ratio of disgruntled customers

[newki]

I am looking to find hard data and research studies on what the ratio is between a vocal disgruntled customer, and silent ones e.g. one unhappy customer speaks on behalf of one hundred.

[engine]

I really don't know where you might find data on the silent majority. That's the problem, they are most often silent. You can only guess at this through the sites that allow user comment, but you're unlikely to get any true data.

[not2easy]

Hello newki and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

imho - useful data can really only reliably be returned by clients, generic research may lead you astray. People who are unhappy with a purchase are far more likely to make noise about it than people who got just what they expected. Unfortunately they do not always contact the place that caused the unhappiness and use some public place to complain. (much as a competitor might do).

[NickMNS]

If I do a web search for the question it turns up many interesting results. You will probably have better luck finding what you want from your favorite search engine in this case.

[newki]

Surveys are taken all of the time in the public domain, and considered representative, so I was looking for a figure that scaled.

If you look at the populace eligible to vote at the national level in the UK:

U.K.46,000,000
ENGLAND : 39,000,000
SCOTLAND : 4,000,000
WALES : 2,300,000
NORTHERN IRELAND : 1,200,000
CORNWALL : 434,000

ref : [ons.gov.uk...]
ref : [ons.gov.uk...]


I though that 5% would be representative e.g. 2,300,000 at U.K. national level, with 115,000 at the regional level for Wales, and 21,700 at the local level for Cornwall.

That is a ratio of 20:1

Surely that would be "fair" ?

[not2easy]

Surveys of factual data (the number of people in a location who are or are not eligible to vote) are significantly different from surveys of satisfaction with some product or service. Opinions are not the same as facts.

[newki]

What do you think of the ratio of 5% ?

[NickMNS]

What do you think of the ratio of 5% ?

Sure 5%, maybe 6%, could also be 12%.

Not really sure what the "ratio" represents and what it is intended for, so choosing any number arbitrarily is fine.

[tangor]

Not sure I'd invest any time in this, after all you have legit complaints and then you have paid complaints (negative) which can't be told apart.

If one must apply a number, take the inverse of what many advertisers consider to be bottom line roi for investment: 5-10% for ad spend.