Customer satisfaction as a quantifiable criterion for the product improvement process

In product development projects in a collaborative environment, it is not uncommon for professionals to work toward goals that do not result in successful, competitive products. One way of avoiding this problem is to employ objective indicators to represent the product´s competitiveness and facilitate communication in the project team. This article proposes a Customer Satisfaction indicator for this purpose, which is especially useful for product improvement projects. This indicator makes it possible to (1) simulate Customer Satisfaction at a future date based on the modifications being proposed today and (2) verify how much the technical characteristics of a product actually contribute to Customer Satisfaction. It facilitates communication among professionals from different backgrounds, especially in a collaborative product development process. Practical applications are introduced, simulated and discussed.