In today's society we are used to regularly visit the sport arena to cheer for our favorite team, we go to the cinema to enjoy a good movie or maybe to the theatre to experience a grand performance. It has become far more common in the last years to buy tickets to these kinds of events online. To make sure that the customer will keep on buying their tickets from the online booking companies the booking experience itself has to be hassle-free and easy to understand. The customer will most likely, if possible, avoid the website if the booking itself is experienced as having problems and insecurities.   The purpose of this study is to determine some of the most fundamental designs and functions of online booking websites today as perceived by the general public. This study will also examine some of the existing online booking websites. The empirical methods used in this study was of both quantitative and a qualitative nature to ensure that the data collected would be suited to secure a substantial analysis. The qualitative method consisted of an observation of the earlier mentioned online booking websites. These already existing functions and designs were then used to create a checklist that was used to see which websites had which designs. The quantitative method was an online survey created to collect both the public's most wanted features, their opinion of these and how an online booking could be optimized. This study presents the different functions and designs that the respondents prefers while making an online booking. It also shows the existing functions and designs amongst booking sites today. These sites are then also evaluated according to the respondents answers to see which online booking site that is preferred. The results in this study shows that the costumers want the booking system to show the chosen event to be visible during the course of the booking, they want to be able chose their exact seats and they want to the booking to be made in as few pages and klick's as possible.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-81).

The major purpose of this study was to identify customer and employee satisfaction levels and the most important satisfaction factors in the lodging industry by the example of two hotel properties of a resort on the East Coast. This study included a sample of 267 customers, while the exact number of employees was unknown. The customer satisfaction survey was prepared by the consulting agency. It was conducted in the form of a 10-minute telephone interview with the customers who stayed at the resort 30 days prior to the survey. The customers indicated their satisfaction levels with six areas of the customer experience at the resort such as dining experience, golfing experience, experience with spa, beach club experience, experience with facilities/activities, and guest problems experience. Top 10 and lowest 10 customer satisfaction factors were found for both hotels of the resort. Four similar factors out of 10 positive ones were found to be in both of the hotel properties. Nine similar factors out of 10 were ranked as least satisfying in both of the hotels. The range score between the highest and the lowest customer satisfaction rating for the Hotel A was found to be 1.44, and for B Hotel 1.6. As for the overall customer satisfaction in two hotels, the overall customer satisfaction for the Hotel A was 4.5 (90%), and for the Hotel B was 4.58 (91.6%). To identify the customer satisfaction factors, four areas were selected for the analysis: staff, room divisions, recreation, and conflict resolution. Satisfaction with Room Divisions received the highest overall mean scores (4.64-for Hotel A, and 4.83- for Hotel B), while Conflict Resolution area received the lowest satisfaction scores for both of the Hotels (4.51- for Hotel A, 4.48- for Hotel B). The employee satisfaction questionnaire was created by the human resources department of the resort. The employee satisfaction survey was represented by 12 areas: the company; vision/mission/values; interact; your job; your department; physical work environment; communications; leadership, supervision and management effectiveness; teamwork; pay, opportunity, and benefits; career development and training; quality; and demographic information. To determine the employee satisfaction levels, the mean percentage scores of all positive and negative employees' responses were calculated. Satisfaction with Your Department received the highest positive total percentage mean score of 81.1%, while satisfaction with the Interact program implemented by the resort received the lowest positive mean percentage score of 44.0%. Similar to customer satisfaction, the 10 top positive and 10 bottom negative employee satisfaction response questions were identified. The strong positive relationship (r=0.66) was found between the Hotel A and B of the resort and customer satisfaction factors. Those areas that were ranked high by the customers of the Hotel A were also highly ranked by the Hotel B customers. A Person's correlation coefficient was run on the relationship between the hotel property and customer satisfaction levels. The strong positive association was found between two hotel properties and satisfaction statements. Paired sample t-test was also run in order to determine if there was a significant difference in customer satisfaction in two hotels A and B based on the customer's responses to the questionnaire. The t equal to (-2.5), and the probability of (0.016) were found. There was found to be statistical significant difference between the Hotel A and B customer satisfaction statements.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Kevin P. Gwinner / SiteOne Landscape Supply is the largest distributor of lawn care products for professionals of the landscape industry in U.S.A. and Canada. SiteOne is aware of the importance of customer satisfaction and it is interested on increasing satisfaction by improving customer service. There is a high concentration of Latino landscapers in Texas, whom customer service needs may differ from non-Latino customers. Therefore the purpose of this project was to study customer satisfaction of Hispanic and non-Hispanic landscapers considering the following thirteen service attributes: competitive prices, available stock, cleanliness of facilities, business follow up, timely assistance, timely deliveries, accuracy of orders, helpful staff, approachable staff, knowledgeable staff, Spanish-speaking staff, training in Spanish, and labels in Spanish. The data was collected throughout a survey which was presented to SiteOne customers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. A total of 224 surveys were collected. The methods used to analyze the data were importance-performance (I-P) and regression analyses. The major differences found in the I-P grids are related to the three Spanish language attributes. Spanish-speaking staff, training in Spanish and labels in Spanish are statistically significant more important to Hispanic than non-Hispanic landscapers. Available stock is the most important attribute for non-Hispanic, and it is the second most important for Hispanic customers. SiteOne has an opportunity to improve their stock availability, especially for nursery, fertilizers and pesticides. Other factors that are very important to customers and they perceive that SiteOne is doing an excellent job are: timely assistance, timely deliveries, accuracy of orders, and approachable, knowledgeable and helpful staff. The importance of competitive prices was rated as high as the previous six service attributes, however the mean of pricing performance was not as high as that group of attributes. From the multivariate regression analyses, it was found that pricing was the only variable with statistical significance to predict changes in customer satisfaction for the non-Hispanic group. No statistical significance was found in the regression model run for Hispanic clients. Some negative coefficients with statistical significance were found for stores #199 and #220 in the models run to analyze branch performance. It is recommended that these results be compared with other measurements to determine the nature of the issues that may be present in these locations.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / A significant body of academic work has amassed supporting the importance of employee engagement in the workplace and its ability to influence business outcomes. However, much of this research has been concentrated in high-contact occupations in which the relationship between the employee and the customer is prolonged and involved (e.g., financial consulting, nursing, etc.). The current study utilized movie theatre environments to determine if the ability of employee engagement to influence service delivery and business outcomes persists in low-contact service environments. This research found that even in settings characterized by brief and perfunctory employee-customer interactions, employee engagement at the business unit level significantly influenced service delivery as measured by the resulting overall guest satisfaction. Furthermore, this relationship was fully mediated by guest satisfaction with friendliness of employees, speed of service and cleanliness of the environment which previous research has found to be the primary drivers of overall guest satisfaction within this environment. Partial support was found for the ability of employee engagement to significantly predict reductions in employee turnover as well as reductions in operational inefficiency and negligence. No support was found linking employee engagement to the productivity/profitability of the business unit. Given these research findings which provide additional support for the importance of having an engaged workforce, we examined how employee satisfaction with various aspects of the company and occupational environment correlate to the employee’s level of engagement. We further segment these correlations by demographic groups to better understand the relationships and more effectively target future initiatives geared toward the improvement of employee engagement.

Class of 2005 Abstract / Objectives: To determine the impact of tightly controlled inventory reduction on customer satisfaction and partial fill costs. Methods: The project was a cross-sectional study employing two survey instruments and a time in motion analysis to determine the number of “we-owes” filled by pharmacies due to inventory reduction, the costs that arise from such reductions, and the impact on customer satisfaction. The first survey instrument was sent to four pharmacies in the Fry’s Food and Drug chain. The survey assessed number of “we-owes” per pharmacy and reasons for having them. The second survey consisted of several statements concerning customer satisfaction. The participants were asked to rate their agreement with each statement using a response scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A time-in-motion analysis was performed at two pharmacies averaging 350 prescriptions per day to record the amount of labor involved in filling “we-owes". Results: Medium to high volume Fry’s pharmacy fills an average of forty “we owes” each week. The average yearly costs for filling the “we owes” ranges from $171,579 to $568,796 per year depending on the job status of people filling the “we owes.” The main reason for these partially filled prescriptions was the minimum order point was incorrect accounted for 53.8% of the “we owes Almost half of customers owed medication felt it was not inconvenient them to pick the remainder of their prescription and that over half have had this happen more than once. Implications: The costs of tight inventory control need to be compared with the savings obtained from maintaining marginal inventories.

The first objective of this thesis is to define the most significant benefits of a customer satisfaction strategy for a company. Especially, the effects on customer base, retention, loyalty, and last but not least on financials are discussed. Furthermore, three techniques of customer satisfaction measurement are critically assessed. Those are complaint management, customer satisfaction surveys, and mystery shopping. Secondly, a comprehensive customer satisfaction strategy for ŠKODA AUTO is defined based on theoretical knowledge regarding customer satisfaction and the specifics of automotive industry. The strategy comprises of four particular parts: generic approach, sales, after sales, and product.

The Master thesis focuses on drawing up a marketing research of customer satisfaction for Cayo Ltd.. The object of the work is to work up the marketing research and on the basis of obtained information to suggest measures leading to higher customer satisfaction including economic appraisal.

Customer compliance has become a pivotal consideration in the marketing strategies of lifestyle management programmes. Previous research has shown that the better customers comply with the directives of service providers, the higher their levels of customer satisfaction (Dellande, 1999). There are numerous lifestyle management programmes available on the market today. Many of these programmes have been linked to the usage of a nutritional product range as a pre-requisite for entering the programme. The investigation of customer compliance in lifestyle management programmes is very important because many of the major societal problems of today, such as high-fat diets, poor physical fitness, substance abuse and smoking, exist because people make poor health choices. Most of the leading causes of death could be reduced substantially if people at risk change five behaviours, namely non-compliance with beneficial health behaviours, poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and alcohol and drug abuse. The many societal ills related to non-compliance with the aforementioned five behaviours and the dearth of knowledge about the determinants of customer compliance were the main motivations for this study. Another important goal, underlying the motivation for this study, was to understand the relationship between role clarity, role ability, motivation, customer satisfaction and goal attainment. Motivation, which for the purpose of this study has been divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, proved to be the strongest predictor of customer compliance. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data from 155 respondents who have successfully completed a lifestyle management programme. The results of the first regression model indicated that two of the four independent variables, namely “customers’ role ability” and “intrinsic motivation”, are statistically significant, positive predictors of the dependent variable “customer compliance”. The other two independent variables, “customer role clarity” and “extrinsic motivation”, are not statistically significant predictors of “customer compliance”. The results of the second regression model indicated that “customer compliance” and “customer goal attainment” are statistically significant positive predictors of the dependent variable “customer satisfaction” The most important construct of the study, highlighted in Chapter 6 as well as in the study by Dellande (1999), is customer motivation. If a customer is not motivated, compliance levels will not be sufficient to generate high levels of customer satisfaction. Customer motivation was divided into extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation with intrinsic motivation proving to have a stronger correlation with customer compliance than extrinsic motivation. The study was conducted across three different organisations. Research has also suggested that more than half of the customers who commence with a lifestyle management programme never complete the programme or revert to the original lifestyle they followed prior to commencement of the programme. This could have a negative effect on their satisfaction levels. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that all customers who join a lifestyle management programme are motivated and are able to comply with the directives of the programme to ensure the successful completion thereof. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

This study develops and tests a model that depicts how cognitive and emotional evaluations relate to customer satisfaction in leisure services. The model is tested within the context of visitors to the Rostock Zoo in Germany. Results of the study show that consumer satisfaction with leisure services is a function of both cognitive and affective evaluations where the affective evaluations dominate. Implications of the results are discussed. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressinc.com Website: http://www.HaworthPress.com.