2.2.1. Why Customer Satisfaction?

Customer Satisfaction is the central element of customer-oriented business. The customers’ satisfaction results in customer loyalty for a company and thus increases the customer value, which is an economic variable in corporate management. The customer value is the monetary benefit of a customer for a company. All these elements are responsible for the success and growth of a company. 18 Customer focus links to customer satisfaction, forming a chain that continues to customer loyalty and increased customer value. This “success chain” is the basis of customer-oriented business and management:

chain of customer-oriented business" class="wp-image-10670 size-full" height="122" src="https://sgbs.ch/wp-content/uploads/Figure-3-Success-chain-of-customer-oriented-business.png" width="409"> Figure 3: Success chain of customer-oriented business¹⁹

The development of marketing from a transactional orientated processes on the one hand to a relationship orientated practice on the other hand has increased the importance of the “4 Cs” (customer orientation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer value). As already mentioned in the previous chapter, the reason for this is the acquired knowledge, that it is cheaper to retain existing customers than to win new customers.²⁰

¹⁸ Bruhn, M. Georgi, D. (2008), pp. 651
¹⁹ Bruhn, M. Georgi, D. (2008), pp. 655
²⁰ Bruhn, M. (2009), p. 48