a better contract offer. There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer satisfaction for firms. In general, satisfaction is a persons feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance in relation to his / her expectation. Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a balanced scorecard. In a competitive

marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Customer satisfaction is a feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance or outcome in relation to his or her expectations. So, satisfaction is a function of perceived performance and expectations. The performance faults short of expectation, the customer is dissatisfied. The performance is matches the expectation, the customer is satisfied. The performance exceeds expectation the customer is highly satisfied or delighted. 1.1.3 Construction Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level, but it is almost always reported at an aggregate level. It can be, and often is, measured along various dimensions. A hotel, for example, might ask customers to rate their experience with its front desk and check-in service, with the room, with the amenities in the room, with the restaurants, and so on. Additionally, in a holistic sense, the hotel might ask about overall satisfaction 'with your stay. As research on consumption experiences grows, evidence suggests that consumers purchase goods and services for a combination of two types of benefits: hedonic and utilitarian. Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of the product. Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and functional attributes of the product. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organization's products.

Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the

"confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the "gap" described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements using a Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured. Their satisfaction is generally measured on a five-point scale. Customer satisfaction data can also be collected on a 10-point scale. Regardless of the scale used, the objective is to measure customers perceived satisfaction with their experience of a firms offerings. It is essential for firms to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need accurate measurement of satisfaction. Good quality measures need to have high satisfaction loadings, good reliability, and low error variances. In an empirical study comparing commonly used satisfaction measures it was found that two multi-item semantic differential scales performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian service consumption contexts. According to studies by Wirtz & Lee (2003), they identified a six-item 7-point semantic differential scale (e.g., Oliver and Swan 1983), which is a six-item 7-point bipolar scale, that consistently performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian services. It loaded most highly on satisfaction, had the highest item reliability, and had by far the lowest error variance across both studies. In the study, the six items asked respondents evaluation of their most recent experience with ATM services and ice cream restaurant, along seven points within these six items: please me to displeased me, contented with to disgusted with, very satisfied with to very dissatisfied with, did a good job for me to did a poor job for me, wise choice to poor choice and happy with to unhappy with.

A semantic differential (4 items) scale (e.g., Eroglu and Machleit 1990), which is a four-item 7-point bipolar scale, was the second best performing measure, which was again consistent across both contexts. In the study, respondents were asked to evaluate their experience with both products, along seven points within these four items: satisfied to dissatisfied, favorable to unfavorable, pleasant to unpleasant and I like it very much to I didnt like it at all. The third best scale was single-item percentage measure, a one-item 7-point bipolar scale (e.g., Westbrook 1980). Again, the respondents were asked to evaluate their experience on both ATM services and ice cream restaurants, along seven points within delighted to terrible. It seems that dependent on a trade-off between length of the questionnaire and quality of satisfaction measure, these scales seem to be good options for measuring customer satisfaction in academic and applied studies research alike. All other measures tested consistently performed worse than the top three measures, and/or their performance varied significantly across the two service contexts in their study. These results suggest that more careful pretesting would be prudent should these measures be used. Finally, all measures captured both affective and cognitive aspects of satisfaction, independent of their scale anchors. Affective measures capture a consumers attitude (liking/disliking) towards a product, which can result from any product information or experience. On the other hand, cognitive element is defined as an appraisal or conclusion on how the products performance compared against expectations (or exceeded or fell short of expectations), was useful (or not useful), fit the situation (or did not fit), exceeded the requirements of the situation (or did not exceed).

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES To analyze the overall customer satisfaction in Birla Sun life Insurance SECONDARY OBJECTIVES To identify the customer satisfaction with respect to agent. To determine the customer satisfaction with respect to company. To find out the customer satisfaction with respect to product they own.

1.5 GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE

The study is conducted in the area of after sales service from the customers of Birla sun life Insurance, puducherry geographical region.

1.6 FIELD WORK AND COLLECTION OF DATA

1.6.1 FIELD WORK The field work is done with the customers of Birla sun life Insurance, Puducherry. 1.6.2 COLLECTION OF DATA Primary data In this study the primary data was collected from the respondents. Secondary Data Secondary data is collected from Internet Journals Articles Magazines Various Books and Records of the organization.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The entire study applies only to the Birla Sun Life Insurance Ltd, Pondicherry. Some of the Respondents are not co-operative to fill the answer for the question. Many of the respondents are answering the questions with bias. Time constrain was one of the major limitation of the study.

MAIN STUDY
Research is an art of scientific investigation. The advanced learners dictionaries of current English lay down the meaning of research as, a careful investigation (or) inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge. Redmen and Mary research as a systematic effort to gain knowledge. According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. kinds. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH Research in common place refers to a search for knowledge. Research is defined as systematic and scientific search for pertinent information on specific topic or area of study. METHODOLOGY Methodology is a plan of action for a research project and explains in detail how data are collected analyzed and presented, so that they will provide meaning information. RESEARCH DESIGN A Research design is purely and simply the framework or plan for the guides the collection and analysis of data. It is the overall operational pattern or framework of the project that stipulated the information to be collected, from which source and what procedures. A Research design might be described as a series of advance decision that taken together from a specific master plan or the model for the conduct of the investigation. Descriptive research is used in this project.

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH This type of research design is undertaken in many circumstances. When the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain groups such as age, sex, education level, Occupation or income etc. The Objective of such study is to answer the Who, What, When, Where, and How of the subject under investigation, so in this project study comes under descriptive research design. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT USED The questionnaire was found to be the most suitable type of research instrument to collect data. It is important tool of the research; it is used to generate the raw data on which findings were based. 1.6 QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION A questionnaire is an assembly of carefully formulated questions, designed to collect facts and options from the respondents. Its an important tool of the research; it is used to generate the raw data on which findings were based. The aim of the designing questionnaire was o To obtain accurate data o To make interview as interesting and stimulating o To be easily analysis o To facilitate efficient administration of information.

1.7 SOURCE AND COLLECTION OF DATA The task of data collection begins after research problems have been defined and research design chalked out. Data is the foundation for all marketing research. The researchers can obtain data form. Primary data Secondary data .

Primary data Primary data are those, which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happens to be original in character for this study, primary data involves questionnaires. Secondary data Profile of the company has been used for information of the study. 1.9.3 SAMPLING PLAN Due to cost and time involved in collecting the data from all the respondents, it becomes a compulsion to choose representation. Sampling plan explains the o Sampling unit o Sampling size o Sampling method o Area of sampling Sampling Unit: The sampling unit is who is to be surveyed? That is sampling unit is who are all the respondent is called sampling unit. The sampling units for this study are customers of birla sun life Puducherry. Sampling Size: The sample size for this study is 100. Sampling Method: Different types of sampling methods are available. In this study the convenience sampling was selected for this research. This sampling method used the principles of nonprobability technique. Area Of Sampling: The area of sampling was taken in Puducherry state.

1.9.2 SAMPLE DESIGN Sample element Population Sample size Sample method : Existing customers of Birla sunlife insurance, Puducherry : Infinite : 100 : Non-probability sampling method

DATA ANALYSIS To analyze and interpret the collected data the following statistical tools were used.

Percentage method Correlation Analysis Weighted average method

CORRELATION:

"Correlation analysis deals with the Association between two or more variable". Thus correlation is an analysis of the co variation of two or more variables. The problem of analysis the relation between different series should be broken down into three steps.

1. Determining whether a relation exists and if it does measuring it. 2. Testing whether it is significant. 3. Establishing the cause and effect relation if any.

FORMULA: (XY. N) (X. Y) r = X2. N (X) 2 Y2. N (Y) 2

WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD: Weighted average can be defined as an average whose component items are multiplied by certain values (weights) and the aggregate of the products are divided by the total of weights. It is essential to allocate weight applied but may vary in different cases. Thus weight age is a number standing for the relative importance of the items. FORMULA: XW = WX / X Where, XW- Represent the weighted average X- Represent the value of variable W- Represent the weight given to the variable.

STEPS INVOLVED IN THIS METHOD: Multiply the weights (W) by the variables (x) to obtain WX Add all WX to obtain WX Divide WX by sum of the weights (X) to get weighted average

PERCENTAGE METHOD In this project Percentage method test was used. The percentage method is used to know the accurate percentage of the data we took, it is easy to graph out through the percentage.

Formula No .of Respondents Percentage of Respondents = Total no. of Respondents From the above formula we can get percentage of the data given by the respondents. x 100

1.11 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS Customer satisfaction is defined as a customers overall evaluation of the performance of an offering to date. This overall satisfaction has a strong positive effect on customer loyalty intentions across a wide range of product and service categories. -Gustafsson, 2005

Customer satisfaction is defined as an "evaluation of the perceived discrepancy between prior expectations and the actual performance of the product" -Tse and Wilton, 1988

Customer satisfaction is customers reaction to the state of satisfaction, and customers judgment of satisfaction level. - Kim, Park and Jeong, 2004

Satisfaction of customers with products and services of a company is considered as most important factor leading toward competitiveness and success. -Hennig-Thurau and Klee, 1997

Information about the opinion of the customer regarding products or service is of essential importance, and can be obtained in several ways, such as customer surveys, phone interviews, and customer panel discussions. It is also important to measure customer orientation continuously. -Rampersad, 2001