2.1.2 Customer satisfaction

Kotler (2000) defined satisfaction as: “a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations”. According to Hansemark and Albinsson (2004), “satisfaction is an overall customer attitude towards a service provider, or an emotional reaction to the difference between what customers anticipate and what they receive, regarding the fulfillment of some need, goal or desire”.

Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) said that satisfaction can be associated with feelings of acceptance, happiness, relief, excitement, and delight. There are many factors that affect customer satisfaction. According to Hokanson (1995), these factors include friendly employees, courteous employees, knowledgeable employees, helpful employees, accuracy of billing, billing timeliness, competitive pricing, service quality, good value, billing clarity and quick service. This is shown in figure 5 below.

Figure 5 Factors that affect customer satisfaction.

In order to achieve customer satisfaction, organisations must be able to satisfy their customers’ needs and wants (La Barbera and Mazursky, 1983). Customers’ needs state the felt deprivation of a customer (Kotler, 2000). Whereas customers’ wants, according to Kotler (2000) refer to “the form taken by human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality”.