How to Set Targets for Customer Service

This essay discusses an approach for setting service targets for customer service functions. The approach is based on the quantifying customer expectations based on the existing customer satisfaction levels.

Most of the customer satisfaction measurement frameworks that are currently in vogue address the aspect of measuring customer satisfaction but do not address the aspect of quantifying customer expectations. And even those that do so rely on quantifying customer expectations by directly asking the customer to articulate them. Such a direct approach might not be judicious because it would result in over-rationalizing of customer behavior. Not only will it end up being an exercise that is academic in output, it will not serve the purpose of helping to set targets and service standards for customer service.

The need to set customer service targets and using it as a yardstick to assess progress is not unique. Every company which embarks on an action plan based on a customer satisfaction study is faced with the question - Is my progress good enough? Companies traditionally compare their current performance to their performance in the previous round or with the industry average or competitor performance to assess if they have made progress. While keeping track of such yardsticks is important, it is a good idea to pay attention to customer expectations and how well they are being catered to. There is a need for all service processes to understand customer expectations quantitatively so that they can in turn understand where they are under delivering or over delivering. Only this understanding will help to set targets for customer service.

What most customer satisfaction measurement frameworks offer:

Most of the customer satisfaction frameworks provide findings along three levels -