Barbarian Days is the best book I’ve ever read. It won a Pulitzer and was featured on Barrack Obama’s summer reading list. Yet it has attracted plenty of criticism. Some reviewers on Goodreads complain about all the surfing, for example. The subtitle is “A surfing life.”

Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has sold in the millions and is often described as the greatest novel ever written, but you wouldn’t know it from the reviews. A quarter of people rate this book three stars or less — it’s too long and boring. The average score is just four stars.

If these ratings were for businesses their CX teams would be concerned. To placate their detractors they might introduce Barbarian Days Sans Surfing — a more customer centric read with less watersports. Or Anna K-Lite — Tolstoy for the terminally impatient. But this would be absurd.

Expanding your customer base — the means by which businesses grow — and maximizing satisfaction scores are mutually incompatible goals. The more people you serve, the broader their needs and expectations, and the harder it is to keep everyone happy all the time, something to consider when comparing your brand with others. If might be that lower satisfaction scores than rivals are a reflection of your success, not a sign of impending doom.

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