An Empirical Study on Customer Satisfaction towards Health Care Products

Mrs. A. Vasumathi *, Ms. R .Subashini**and Ms. Harine.V***

Abstract

Customer satisfaction enhances success and profitability of a company. The voice of customers
creates demand for the products which in turn increases the profitability of the company. A
company can maximize its wealth only by looking after five constituencies that is customers,
employees, vendors and the society at large. Maintaining a good rapport with the customers
removes the fear of loosing the loyal customers to the fellow competitors. The major purpose of
this study is to analyze the level of satisfaction among the customers and also highlight the
problems faced by them during the purchase and post-purchase of products. An empirical study
was conducted by the authors for the same. The sample size used for the study was 50. The data
was collected from places in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala. It is found from the study that
the improved quality and integrity of the product and efficiency of the technical staff plays a vital
role in developing the standard of the company among the customers. In this study, the authors
suggested the ways of improving customer satisfaction.

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Technical Staff, Product Quality and Loyal Customers

*
Assistant professor (SG), VITBS, VIT University, Vellore-14 E-mail Id: vaa72@yahoo.co.in
**
Assistant professor (SR), VITBS, VIT University, Vellore-14 E-mail Id: varshinisuba@yahoo.com
***
Student, VITBS, VIT University, Vellore-14 E-mail Id: emailharine@gmail.com
 Introduction

Customer Satisfaction is one of the essential components for firms to succeed and endure in
today’s competitive environment because customers are the most imperative assets of the
business. Loyal and devoted customers who indulge themselves in recurring purchases are the
basis for the success for any kind of business. Increasing customer satisfaction is crucial to cling
on to customers and maintain profitability for a firm. Companies need to conduct customer
satisfaction surveys once a year and collect their responses in order to confine the priceless
information. The key to success of this kind of survey depends upon the way the concerned
companies deal with them and take steps to improve them.

It is the duty of each and every department in an organization to give more priority to earn the
satisfaction level and loyalty of the customers by producing products and services of good
quality. Retaining loyal customers contributes to the profitability of the company as they spend
more on that particular company’s products and services and also influence other consumers
through their word-of-mouth. All companies face competition which leaves the customers with
various choices to choose from and paves way to shift from one company to another. Hence the
relationship between the employees of the company and the customers and the methods of
dealing with the requirements of the customers also adds to the retention of the customers.

Companies need to train their employees who directly as well as indirectly deal with the
customers and the technical support staff efficiently so that they handle the customers with care
and oblige to their needs and requirements at the appropriate time. Companies need to feed
confidence into the customers such that they do not change their opinion about the company and
continue to remain in their list of valuable and loyal customers.

This study has been conducted to analyze the level of customer satisfaction towards the products
and services rendered in the company.
 Objectives
The main objectives of the study are:

• To analyze the satisfaction of customers towards the healthcare products

• To asses the ability of the technical support staff to rectify the problems occurring in the
products

• To identify the problems faced by the organizations

• To examine the degree of responsiveness of the staff members in rendering service to

customers
 Research methodology

Type of Research:

This study is based on descriptive type of research.

Target Respondents: The target respondents chosen for the study were the customers who
purchased the equipments from the company, were located at Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Sample Size: The sample size for the study is 50 which include 15 hospitals in Karnataka, 12
hospitals in Tamilnadu and 23 hospitals in kerala.

Sampling Technique: The author uses stratified random sampling technique for data collection.

Type of Data Collected:

Primary data: Data was collected using questionnaire.

Secondary data: The investigator makes use of the data collected by the other researchers. The
sources of secondary data include books, magazines, journals, government publications and case
studies. The secondary data should be analyzed well before conducting the study to avoid
ambiguities if any.
Statistical Tools Used For Data Analysis:
 Chi-Square: This test can be used to test if the two variables chosen for the analysis are
statistically associated with each other significantly or not.
 ANOVA: ANOVA stands for analysis of variance which is used for studying the cause-
and-effect of one or more factors on a single dependent variable. The independent
variables are of nominal scale whereas the dependent variable is interval scaled (metric).
 Correlation: Correlation analysis is done to measure the degree of association between
two sets of quantitative data.
 Discriminant analysis: Discriminant analysis is used to classify the objects into two or
more groups based on the knowledge of some variables (characteristics) related to them.
 Conjoint analysis: Conjoint analysis is a multivariate technique that captures the exact
levels of utility that an individual customer puts on various attributes of the product
offering.
 Weighted average method: This method is helpful to find out the most preferred and
least preferred attributes of the respondents by giving the weightage of the ranks given by
them.
Data Analysis and Interpretation

CHI-SQUARE TEST:

Association between the number of times the product is purchased and the chances of
purchasing another product.

H0: There is no significant relationship between the number of times the product is purchased
and the chances of purchasing another product

Case Processing Summary

Cases
Valid Missing Total
N Percent N Percent N Percent
purchasd * anoprod 50 100.0% 0 .0% 50 100.0%

purchasd * anoprod Crosstabulation

Count
anoprod
yes no maybe Total
purchasd once 4 1 7 12
twice 2 2 11 15
more than twice 15 1 7 23
Total 21 4 25 50

Chi-Square Tests

Asymp. Sig.
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 10.581a 4 .032
Likelihood Ratio 11.302 4 .023
Linear-by-Linear
4.647 1 .031
Association
N of Valid Cases 50
 Directional Measures

Asymp.
a b
Value Std. Error Approx. T Approx. Sig.
Nominal by Lambda Symmetric .250 .132 1.775 .076
Nominal purchasd Dependent .185 .153 1.104 .269
anoprod Dependent .320 .155 1.757 .079
Goodman and purchasd Dependent .124 .067 .016 c
Kruskal tau anoprod Dependent .156 .086 .004 c

Symmetric Measures

Value Approx. Sig.

Nominal by Nominal Contingency Coefficient .418 .032
N of Valid Cases 50

Inference:

The chi-square test reveals that there is a association between the number of times the product is
purchased and the chances of purchasing another product. At 95% confidence level, the
significance level is 0.05, the output is giving a significance level of 0.032 which is lesser than
0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected. So there is an association between the variables.

The contingency coeffficient value is 0.418. There is a moderate level of association between
the number of times the product is purchased and the chances of purchasing another product as
the value is closer to 0 rather than 1. The lambda value is 0.185. The lambda value tells us that
there is 18.5% error reduction in prediting the chances of purchasing another product if the
number of times the product is purchased is known.
Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA):
Variance between the location of the respondents and ontime delivery of the product

H0: There is no significant difference between the location of the respondents and ontime
delivery of the product.

Descrip tives

ontym del
95% Confidence Interval for
M ean
N M ean Std. Deviation Std. Error Lower Bound Upper Bound M inim um M axim um
bangalore 15 2.13 .352 .091 1.94 2.33 2 3
chennai 5 2.00 .000 .000 2.00 2.00 2 2
kerla 21 1.95 .498 .109 1.73 2.18 1 3
m adurai 4 1.75 .500 .250 .95 2.55 1 2
cbe 3 2.33 .577 .333 .90 3.77 2 3
tirunelveli 2 1.50 .707 .500 -4.85 7.85 1 2
T otal 50 2.00 .452 .064 1.87 2.13 1 3

ANOVA

ontymdel
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 1.398 5 .280 1.430 .232
Within Groups 8.602 44 .196
Total 10.000 49

Inference:

The significant value of F is 0.232, which is greater than 0.05. Hence accept null hypothesis. Therefore

location of the respondents significantly does not affect the ontime delivery of the product.
Correlation Analysis:

Relationship between the number of years the organization is dealing with the company
and time taken to rectify the defects in the equipments.

Correlations

dealing recdefct
dealing Pearson Correlation 1 .060
Sig. (2-tailed) . .677
N 50 50
recdefct Pearson Correlation .060 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .677 .
N 50 50

Inference:

Since the correlation value 0.060, lies between 0 and 0.25 there is a low positive correlation
between the number of years the organization is dealing with the company and time taken to
rectify the defects in the equipments.
Discriminant Analysis:

Classification Resultsa

Predicted Group
Membership
recomnd yes no Total
Original Count yes 44 4 48
no 1 1 2
% yes 91.7 8.3 100.0
no 50.0 50.0 100.0

Eigenvalues

Canonical
Function Eigenvalue % of Variance Cumulative % Correlation
1 .181 a 100.0 100.0 .392

Wilks' Lambda

Wilks'
Test of Function(s) Lambda Chi-square df Sig.
1 .847 7.656 4 .105

Standardized Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients

Function
1
Quality .780
Proprice .319
ontymdel -.276
Custserv .210
Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients

Function
1
quality 1.276
proprice .341
ontymdel -.604
custserv .360
(Constant) -2.842
Unstandardized coefficients

Functions at Group Centroids

Function
recomnd 1
yes -.085
no 2.043
Unstandardized canonical discriminant
functions evaluated at group means

Inference:

The discriminant function is able to classify 90.0% of the 50 objects correctly. The magnitude of
Wilks lambda was found to be 0.847 indicating poor discriminating power of the model, the
value being close to 1. The chi square test reads a significance level of 0.105. Since the value is
greater than 0.05, the discrimination between the two groups is not significant. We find that the
coefficients for the 4 independent variables are:

Function
1
Quality .780
Proprice .319
ontymdel -.276
Custserv .210

Since the coefficient of the variable “quality of the product” is the highest, it can be inferred that
it is a better predictor than other variables.
The equation for the above model can be given as:

Y = -2.842 + 1.276(quality of the product) +0.341(price of the product) -0.604(on-time delivery

of the product) + 0.360(customer service)

Where Y represents the recommendation of the company to others.

Conjoint Analysis:
 Model Summary

Adjusted Std. Error of

Model R R Square R Square the Estimate
1 .511 a .261 .154 21.37548

ANOVAb

Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 11133.145 10 1113.315 2.437 .015 a
Residual 31526.855 69 456.911
Total 42660.000 79

Coefficientsa

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 40.597 2.392 16.970 .000
VAR00001 4.653 4.141 .142 1.124 .265
VAR00002 5.774 4.143 .177 1.394 .168
VAR00003 -2.797 4.141 -.086 -.676 .502
VAR00004 -3.152 4.117 -.097 -.765 .447
VAR00005 4.470 4.187 .137 1.067 .289
VAR00006 -.433 4.122 -.013 -.105 .917
VAR00007 -3.777 4.688 -.105 -.806 .423
VAR00008 -4.847 4.781 -.133 -1.014 .314
VAR00009 -12.222 4.781 -.335 -2.556 .013
VAR00010 3.568 4.913 .096 .726 .470

Inference:
The utilities for the variable “number of years the organization is dealing with the company” are:

Variable 1 - new customer = 4.653

Variable 2 - 2-5 years = 5.774

Variable 3 - 5-10years = -2.797

The utility for the fourth variable is derived from the property of the coding that all the utility for
a given attribute should sum to 0. Hence utility for “10 years and above” is -7.63.

The utilities for the variable “reason for contacting the technical support” are:

Variable 4 - machine breakdown = -3.152

Variable 5 - technical problem = 4.470

Variable 6 - software problem = -0.433

The utility for the seventh variable is derived from the property of the coding that all the utility
for a given attribute should sum to 0. Hence utility for “regular primitive maintenance” is -0.855.

The utilities for the variable “medium used to contact technical support” are:

Variable 7 - telephone = -3.777

Variable 8 - mobile = -4.847

Variable 9 - fax = -12.222

Variable 10 - e-mail = 3.568

The utilities for the eleventh variable can be derived from the property of coding. Hence the
utility for “telephone and mobile” is 17.278.

The attributes, levels, part utility and the range of utilities can be tabulated as follows:
 Attributes Level Part utility Range of utility

Number of years dealing New customer 4.653 5.774-(-7.63)=13.404

with the company

2-5 years 5.774

5-10 years -2.797

10 and above -7.63

Reason for contacting Machine breakdown -3.152 4.470-(-3.152)=7.622

technical support

Technical problem 4.470

Software problem -0.433

Regular primitive -0.855

maintenance

Medium used for Telephone -3.777 17.278-(-

contacting the technical 12.222)=29.5
support

Mobile -4.847

Fax -12.222

Email 3.568

Telephone and 17.278

mobile

From the above results we conclude that:

1. The range of utility value is highest (29.5) for the medium used for contacting technical
support. (from the range of utility column)

2. The highest individual utility value of this attribute is at its second level i.e.17.278.
Both these figures indicate that the medium used for contacting the technical support is the most
important attribute at given levels of attributes.

The number of years the organization is dealing with the company is the second most important
attribute as its range of utilities is 13.404.The last attribute that is relatively important is the
reason for contacting the technical support with utility range of 7.662.

Combination Utilities:

The total utility of any combination can be calculated by picking the attribute levels of our
choice. For example, the possible combination is number of years the organization dealing with
the company-2-5 years (5.774), reason for contacting the technical support- technical
problem(4.470) and the medium used for contacting the technical support- telephone and
mobile(17.278) i.e. 27.552.

The total utility of the least preferred combination can be calculated by picking up the attribute
levels having the least values. For example, the possible combination is number of years the
organization dealing with the company-10 years and above (-7.63), reason for contacting the
technical support- machine breakdown (-3.152) and the medium used for contacting the technical
support- fax(-12.222) i.e. -23.004.

Weighted Average Method:

Inference:

Most of the customers from various geographical areas were satisfied with the safe delivery of
Total
Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank weighted R
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 average ank
Knowledge 0 0 3 2 10 20 15 10.429 5
about the
product
Courteousn 1 1 2 3 12 21 10 9.893 7
ess
Willingness 2 2 3 4 10 17 12 10.179 6
to help
Efficiency 0 0 1 4 7 27 11 10.464 4
Ability to 0 1 1 2 7 26 13 10.535 3
complete
transaction
s
Safe 0 0 0 1 2 24 23 11.39 1
delivery 3
Timely 1 0 2 1 4 23 19 10.78 2
delivery 6
products to the organization whereas most of them were not satisfied with the courteousness of
the technical support.

Findings

Using chi square test the following have been inferred:

 • The number of times the product is purchased significantly affects the chances of
purchasing another product from the company

• There is an association between the number of years the organization has been dealing
with the company and the number of times the product has been purchased.
• There is no association between the characteristics of the service representative and the
time taken by the service engineer to rectify the defects

• There is no association between the main reason for contacting the technical support and
the medium used for contacting the technical support.

• There is no association between the number of times the organization has purchased the
products and the post service experience received

Using ANOVA, the following have been inferred:

• Location of the respondents significantly does not affect the ontime delivery of the product

• Location of the respondents significantly does not affect the modernization of the company

• Designation of the respondents significantly does not affect the quality of the products

• Designation of the respondents significantly does not affect the post service experience
received.
• Designation of the respondents significantly does not affect the amount of time they had to wait
to

speak to the technical support

• The number of times the product was purchased does not significantly affect the price of
the product
• The number of times the product was purchased does not significantly affect the ontime
delivery of the product
• The medium used to contact the technical support does not significantly affect the
amount of time they had to wait to speak to the staff member
Using Correlation analysis, it is found that:
• There is a low positive correlation between the number of years the organization is
dealing with the company and time taken to rectify the defects in the equipments
• There is a low positive correlation between the number of years the organization is
dealing with the company and the main reason for contacting the technical support
• There is a low negative correlation between the main reason for contacting the technical
support and the medium used for contacting the technical support

Using Discriminant analysis, it is found that the discriminant function classified 90.0% of the 50
objects correctly. The variable “quality of the product” was found to be a better predictor than
other variables which include price of the product, ontime delivery of the product and customer
service.

Using conjoint analysis, the following has been inferred:

• The medium used for contacting the technical support is the most important attribute at
given levels of attributes
• The number of years the organization is dealing with the company is the second most
important attribute at the given levels of attributes
• The last attribute that is relatively important is the reason for contacting the technical
support at the given level of attributes
• It was found that the combination utility comprising of the number of years the
organization dealing with the company as 2-5 years, technical problem as the reason for
contacting the technical support and the medium used for contacting the technical support
which includes telephone and mobile would be the best combination.
• Using weighted average method, the following can be inferred that most of the customers were
satisfied with the safe delivery of products to the organization whereas most of them were
not satisfied with the courteousness of the technical support.
 Suggestions

• It is found that the organizations dealing with the company for a period of 5-10 years
have purchased the product more than twice when compared to the others. It is suggested
that the company should come up with new promotional schemes such as offers and
discounts so that it may help to increase the sales of the company and attract more
number of customers.

• It is found that, 4 respondents out of 21 respondents felt that the technical support staffs
were able to quickly identify the problem and solve it. It is suggest that the company
should implement more training programs to update the knowledge of the technical
support staff, so that they can satisfy all the customers.

• It is found that the respondents contacted the technical support staff mainly for resolving
the technical problems that occurred in the machines. It is suggested that the technicians
should follow a regular quarterly maintenance program in order to reduce the technical
problems faced by the end users.

• It is found that the organizations that purchased the products more than twice were
satisfied with the post service experience received. It is suggested that the technicians
need to be trained more efficiently to improve their servicing abilities.

• It is found that the organizations that purchased the products more than twice were
satisfied with the price of the product. It is suggested that the company should create
awareness about the product among the customers so that they purchase more products
from the company.

• It is found that the nephrologists agreed that the amount of time they had to wait to speak
to the technical support staff was reasonable. It is suggested that the technical support
staff need to be trained to respond to the customers within the stipulated time.
• It is found that the quality of the product was the best predictor in determining the
possibilities of the respondents in recommending the company to others when compared
to the other factors like price of the product, ontime delivery of the product and the
customer service received. It is suggested that the company should develop a healthier
customer relationship inorder to earn the influence of the word of mouth of the customers
on others.

• On the whole it is suggested that the company should increase their number of service
engineers and train them to meet the needs and requirements of the customers.
 Conclusion
The present study highlights the fact that customer satisfaction plays an important role in the
deciding the success rate of the company. This survey helps in analyzing the needs and
requirements of the customers which would help them to retain their loyal customers and also
satisfy them. There may be ambiguity in the requirements of the customers but the company
needs to overcome them by taking the appropriate measurements. Customers are exposed to a lot
of choices and they may switch to other companies if they are not satisfied with the present one.
To overcome these problems the company should update their products and technology to have
an edge over their competitors. The company should create publicity and awareness to attract
more customers and increase their number of contacts. The company should provide adequate
training program to the technical staffs to enhance customer satisfaction.