Nissan's Increased Customer Focus Leads to Higher Satisfaction Scores

Nissan’s ongoing focus on improving customer satisfaction is paying off, as indicated by the Nissan’s improvement again outpaced the improvement industry average, rising 16 index points and four rank positions among mass market brands in the latest study. This marks the third consecutive year of gains by Nissan, with a total increase of 63 index points over the period.
brand’s performance in the J.D. Power Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study, released this week. Nissan ranks 10th in sales satisfaction among mass market brands.

The annual J.D. Power SSI study is a comprehensive analysis of the new-vehicle purchase experience and measures customer satisfaction throughout the shopping and buying process.

Leon Dorssers, Nissan’s chief customer officer and vice president, Customer Quality and Dealer Network Development, said: “In order to meet our growth targets in the U.S., it is imperative that Nissan and our dealers offer both great vehicles and a great experience for our customers. Our rapid improvements in the J.D. Power SSI study show that our efforts to that end are paying off, and we remain fully committed to becoming one of the industry leaders.”

Beginning in 2011, Nissan and its dealers accelerated customer satisfaction-focused efforts, including the launch of the Nissan Customer Promise, a set of commitments to provide a fair, honest and customer-friendly environment for purchasing and owning a Nissan vehicle. In 2012, the company formed a customer experience task force and appointed Dorssers as its first chief customer officer. This task force prioritizes projects designed to enhance the customer's interaction with the company throughout the shopping, purchase and ownership experience.

A combination of all-new, core products such as Altima, Sentra, Pathfinder and Versa Note along with this intense focus on improving customer satisfaction has yielded strong sales results. Nissan sales in 2012 increased by 8.2 percent over the prior year, while 2013 sales through October are up 11 percent. In fact, sales in the first 10 months of 2013 nearly exceeded the total for all of 2011.