Using aggregate Customer Satisfaction Index: Challenges and problems of comparison with special reference to Russia

Abstract

Starting from 1999, regular Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) studies were launched in (Northwest) Russia for a number of industries based on consumer evaluation of individual brand names and companies. The first surveys disclosed some problems with the interpretation of CSI comparisons. These relate both to comparisons between industries and with results from other countries. In particular, it is observed that customers perceive the quality in some industries like banking and mobile phones to be surprisingly high compared with what was expected. The same applies when cross-national comparisons are made, for example with results from Scandinavian countries and the USA. Based on an evaluation of the actual product and service output qualities in these countries, Russian customers turn out to be unexpectedly satisfied. Based on these observations we discuss here possibilities and limitations of comparing, in meaningful ways, aggregated CSI indices. In the introduction a more general model for such comparisons is set up, while the reasoning in the subsequent sections is limited to a few special aspects relating to the actual product penetration level and market structure in an industry.