Look forward or look back: Pick a perspective

Satisfaction research is a function of perspective: you can focus your attention on a past point in time or a future point. When looking to the past, researchers observe the customer's last choice, transaction or event. Looking to the future means focusing on the next choice, transaction or eve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMarketing news Vol. 32; no. 22; p. 41
Main Author Etter, William L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago American Marketing Association 26.10.1998
Subjects
Brand loyalty
Customer satisfaction
Packaged goods
Product quality
United States > US
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Summary:Satisfaction research is a function of perspective: you can focus your attention on a past point in time or a future point. When looking to the past, researchers observe the customer's last choice, transaction or event. Looking to the future means focusing on the next choice, transaction or event. The contrast between a past and a future perspective is tactical versus strategic. The category purchase cycle provides a clue as to when one focus is better than another. In categories in which the purchase cycle is short, you probably should focus on the next purchase because it is the one you can still influence. When the category purchase cycle is long, you can use both post-purchase and pre-purchase samples.
ISSN:0025-3790