Britain’s Market Research Society (MRS) and publisher Kogan Page continue their fine series of market research books with two new titles. The first, Researching Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty, does an outstanding job of answering or at least touching on nearly every question you might have as you contemplate a satisfaction research program.

The realms of customer satisfaction/loyalty/relationship management seem particularly rife with authors and theorists who spout their grand ideas with precious little idea of how much work it will take to build the programs they champion. No such danger here. Author Paul Szwarc has worked on both the client and provider side and thus brings a well-rounded view to his writing.

Don’t get me wrong - theory is certainly important and provides a useful framework. Szwarc does devote a short chapter to theories and strategies of measuring satisfaction, offering a brief look at approaches such as Six Sigma and Simalto. But the bulk of the book is grounded in the real world. Chapters cover: the use of qualitative and quantitative techniques to research satisfaction; the process of developing an internal satisfaction research process and finding the right vendors; sampling; and the all-important analysis and reporting of the findings. Also instructive is the chapter that looks at the satisfaction process from the consumer’s point of view. It’s crucial to keep the respondent in mind throughout the research process, by making questionnaires fun and interesting and by respecting respondents’ time and privacy.

Customer relationship management is among the topics explored in the other new MRS title, Customer Insight. Using the term “insight” as a catch-all, the 11 chapters (each written by a variety of authors) cast a wide net, looking beyond the “mere” measurement of satisfaction and exploring how customer insights are obtained. In addition to research, the book looks at database marketing, loyalty programs and customer care initiatives. I found the how-to chapters on organizing and managing consumer insight programs and processes most interesting and potentially helpful to readers, as they provide useful benchmarks against which to compare your own firm’s internal processes.

Shades of gray

Like many other management trends and fads over the years, the loyalty movement rests on a number of beliefs, most of them proffered and regurgitated by loyalty proponents themselves until they become unquestioned truths. But in any truth there are usually shades of gray.

The new book Loyalty Myths  examines some of these long-held “truths” and, as the situation warrants, refutes, debunks or clarifies them.

Customer loyalty is certainly an admirable pursuit, but it is not the cure-all many make it out to be. It is difficult to achieve, hard to measure, and, as the book shows, is not a sure guidepost to corporate success. One of the main takeaways is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for creating loyalty. What works for one firm may not work for another - something many of the loyalty pundits seem to conveniently overlook. In addition, customers in all industries are fickle. Their actions and motivations can change in an instant.

Authors Tim Keiningham, Terry Vavra, Lerzan Aksoy and Henri Wallard candidly admit they have perpetuated a myth or two themselves (as has this publication), such as the statement that it costs five times more to acquire a customer than to retain a customer. But by dispelling some of the fallacies surrounding the loyalty movement, and offering in the closing chapter some guidelines to properly manage customer loyalty, their aim is to help readers ask the right questions and frame their search for information and, ultimately, build their own program on a series of truths rather than myths.

Researching Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty (258 pages; $37.50), by Paul Szwarc, and Customer Insight (288 pages; $32.50), by Merlin Stone, Alison Bond and Bryan Foss, are published by Kogan Page (www.kogan-page.co.uk ). Loyalty Myths (254 pages; $24.95) by Timothy Keiningham, Terry Vavra, Lerzan Aksoy and Henri Wallard, is published by Wiley (www.wiley.com ).