CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Customer loyalty and satisfaction is vital for modern day business for two main reasons. First, customers
are scarce resource it is far easier to obtain from an old customer than from a new one. Second,
customer loyalty and satisfaction has a positive effect on the profitability revenues of the company
(Rosenberg & Czepiel 2017.)

Customers Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction has been one of the top tools for a successful business. Customer satisfaction is
defined as an overall evaluation based on the total purchase and consumption experience with the good
or service over time (Fornell, Johnson, Anderson, Cha & Bryant 1996). With marketing, customer
satisfaction also comes along with it which means it ascertains the expectation of the customer on how
the goods and services are being facilitated by the companies. Actionable information on how to make
customers further satisfied is therefore, a crucial outcome (Oliver 1999.)

To maximize the customer satisfaction companies should sell ideas and methods after the completion
with all the necessary documents. Customer satisfaction is a barometer that predicts the future
customer behavior (Hill, Roche & Allen 2007.)

However, the product and its features, functions, reliability, sales activity and customer support are the
most important topics required to meet or exceed the satisfaction of the customers. Satisfied customers
usually rebound and buy more. Besides buying more they also work as a network to reach other
potential customers by sharing experiences (Hague & Hague 2016.)

Customer satisfaction is dynamic and relative. Only the idea “customer-centric” can help companies
improve satisfaction and keep customer truly, conversely, if competitors improve customer satisfaction,
then it may loss corporate customers. While improving customer satisfaction, customer expectations
should be noticed.

Customer satisfaction is influenced by specific product or service features and perceptions of quality.
Satisfaction is also influenced by customer’s emotional responses, their attibutions natheir perception of
equity (Zeithal & Bitner. 2003, 87-89.) Increased customer satisfaction can provide company benefits
like customer loyalty, extending the life cycle of a customer expanding the life of merchandise the
customer purchase and increases customers positive word of mouth communication.

Customers Loyalty

Customers loyalty Oliver (1999,33) defines loyalty as "a deeply held commitment to rebuild and re-
patronize a preferred product or service in the future despite situational influences and marketing
efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviors. “Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of
the relationship between an individual’s relative attitude and re-patronage.

Gremler and Brown (1999) divided customer loyalty into three different categories that include behavior
loyalty, intentional loyalty, and emotional loyalty. Behavior loyalty is repeating purchasing behavior
while intentional loyalty is the possible buying intention. Emotional loyalty, however, is achieved when a
customer feels that a brand corresponds with their value, ideas, and passion.

Satisfaction and Loyalty

“Satisfaction” is an attitude, whereas loyalty is described as a behavior. Chen and Wang (2009) suggest
a view of customer satisfaction as a kind of consistency evaluation between prior expectations and
perceived service performance.

Customer loyalty will increase significantly when satisfaction accomplishes at a certain level and at the
same time customer loyalty will decline automatically if the satisfaction level drops to a certain point.
Moreover, highly satisfied customers are tending to be more loyal than the customers who are merely
satisfied. Overall, it is clear that there is a significant positive relationship between customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty. Customer loyalty leads to an increase in both sales and profitability (Chi 2005.)

The terrorist is “extremely dissatisfied” customers. According to Heskett et al. (2011) unhappy
customers are more likely to speak out against a poorly delivered service at every opportunity. In some
instances, they even can discourage acquaintances from trying a service or product. On the other hand,
“Apostles” are those customers who are truly satisfied with the company and the service offered
resulting in true loyalty to the company. Satisfied customers are prepared to pay more for the product
or services. Every satisfied customer is supposed to spread the positive word of mouth to community
they live in. Thus, satisfaction is the main driver of loyalty and for that customer must be highly satisfied.