Marketing Challenges into the New “Connected” Millennium

Value, Satisfaction, and Quality

Customer value is the difference between the values that the customer
gains from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining the
product. Customers do not usually judge product values and costs
accurately or objectively—they act on perceived value.

 Customer satisfaction depends on a product’s perceived performance in
delivering value relative to a buyer’s expectations. If performance exceeds
expectations, the buyer is delighted (certainly a worthy goal of the
marketing company).
o Smart companies aim to delight customers by promising only what
they can deliver, then delivering more than they promise.
o The aim of successful companies today is total customer
satisfaction.
o Customer delight creates an emotional affinity for a product or
service, not just a rational preference, and this creates high
customer loyalty.
o Quality has a direct impact on product or service performance.
Quality is defined in terms of customer satisfaction.
o. The term total quality management (TQM) is an approach in which all the
company’s people are involved in constantly improving the quality of
products, services, and business processes. An extension of TQM is (return on quality). Marketers have two major responsibilities in a quality centered
company:
o They must participate in forming strategies that will help the
company win through total quality excellence—they must be the
customer’s watchdog.

o Marketers must deliver marketing quality as well as production
quality.