profitable customer satisfaction

While some studies have acknowledged a positive correlation between customer satisfaction and profitability (Anderson et al., 1994), others have found the relationship to be very weak and /or insignificant. For example, Bernhardt et al. (2000) have found no significant relationship between customer satisfaction and profitability. Consequently, customer satisfaction is critical to retail success but success is a function of “profitable customer satisfaction”.

Anderson, E.W., Fornell, C., Rust, R.T. (1997), "Customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability: differences between goods and services", Marketing Science, Vol. 16 No.2, pp.129-45.
Bernhardt, K., Donthu, N., Kennet, P. (2000), "The relationship among customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and profitability: a longitudinal analysis of satisfaction and profitability", Journal of Business Research, Vol. 47 No.February, pp.161-71.