The problem
“Satisfaction” is a standard scale, but it is not natural language. Would you tell your partner on a Valentine’s card that you are “satisfied” with them?
The solution
A natural language scale, to measure the full customer experience more accurately and improve predictive power.
- 1I hate it
- 2A failure
- 3Unsatisfactory
- 4Satisfactory
- 5Excellent
- 6Delightful
- 7I love it
Why it works
Loyalty comes from a strong rational and emotional commitment. Over decades of research, we have found that love is the strongest statement people use to express that commitment. Dr. Darrel Edwards created the scale to measure both kinds of commitment, toward a brand, a product, a feature or a person.
Every point on the scale is meaningfully different, and the person answering can understand and relate to every option. “Satisfactory” sits in the middle, which is where it belongs: meeting expectations is the minimum, not the goal. The result is a measure that gives a more accurate evaluation than satisfaction scales, and shows how likely someone is to repeat the experience.
It travels
The scale is proven here and abroad, fielded and validated in non-English-speaking markets. Priorities and preferences change from one culture to the next. The structure underneath does not: how people decide, and what each step up in commitment feels like, holds wherever you ask. A product is something you experience, the same way a service or a relationship is, and this is how you put a number on the response.
Putting it into practice
We use the scale on nearly every experience we measure, because it holds up. In the New Vehicle Experience Study, owners use it to rate the vehicle overall and its individual product attributes, one by one. It sits behind:
- The Most Loved Vehicle awards, which count only the strongest response, “I love it”.
- Customer Experience Impact, which shows how much each attribute moves loyalty for every vehicle in the industry.
- The emotional component of Total Quality Index.