A simple and valuable approach for measuring customer satisfaction.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the financial impact of poor customer satisfaction and the value of information gained from using a 1-question customer-satisfaction survey in a medical setting.


METHODS
A single-question customer-satisfaction survey was collected from customers presenting to an academic otolaryngology head and neck surgery outpatient clinic.


RESULTS
The overall response rate was 25%, overall net promoter score was 67.3%, lowest net promoter score occurred on Wednesday and Friday, overall net potential referrals were 872, and potential lost revenue from dissatisfied customers equaled US 2.3 million dollars.


CONCLUSIONS
A single-question customer-satisfaction survey may help identify areas of customer dissatisfaction that lead to a significant source of lost revenue.


CONCLUSIONS
The competitive forces in today's health care environment require medical practices to address issues related to customer satisfaction.
Kinney
William C
WC
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Missouri-Columbia, MO 65212, USA. kinneyw@health.missouri.edu
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008923:Missouri; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires