ISO 10004- 2018

Customer satisfaction is determined by the gap between the customer’s expectations and the customer’s
perception of the product as delivered by the organization.
To achieve customer satisfaction, the organization should first understand the customer’s expectations. These
expectations might be explicit or implicit, or not fully articulated.
Customer expectations, as understood by the organization, form the primary basis of the product that is
subsequently planned and delivered.
The extent to which the delivered product is perceived by the customer to meet or exceed expectations
determines the degree of customer satisfaction.
It is important to make a distinction between the organization’s view of the quality of the delivered product and
the customer’s perception of the delivered product, because it is the latter that governs the customer’s
satisfaction. The relationship between the organization’s and the customer’s views on quality is further
described by the conceptual model of customer satisfaction.
Since customer satisfaction is subject to change, organizations should establish processes to monitor and
measure customer satisfaction on a regular basis.

The organization should establish a systematic approach to monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction.
This approach should be supported by an organizational framework to enable the planning, operation,
maintenance and improvement of processes for monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction.
Planning includes determination of the methods of implementation, and the allocation of necessary resources.
Operation includes identifying customer expectations, gathering and analysing customer satisfaction data,
providing feedback for improvement and monitoring of customer satisfaction.
Maintenance and improvement includes the review, evaluation and continual improvement of processes for
monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction.