Customer Satisfaction

What is customer satisfaction?

Well, it's really the whole point of doing the project isn't it. Although a declaration of customer satisfaction marks the completion of your technical work on the project, it is your main concern at every step along the way. You begin the project by listening to your customer and exchanging ideas and goal statements during the proposal stage. Then, during negotiation, you are telling your customer what you are capable of. You must be honest and admit at any time during the project if you can't deliver what you expected. When you run into technical or logistical problems, an open conversation with your customer is the best way to find solutions or renegotiate. If you keep your customer in touch with your progress, then they are more likely to be flexable and listen when the time comes. Previewing your progress to the customer throughout the project may also help you find potential problems before they occur. Being honest with the customer and showing your progress will help both of you verify that you are building what the customer expects. They will know if they are going to be satisfied before you finish. Wouldn't it be nice to know that you are going to meet their needs before getting to the end? At the beginning of the project you may have done the exersize suggested and you wrote down a statement saying how you will know when you have reached your goal. Now, let's return to that statement. What you are really saying is "We will know the customer is satisfied when..."
So, how will you know if your customer is satisfied? Well,

  1. You can ask.
  2. You can have them try it out and give you a response.
  3. Your faculty sponsor may have talked to them.
  4. You will know because you have been communicating throughout the project with your customer and they have already told you what needs more work and what they think of your product.

If you are not sure what your customer thinks or they have asked for changes, then your project is not complete. ...