Customer Satisfaction Awards Help Automakers Advertise
Source:VOX
From:Taiwan Trade Center Chicago
Update Time:2019/01/23
Any US consumer who spends time watching television is probably familiar with the JD Power and Associates as a means of ranking customer satisfaction with cars. It appears in many car commercials and while most consumers would say they’ve heard of it, few would say they actually knows what it means. JD Power and Associates began in 1968 when James David Power III and his wife began conducting detailed market research through mailing surveys to car customers and asking consumers what “problems” they experienced within the first 90 days of their car purchase. The survey consists of over 200 questions in eight categories – exterior, interior, features/controls/displays, audio/entertainment/navigation, seats, climate controls, powertrain and driving experience. The answers to these questions are intended to represent the customer’s voice and reflect their satisfaction with a particular car. However, this measure is not without its issue. The customer’s survey answers include concrete factors but also the customers opinion. In other words, a faulty component in the car is given the same weight as a feature the customer did not understand or disliked. Nevertheless, the results of these surveys are extremely beneficial to car manufacturers. Using the feedback from the survey Kia was able to make changes and reach No 1 in the customer satisfaction rankings. Luxury carmaker Porsche has also turned to the JD Power and Associates data to perfect their cars and achieve high ratings with customers. However, car companies that use the data to improve their cars often do not use their high rankings in advertising once they are achieved as they do not want to draw customers attention to their prior low rankings. Still other car companies do us their JD Power and Associate rankings because consumers see value in it. First the name of the survey and rankings sounds substantive and meaningful. Though it is the name of a real person it almost sounds like it was the expertly designed to be the name of a car ranking service. Secondly, it impresses people by being the real reactions of real customers, something that holds a great deal of weight with consumers. Despite consumers not knowing much about the JD Power and Associates process, it sounds official and gives significant reassurance that they are making a smart choice when they purchase a car with a high ranking.
Source :https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/27/18105479/jd-power-car-commercials