In today’s business condition where the competition level is high, the product and service differentiation is also high, the customer satisfaction and loyalty become very crucial. For a company, customer satisfaction and loyalty are very important to increase profits so that the company can always maintain good relations with customers. Measuring the customer satisfaction is also an important element in providing better, efficient, and effective services. According to Phillip Kotler, customer satisfaction can be measured by:
Complaints and suggestions system
A customer-centered company makes it easy for customers to register advice, opinion, and complaints. The media used include suggestion boxes placed at strategic locations, hotline and so forth. But since these methods tend to be passive, it is difficult to get a complete picture of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Not every customer who feels dissatisfied will then submit complaints. They could just immediately switch to other companies and will not become a customer of the company anymore.

Customer satisfaction survey
Companies cannot use complaint level to measure the customer satisfaction. Responsive companies measure customer satisfaction by conducting regular surveys by sending a list of questions or calling the customers at random to know their feelings on the various performance of the company. Questions about the performance of rival companies can also be asked.

Mystery Customer (Ghost shopping)
This method is implemented by hiring some people (ghost shoppers) to pose or behave as potential customers of the company’s and competitors’ products. The ghost shoppers then report the findings on strong and weak points of the products based on their experience in purchasing them.

Lost customer analysis
The company tries to contact customers who have stopped being its customer or have switched to another company. It is intended to obtain information so that the company can take further policy in order to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Scheduling the customer satisfaction measurement program periodically will provide many benefits to the company and greater level of customer satisfaction. In the long run, it will be more profitable to keep loyal customers than to continuously attract and cultivate new customers to replace the lost ones. A very satisfied customer will spread a positive story by word of mouth and is even going to be a walking advertisement for the company, which would lower the cost of attracting new customers.