Editor's note: Joanne Ulnick is a partner in Ducker Research Co., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

The first "don't" to keep in mind is that it is not customer satisfaction for which companies should strive, it is market satisfaction. We believe that the term "customer satisfaction" is a misnomer, as any such project should include non-customers and former customers. In addition, your company's performance should be measured vis-a-vis your competitors'. The essence of a satisfaction effort should be to assess market perceptions of your company and to determine ways in which your company can improve the products and services that it offers to all market segments.Based on our experience involving market satisfaction studies, we offer the following guidelines. (The following list of do's and don'ts has been developed over the last 10 years and is based on actual trial-and-error experience.)Do's:1. Use an unbiased sample. When designing the sample, it is essential that once potential respondent lists are developed (i.e., customers, non-customers, former customers) a random selection process is used. This will ensure that the results are not biased by any particular group of respondents. For example, if top-tier customers are targeted for interviewing, the results surely would be biased by the level of service often provided to such customers.2. Use of the voice of the customer. It is essential that the evaluation criteria against which supplier's performance will be measured are based on the terminology used in the marketplace. "Do not speak research language," says Mark Daniels, market research analyst with Motorola's Paging Products Group, "speak the customer's language." The criteria should reflect all the elements that are part of the purchasing process and reflect the thought process of the respondents. Internal company terminology should not be used during the interviewing process.3. Pre-test all interview outlines. ...