- Email: [email protected]
Editorial: Customer loyalty
Editorial: Customer Loyalty
T
he business, marketing, service quality, satisfaction, and other literatures emphasize the importance of creating and mamtammg loyal customers According to Betsy Sanders, former vice president and general manager of Nordstrom, Inc , “loyal customers are the backbone of every company, rewarding that loyalty should be the focus of everyone’s resources “’ Loyalty 1s equated with (1) wllhngness to purchase the same brand or product again, and (2) repeat buslness for a company In fact, many companies are attempting to go beyond meeting customer needs and satlsfymg then expectations to provldmg that little extra that results m delzghted customers Truly satisfied customers are delighted and loyal Recent literature dlstmgmshes between those who are completely satisfied and those expressing any other gradation of satlsfactlon, and encourages service orgamzatlons to align their resoruces to promote and ensure complete satisfaction 2 Thus, the revised prmclple becomes “completely satisfied customers are delighted and loyal, anyone dlsplaymg lesser degrees of satisfaction 1s neither delighted nor loyal In future instances, that person 1s likely to use other service providers ” In essence, he or she 1s not loyal to one orgamzatlon A key question relates to “What does thts have to do with academic hbranes, especially when they offer free services?” Pat L Weaver-Meyers and Wilbur A Stolt, among others, respond by noting that there are direct and important lmphcatlons for academic libraries and those umver\rty admml\trators lookmg at optlons to fund hbrary collectlon development or purchase document dehvery vendor contracts WIthout customer loyalty, hbrdnes may see customers defect when vendor5 become viable altematlves Although many arguments can be offered thdt mdlcate vendors have a long wdy to go before they can sub5tltute for the variety and complexity of service5 offered by hbrdnes, the vlablhty of document delivery vendors 15undeniable Llbrandns should be posltloned to give up a market if they determine it 15not cost effective, rather than losmg a market they would rather provide To guarantee that positIon, hbranam must know how to completely satisfy customers 3 Another lmphcatlon relates to the fundralsmg program of the college or university, and Its library Granted that donors wlll-
mg to give large sums of money compnse the central target of these programs, but still others contribute to the giving Presumably loyal or completely satisfied customers make most of the contnbutlons As well, the library m the electronic mformatlon age 1s rarely referred to as “the heart of the mstltutlon”4 and that mstltutlon may be undergomg downslzmg, reorgamzatlon, restructuring, and budgetary stringencies There may even be questioning wlthm central admmlstratlon, boards of regents, and others about the need for a physical library building when the mformatlon superhighway 1s present In such a climate, addressing the misperceptions and producing loyalty among student, faculty, staff, central admmlstratlon, and other customers may have pohtlcal and other value If loyalty and complete satisfaction are mdlcators of the effectiveness and quality of hbrary services, then it becomes important to investigate and report customer perceptions or attltudes, and, as necessary, to improve service delivery As FranGolse HCbert notes, “when hbrary and customer measures of quality are not congruent, the library may be meetmg its internal standards of performance but may not be performing well m the eyes of its customers “5 As a result, hbranes should shift their attention, where possible, from the collection and reporting of mput measures (e g , budget expenditures) and output measures (volume of business actlvlty) to producing customer-related measures, such as those relating to satisfaction levels For Instance, l
l
In 1999, at least 60 percent of the customers recelvmg service x will rate the service delivery as excellent, and At least 75 percent of the recipients of service x will rate its delivery as excellent
Or, number of them who are . completely satisfied
= -70
number of responding customers who are satisfied
November
1998
43.5
number of respondents . completely satisfied
who are = -%
number of responding customers who are either satisfied or dlssatlsfied In both of the above instances, the intent 1s to separate completely satisfied respondents from other respondents Over time, the goal 1s to increase the percentage of completely satlsfied customers and to reduce the percentage of those expressmg other shades of satlsfactlon and dlssatlsfactlon These sample measures are not counted m the same way as one determines the number of customers entermg or exiting the building, or the number of titles borrowed The focus, rather, 1s on assessment, setting performance targets, monitoring progress toward their achievement and some outcome (e g , by the year 2003, 70 percent of all customers will express complete satlsfactlon with the interlibrary loan service they received), and reallocating resources to ensure that the targets and outcome are met 6 The weakness with the above-mentioned measures 1s the assumption that they tell the whole story or the most important part of It Because they fail to represent subJective reality well, qualitative data collection from the use of focus group mterviews and other techniques serves a useful function The key point 1s not to focus on data collection, either quantltatlve- or qualitative-based, as an activity unto itself The purpose 1s to empower the staff and to ensure that more customers become completely satisfied with high pnorlty services Llbranes, even academic ones, supportmg teaching, leammg, and research are service orgamzatlons Developing loyal
436
The Journal of Academic Llbrarlanshlp
customers supports and reinforces the mlsslon and goals of the mstltutlon and hbrary The next step will be to develop measures better showing how the library directly supports the mstttutlon m attracting and retammg students and faculty, and m provldmg high quality distance education There 1s also a need to develop new ways of measurmg excellence-from the customer’s perspective How does the library assist m placement of the graduating student m getting mto a graduate program of first choice? For now, some key questions are “How do we start to build loyalty with mcommg freshmen?,” “How successful have we been m developing loyalty by the time of graduation?,” and “What type of loyalty do faculty, staff, the admmlstratlon, and alumni have?“-PH NOTES AND REFERENCES 1 Betsy Sanders, Fabled Servze Ordmary Actr, Extraordznary Outcomes (San Dlego, CA Pfelffer & Co , 1995), p 39 2 See, for instance, Thomas 0 Jones & Earl Sawer, Jr, “Why Satisfied Customers Defect,” Harvard Bucmess Review 73 (November-December 1996) 88-99, see also Peter Hernon & Ellen Altman, Asseysmg Service Quality Satzsjjmg the Expectations oj Library CuGomers (Chlcago Amerlcdn Llbrdry Assoclatlon, 1998) 3 Pat L Weaver-Meyers & Wilbur A Stolt, “Delivery Speed, Tlmelmess and Sdtlsfactlon Patrons’ Perceptions about ILL Service,” Journal 0fLtbrar-y Admmlstratlon 23 ( i/2) (1996) 39-40 4 See Deborah J Gnmes, Academz Library Centrality User Success through Service, Access, and Tradltlon (Chicago Amencan Library Asaoclatlon, Assoclatlon of College and Research Llbranes, 1998) 5 Frdnqolse HCbert, “Service Quaky An Unobtruswe lnvestlgatlon of Interlibrary Loan m Large Pubhc Llbranes m Canada,” Llbrav & lnformatlon Science Research 16 (1994) 20 6 See Hernon & Altman, Assessrng Service Quaky
T
he business, marketing, service quality, satisfaction, and other literatures emphasize the importance of creating and mamtammg loyal customers According to Betsy Sanders, former vice president and general manager of Nordstrom, Inc , “loyal customers are the backbone of every company, rewarding that loyalty should be the focus of everyone’s resources “’ Loyalty 1s equated with (1) wllhngness to purchase the same brand or product again, and (2) repeat buslness for a company In fact, many companies are attempting to go beyond meeting customer needs and satlsfymg then expectations to provldmg that little extra that results m delzghted customers Truly satisfied customers are delighted and loyal Recent literature dlstmgmshes between those who are completely satisfied and those expressing any other gradation of satlsfactlon, and encourages service orgamzatlons to align their resoruces to promote and ensure complete satisfaction 2 Thus, the revised prmclple becomes “completely satisfied customers are delighted and loyal, anyone dlsplaymg lesser degrees of satisfaction 1s neither delighted nor loyal In future instances, that person 1s likely to use other service providers ” In essence, he or she 1s not loyal to one orgamzatlon A key question relates to “What does thts have to do with academic hbranes, especially when they offer free services?” Pat L Weaver-Meyers and Wilbur A Stolt, among others, respond by noting that there are direct and important lmphcatlons for academic libraries and those umver\rty admml\trators lookmg at optlons to fund hbrary collectlon development or purchase document dehvery vendor contracts WIthout customer loyalty, hbrdnes may see customers defect when vendor5 become viable altematlves Although many arguments can be offered thdt mdlcate vendors have a long wdy to go before they can sub5tltute for the variety and complexity of service5 offered by hbrdnes, the vlablhty of document delivery vendors 15undeniable Llbrandns should be posltloned to give up a market if they determine it 15not cost effective, rather than losmg a market they would rather provide To guarantee that positIon, hbranam must know how to completely satisfy customers 3 Another lmphcatlon relates to the fundralsmg program of the college or university, and Its library Granted that donors wlll-
mg to give large sums of money compnse the central target of these programs, but still others contribute to the giving Presumably loyal or completely satisfied customers make most of the contnbutlons As well, the library m the electronic mformatlon age 1s rarely referred to as “the heart of the mstltutlon”4 and that mstltutlon may be undergomg downslzmg, reorgamzatlon, restructuring, and budgetary stringencies There may even be questioning wlthm central admmlstratlon, boards of regents, and others about the need for a physical library building when the mformatlon superhighway 1s present In such a climate, addressing the misperceptions and producing loyalty among student, faculty, staff, central admmlstratlon, and other customers may have pohtlcal and other value If loyalty and complete satisfaction are mdlcators of the effectiveness and quality of hbrary services, then it becomes important to investigate and report customer perceptions or attltudes, and, as necessary, to improve service delivery As FranGolse HCbert notes, “when hbrary and customer measures of quality are not congruent, the library may be meetmg its internal standards of performance but may not be performing well m the eyes of its customers “5 As a result, hbranes should shift their attention, where possible, from the collection and reporting of mput measures (e g , budget expenditures) and output measures (volume of business actlvlty) to producing customer-related measures, such as those relating to satisfaction levels For Instance, l
l
In 1999, at least 60 percent of the customers recelvmg service x will rate the service delivery as excellent, and At least 75 percent of the recipients of service x will rate its delivery as excellent
Or, number of them who are . completely satisfied
= -70
number of responding customers who are satisfied
November
1998
43.5
number of respondents . completely satisfied
who are = -%
number of responding customers who are either satisfied or dlssatlsfied In both of the above instances, the intent 1s to separate completely satisfied respondents from other respondents Over time, the goal 1s to increase the percentage of completely satlsfied customers and to reduce the percentage of those expressmg other shades of satlsfactlon and dlssatlsfactlon These sample measures are not counted m the same way as one determines the number of customers entermg or exiting the building, or the number of titles borrowed The focus, rather, 1s on assessment, setting performance targets, monitoring progress toward their achievement and some outcome (e g , by the year 2003, 70 percent of all customers will express complete satlsfactlon with the interlibrary loan service they received), and reallocating resources to ensure that the targets and outcome are met 6 The weakness with the above-mentioned measures 1s the assumption that they tell the whole story or the most important part of It Because they fail to represent subJective reality well, qualitative data collection from the use of focus group mterviews and other techniques serves a useful function The key point 1s not to focus on data collection, either quantltatlve- or qualitative-based, as an activity unto itself The purpose 1s to empower the staff and to ensure that more customers become completely satisfied with high pnorlty services Llbranes, even academic ones, supportmg teaching, leammg, and research are service orgamzatlons Developing loyal
436
The Journal of Academic Llbrarlanshlp
customers supports and reinforces the mlsslon and goals of the mstltutlon and hbrary The next step will be to develop measures better showing how the library directly supports the mstttutlon m attracting and retammg students and faculty, and m provldmg high quality distance education There 1s also a need to develop new ways of measurmg excellence-from the customer’s perspective How does the library assist m placement of the graduating student m getting mto a graduate program of first choice? For now, some key questions are “How do we start to build loyalty with mcommg freshmen?,” “How successful have we been m developing loyalty by the time of graduation?,” and “What type of loyalty do faculty, staff, the admmlstratlon, and alumni have?“-PH NOTES AND REFERENCES 1 Betsy Sanders, Fabled Servze Ordmary Actr, Extraordznary Outcomes (San Dlego, CA Pfelffer & Co , 1995), p 39 2 See, for instance, Thomas 0 Jones & Earl Sawer, Jr, “Why Satisfied Customers Defect,” Harvard Bucmess Review 73 (November-December 1996) 88-99, see also Peter Hernon & Ellen Altman, Asseysmg Service Quality Satzsjjmg the Expectations oj Library CuGomers (Chlcago Amerlcdn Llbrdry Assoclatlon, 1998) 3 Pat L Weaver-Meyers & Wilbur A Stolt, “Delivery Speed, Tlmelmess and Sdtlsfactlon Patrons’ Perceptions about ILL Service,” Journal 0fLtbrar-y Admmlstratlon 23 ( i/2) (1996) 39-40 4 See Deborah J Gnmes, Academz Library Centrality User Success through Service, Access, and Tradltlon (Chicago Amencan Library Asaoclatlon, Assoclatlon of College and Research Llbranes, 1998) 5 Frdnqolse HCbert, “Service Quaky An Unobtruswe lnvestlgatlon of Interlibrary Loan m Large Pubhc Llbranes m Canada,” Llbrav & lnformatlon Science Research 16 (1994) 20 6 See Hernon & Altman, Assessrng Service Quaky