A comparative analysis of customer satisfaction and user experience in a large organization: The gap between quality and emotion

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of customer satisfaction and user experience within large-scale organizations, focusing specifically on firms listed in the BIST30—the thirty largest companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST30). Employing qualitative research methods, the study investigates the nuanced relationship between these companies and their consumers, highlighting both functional satisfaction and experiential engagement. The findings indicate generally positive customer satisfaction outcomes, particularly across dimensions such as price–quality performance, customer relations, and return guarantees. However, a striking insight emerges: a pervasive absence of emotional resonant user experiences. Among the companies studied, only one—operating a single boutique hotel under a larger conglomerate—demonstrates a capacity to establish meaningful emotional connections with its clientele. This disjunction between strong customer satisfaction and weak user experience indicates a predominant focus on transactional efficiency at the expense of emotional engagement. The success of the exceptional case is constrained by limited scalability, relatively high pricing, and lack of consistency, highlighting the broader challenge of large corporations in delivering personalized, emotionally impactful experiences.

Keywords

• Customer satisfaction
• User experience
• Scalability
• Large firms

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