Laptops, courier services to be added to customer satisfaction index

Custommerce Service Excellence Foundation will add categories such as laptops and courier services to Cindex, a tool it has developed to measure customer experience levels across brands, and will also examine ways to monetise it.

The not-for-profit company is a customer-centric forum incubated by Chennai-based Servion Global Solutions which specialises in customer interaction management.

Speaking on the concluding day of the two-day Custommerce National Convention here that ended on Friday, C. K. Sharma, Director, Custommerce, said Cindex (customer satisfaction index) has so far been prepared for eight categories, namely, mobile handset makers, pre-paid telecom and post-paid service providers, credit card companies, two-wheelers, lifestyle retailers and airlines.

“We will add more categories as we go along, and by the end of 2013 expect to cover 16 categories,” Sharma said, adding that laptops and courier services were two that had been identified.

Modelled on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Cindex is measured using data obtained from random mobile phone interviews of customers. The survey involves questions on five parameters: satisfaction, loyalty, advocacy, value-for-money and expectations. Statistical analysis is then used to churn out the scores for various companies operating in a particular product segment.

Sharma pointed out that with virtually identical products, the brand war had to be fought by building differentiation through customer experience and this is where measuring this becomes critical.

From February to August, Custommerce has conducted random surveys across 8,353 respondents from 65 cities. If a decadal view was to be taken, five lakh respondents from over 100 Indian cities across ages and socio-economic groups will have been covered, V. Ravichandar, Chairman, Feedback Consulting, Custommerce’s partner in the Cindex venture, said.

Custommerce said it would not chase brands, but hopes organisations will subscribe to the Cindex findings, which will be updated every few months. The company is also examining how the model can be monetised.

“We may look at the subscription model. Some things customers will have to pay for depending upon the level of detail,” Ravichander said, adding that various options were being considered.