CRI Turns 50! Our History

In 1967 Kathy Dunkle walked into a Seattle area auto dealership desperately seeking work. There were no job openings, but the general manager, impressed with her talents, created a position for her delivering flowers to new vehicle buyers. At the time, no one suspected what would come of these deliveries. But as the customers Kathy visited shared their purchase experiences with her - both positive and negative -  the dealership came to recognize the incredible value of the information she brought back each night, and soon a plan was developed to gather feedback from every customer.

As Kathy called through stacks of completed service department repair orders, she quickly discovered how often a bad experience led customers to take their business elsewhere, and how often a polite follow-up call, beginning with a thank you, could lead to repeat and referral business.  Some customers even thought the calls were a hoax, as they had never in their lives been asked about a product or service experience.

Kathy knew she was on to something big. It was clear that customer feedback could be crucial to success. It could be an incredible tool for improving service and boosting business. Kathy saw that what she had learned at a single dealership would be of great value to auto dealers throughout Seattle and beyond, all of whom would be eager to benefit from similar insights.  Shortly thereafter she formed Customer Research, Inc. (CRI), the nation’s first customer satisfaction follow-up company, serving the automotive industry.

Since 1967, customer satisfaction indexing (CSI) has become the industry standard for measuring the success of auto dealerships and service departments. At the time, monitoring customer satisfaction was not a well understood concept. Today, every manufacturer, retailer, and automotive service entity in America tracks CSI closely as an accepted part of doing business.  And that small business that was born of Kathy Dunkle delivering flowers has - over 50 years - grown into a leading provider of CSI, customer loyalty, reputation enhancement, and revenue generating marketing solutions across the globe.