Customer satisfaction is a concept that has long been known in marketing basic. Intensity of the competition getting tougher, it takes a special marketing activities in the field of customer satisfaction. To win a very tight competition, the company must put its orientation on customer satisfaction as its primary purpose. The key to success is to win the competition; to get winning the key is the ability to provide total customer value that can satisfy the customer through the delivery of quality products at competitive prices.

As the foundation and in order to get a broader understanding, I will explain the definition of customer satisfaction according to experts.

Here are explanations of what is customer satisfaction:

- Park (1997): customer satisfaction is a feeling in response to consumer product or service that has been consumed.

 

- Walker (1995): customer satisfaction is the comparison of products perceived as predicted before the product is purchased. If consumers feel more than predicted, consumers will be satisfied. Instead, consumers will be dissatisfied.

 

- Hunt (1991): customer satisfaction based on five approaches as follows:

 

1. Normative deficit: Comparison between actual results with the results that are culturally acceptable.

 

2. Equity: A Comparison of the obtained gains from social exchange when the acquisition is not the same, the aggrieved party will be dissatisfied.

 

3. Normative standards: A comparison between actual results and standards of customer expectations.

 

4. Procedural fairness: Satisfaction is a function of the belief or perception of the consumer that he has treated fairly.

 

5. Attribution: Satisfaction is not only determined by the presence or absence of expectation disconfirmation, but also by source causes disconfirmation.

 

- Engel (1990): post-sale customer satisfaction is an evaluation of the selected alternative in which at least equal or exceed customer expectations, while dissatisfaction arise if the results did not meet expectations.

 

- Wilton (1988): satisfaction or dissatisfaction of customers as the customer response to the evaluation of the perceived discrepancy between expectations and actual performance before purchasing a product that is felt after use.

- Oliver (1980): post-sale customer satisfaction as an evaluation in which the perception of the performance of the selected products meet or exceed expectations before purchase. If the perception of the performance cannot meet expectations, then dissatisfaction happens.

 

The conclusion, from the various definitions of the above it is understood that customer satisfaction arising from the existence of an emotional response to the products used, especially when they compare the performance of which he felt compared to his expectations. Finally, you know the answer of the question “What is customer satisfaction?” and perform marketing activities based on it.