Customer satisfaction reflects the expectations and experiences that the customer has with a product or service. Consumer expectations reflect both past and current product evaluation and user experiences. Think about any major purchases you've made recently. Did you research your purchase? Did you collect information from advertising, salespersons, friends, associates, or even test the product?

This information influences our expectations and gives us the ability to evaluate quality, value, and the ability of the product or service to meet our needs and expectations.

Customers hold both explicit and implicit performance expectations for attributes, features, and benefits of products and services. The nature of these expectations will dictate the form and even the wording of customer satisfaction survey questions. Let me repeat this: the nature of these expectations will dictate the form and even the wording of your satisfaction questions.

Understanding the following 7 customer expectations form the definitions below is critical before you set out to measure customer satisfaction and increase customer loyalty.