Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Walczuch R
Author-Name: Hofmaier K
Author-workplace-name: METEOR
Title: Measuring Customer Satisfaction on the Internet
Abstract: Based on the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model as the underlying construct, methods to measure customer satisfaction with products and the steps to be undertaken in the research process are investigated. The measurement of Derived Satisfaction using (dis)confirmation was identified to be the appropriate approach to CS measurement. Prior research has also shown that during the research process, several points specific to CS measurements need to be accounted for. The Internet services currently used by marketing and social researchers include E-mail, mailinglists, newsgroups, Internet Chat, the World Wide Web (WWW) and Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds, being most advantageous for observational studies, are not useful for customer satisfaction research. Virtual Communities, in turn, have some promising characteristics for future use. Internet research methods based on these services include E-mail surveys and WWW-surveys. Common advantages of E-mail- and WWW-surveys include administrative and response speed, cost savings and global reach of respondents. Their greatest common disadvantage is the non-representativeness of the respondents for the larger population as well as their self-selection. Unless access is restricted to a known population, probability sampling is impossible when using the World Wide Web. Based on these insights, the Internet was found to be an advantageous medium for customer satisfaction studies only if specific conditions are met. Companies need to investigate on a case-by-case basis if the online measurement of customer satisfaction is possible in their specific situation. The recommendations were summarized in a decision-making framework. The results of a survey among market research agencies show that practitioners are to a large extent aware of the limitations within which the Internet can be used for customer satisfaction surveys. However, especially WWW-surveys sometimes are conducted in a way that does not lead to representative results.
Keywords: management information; 
Series: Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 2000
Number: 019
File-URL: http://digitalarchive.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fedora/objects/guid:6c2afe30-42d1-4dd4-84d4-e4939f302c38/datastreams/ASSET1/content
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 974095
Handle: RePEc:unm:umamet:2000019