The sad illusion of happy customers

Retailers say they want shoppers to be satisfied, but few have the resources to deliver the goods.

Customer satisfaction has become such a scarce commodity in the business world, it's now a selling point at a time when companies are increasingly desperate for shoppers' dollars.

This week, electronics heavyweight Best Buy launched a nationwide marketing campaign under the banner "They'll be happy, you'll be happy, we'll be happy."

What they're saying is that the company will bend over backward to help you shop for gifts this holiday season and will do whatever it takes to ensure that gift recipients are pleased with what they get. This, in turn, will warm the hearts of Best Buy shareholders.

"Happy customers is a long-term strategy for us," Best Buy's chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, told me. "If they're happy, they'll want to buy more."

That's the idea anyway. But after visiting a couple of Best Buy stores and chatting with customers, I'd say the company still has some work to do on the happiness front.

"The trade-off is that you get the selection and square footage, but you have to hunt to find someone to help you," said Glendale resident Howard Erickson after buying a mini-fridge at the Best Buy in Los Feliz.

So how'd he do?

"I had to hunt to find someone to help me."

I had a similar experience when I wandered around the appliance section with a perplexed look on my face (not the greatest challenge of my career). After 10 minutes of gazing forlornly at refrigerators and washing machines, I was still on my own, not a single blue-shirted salesperson in sight.

I had a similar experience in the computer section until I finally spotted a salesguy and asked if he could show me a computer for under $500. He steered me toward a Hewlett-Packard model.

I asked if there was anything else. The salesguy pointed me toward a Dell model for about the same price. I asked which was better.

"I don't know," the salesguy replied. "I guess they're about the same."

Not that I'm picking on Best Buy, even though this week's TV and print ads all but dare consumers to judge the company by the quality of their shopping experience.

In fact, customer satisfaction ranks pretty far down on most businesses' to-do lists.

You know what I mean: Epic lines at the cash register. Salespeople who don't have a clue about what they're selling or are nowhere to be found when you have a question.

Customer support that makes you feel like an uninvited dinner guest. A general indifference among employees as to whether you'll ever shop there again.

Sometimes it feels like companies are determined to chase us away, rather than do everything in their power -- especially at times like these -- to build customer loyalty.

"Customer satisfaction has always been a major concern for most companies," said Lars Perner, an assistant professor of marketing at USC's Marshall School of Business. "But it's fairly difficult to implement. It's pretty labor intensive."

He said that as long as low-low-low prices remain consumers' main priority, and as long as turnover remains relatively high among workers at service-oriented businesses, most companies just can't afford to keep sufficient numbers of well-trained staff on hand to meet customers' needs.

"So they make do with what they have," Perner said.