A Study on Customer Satisfaction for a wealth management company: An application of the Kano Model (integrated with SERVQUAL)

CW2: Research Proposal
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................5
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................8
PRIMARY RESEARCH INSTRUMENT......................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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Title - A Study on Customer Satisfaction for a wealth management company: An application of
the Kano Model (integrated with SERVQUAL)
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH PURPOSE
In present times, it is important for every company to gain satisfaction of their customers
so that they are able to retain them (El-Adly, 2019). With help of that they survive in market for
long term and compete with rivals. However, in order to gain satisfaction it is necessary to
identify needs of customers so that accordingly products and services are provided to them. The
customer follow a particular process of decision making process. This is because it enable in
taking right decision by analysing data and info. It is found that customers are King of market.
They dominate entire market as any change in their needs and preference highly impact on
companies growth. Besides that, for gaining of customer satisfaction there are many factors
which is needed to be taken into consideration. The factors depends on type of market and nature
of customers. But common factors are quality, value of product, customer expectation, etc. Any
change in these directly affect on customer satisfaction. Now a days there is frequent change in
customer needs due to covid 19. Moreover, as there are variety of options available so it has
become easy for them to switch from one company to another. The business operating in
financial sector has to retain their customers. This is done to increase market share. Usually,
customer loyalty is related to satisfaction. It means that if customer are loyal towards company
then they are satisfied. But if not then there is need to make improvement in service quality in
order to gain satisfaction of customers.
In addition, there is need to set some standards so that feedback is taken from customers.
It is because it enable in finding out their satisfaction level and then on basis of it things are
changed. It also is useful in analysing what customer complaint are and their expectations. So, on
basis of that changes are made (Imran and Hameed, 2019). For business they need to establish
strong relation with firm. It helps in retaining them for long time period. But it entirely depends
on service quality. However, there are some parameters as well by which service is delivered.
Apart from it, there is model ACSI of customer satisfaction. It is used to address issues related to
customer satisfaction. It gives insight of different perspective.
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Research Objectives
 To examine importance of customer satisfaction
 To critically review and evaluate the customer satisfaction models and their applications
on financial industry
 To study the findings and draw conclusions from the primary research on the quality
attributes of customer satisfaction and their implications Pyrmont wealth Management
Company.
Purpose of research – The main purpose of research is to examine customer satisfaction and
how much they are satisfied. Besides that, it will enable in finding out how satisfaction can be
measured with help of Servqual models and concepts. So, on basis of that it will be easy to make
changes in service quality and then providing them to customer. In addition, research will enable
in finding out gaps in service quality which is impacting on customer satisfaction.
Here, main issue which is identified is the customer satisfaction level of Pyrmont wealth
Management Company is decreasing. So, it has led to decline in sales and profits. Besides that,
customers are not getting perceived quality of services (Khadka, and Maharjan, 2017). Thus, it
has led to change in their needs and preference. Due to that they are switching to another
company. Furthermore, by focusing on customer satisfaction and using servqual model it will be
useful in analysing gaps and on basis of that improving it. Now, in terms of business context it is
important to gain competitive advantage. It is only possible when customers are retained.
Alongside, in wealth management company’s competitive advantage depends on gaining
customer satisfaction. It is because there are several competitors as well in this. So, by attracting
customers they can also gain advantage. There is need to maintain high customer satisfaction
level. Besides that, customer satisfaction plays vital role in success of company. It is because it
enable in generating value of services. Thus, it is directly related to revenue, shareholder value,
etc. Pyrmont wealth Management Company set some benchmark and standards by which they
match satisfaction level. It also helps in enhancing strong customer relation.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
REVIEW OF CRITICAL THINKING
Importance of customer satisfaction
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As said by Leninkumar, (2017), for a business success customer satisfaction plays
significant role. This is because it helps in retaining of them and building a distinct image in
industry. Besides that, business is easily able to gain competitive advantage in market. It is
because having a large customer base state that firm is able to fulfil customer needs in effective
way. It also led to rise in sales and profits. Moreover, having a satisfied customer state that there
is strong relation of company with them. It means product or services offered by firm is able to
create value for them. Along with that, it is an indicator of customer loyalty. It also shows about
purchase intention of customer in future. This means customer will make repeat purchase. Also,
level of satisfaction is given rating which specified how well customer is satisfied. The rating
range from 1-10 depending on firm. Besides that, it become easy to measure customer loyalty.
In addition, in view of Radojevic, and Davidson, (2018) customer satisfaction shows
point of difference of business in market place. Those organisation who are able to retain
customer shows that their product is unique. Also, people star giving suggestions as well
regarding firm services. Also, if customer satisfaction is high than it reflect on good customer
loyalty. It reduces customer churn that mean poor quality service is reduced. Customer
satisfaction is the metric that is used to reduce customer churn. By measuring and tracking
customer satisfaction it becomes easy to put new processes in place to increase the overall
quality of your customer service. Apart from it, having high customer satisfaction results in
increasing lifetime value of customers. This also state that how much revenue is generated from
customers by business. Customer lifetime value refers to how valuable is customer with business
as compared to others competitors. The metric also help in understanding cost of acquiring per
customer. So, if cost is less then it means that customers are easily being acquired. But on
contrary if cost is high then there is gap in service quality which needs to be improved. Besides,
ROI is calculated on basis of that.
As stated by Mahmoud, Hinson, and Anim, (2018), high customer satisfaction is useful
in reducing negative word of mouth. This means that there is promotion done of products and
services. Hence, it is useful in building a good reputation and image in market. So, the negative
impact is reduced. Other than this, customer satisfaction is important as it is cheap for firm to
retain old customer rather than acquire new ones. Besides, new customer are automatically
attracted if customer satisfaction is high.
Models and theories of customer satisfaction
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According to Nunkoo, and Sunnassee, (2020), there are several models and theories of
customer satisfaction which are applied. The model use depends on needs of business. Besides,
each theory concept is different as it contains various elements. However, it provides a
framework which can be used to measure customer satisfaction. So, the models are mentioned as
below :
Gronroos service quality model – this is a model in which there are 3 dimensions identified of
service quality. In this expectation is function of market communication, word of mouth, etc. and
experience is of both technical and functional quality. They are as follows :
Technical quality – It is a dimension which state what customer receives by interacting with
company. Also, what is important in terms to evaluate quality of service.
Functional quality- This dimension consists of how customer is able to get technical outcome
that include staff, communication, etc.
Image – here, it is built with both technical and functional dimension.
The model shows that there is existence of perception gap and no suggestion regarding
how to narrow it. There is some practical application of model in which factors are determined
which contribute in research gap. Here, supplier may impact on gap of customer expectations.
However, it state that customer experience is product of image. There is effect on perception gap
due to marketing and process of technical quality (Oh, and Kim, 2017).
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Kano model- It is a model that categorise attribute of product on basis of how customer perceive
it and how it impact on satisfaction level. With help of categories in taking decisions when good
is good enough and more is better (Otto, Szymanski,. and Varadarajan, 2020). The model was
proposed by Dr. Noriaki Kano in 1984. It shows non linear relation within product performance
and customer satisfaction. Thus, there are 4 categories in it which is mentioned as below:
Threshold- the attributes must be presented in product or service. It does not give opportunity to
differentiate. Hence, by improving performance of these does not led to increasing customers
and also add cost to product. If these attributes are not present then it results in high
dissatisfaction within customers. Also, they are not included in quality function deployment.
Performance – they are those attribute which is merrier. The better fulfillment leads to linear
increment of customer satisfaction and absence or poor performance of these attributes will
diminish the customer satisfaction. Here, voice of customer reflect attributes. The price paid by
customer is related to this attribute. For instance- paying more for car whose average is good.
Excitement- the attributes are not expected by customers. So, its presence delight customers and
led to high satisfaction. But absence of these does not result in dissatisfaction. The excitement
attributes are seen to meet the latent needs of the customers. The marketers can build on these
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attributes to delight the customers and gain competitive advantage. For example- having a power
steering in car (Zhao, Xu and Wang, 2019).
Indifferent – Here, the attributes which does not contain into all above fall into this one. So, it is
defined as indifferent attributes. It is because there is no importance of attribute of customers into
it but it influence decision making.
Servqual model – It is a model which is used for measuring service quality level. In this the gaps
are identified and then on basis of it improvements are made. The gaps is related to service
delivery and quality standards. Within model there are certain quality levels on basis of which
service quality is measured. There are 5 components in it which is defined as :
Tangible- It refer to physical facility, equipment and appearance of personnel
Reliability- This means firm ability to perform service promise in accurate way.
Responsiveness- It is firm willingness to help customer and offer them service.
Assurance – This mean knowledge and courtesy of staff to gain trust and confidence of
customers.
Empathy – It means caring of individual and paying attention to customers.
Apart from measuring performance there are 4 gaps as well. So, they are discussed as
below :
Consumer expectation- It is that gap where management is not having any idea of what are
expectation of customers. So, gap exist when there is lack of emphasis on consumers. Hence, it
need to analyse market to determine needs of them.
Service quality specification gap- it occur when business does not deliver quality service to meet
customer expectation and fulfil their needs.
Service delivery gap- this is a gap that exist when organisation is not able to guarantee high
quality service. There may be various reasons regarding it like lack of experienced staff, delay in
process, etc.
External communication gap- it occurs when firm is not able to interact effectively with
customers in efficient way. So, the needs are not identified in it.
Thus, it can be stated that various quality service models are used to measure service
quality. This allows in measuring level with set standards. By that changes are made into it to
ensure high quality service is delivered.
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