Not completely bs... the reason why fast food, banks, and retails care so much about customer service is because customer service increase sales. Anybody who has any business acumen knows this. This is what independents thrive on... These surveys were done via millions of dollars worth of research, from external and internal (extracare card monitoring) data.
When we talk about customer service, we are talking about customer service that increases sales. For example, lets take a look at the front end. If a sales associate ask a customer if he needs help, this increases the average transaction by a dollar. That makes sense... because the customer finds what he needs... and not walk out. If the customer was walked to the item and handed the product, the customer will be more likely to purchase the item. This increases average transaction by 1.50. If the average transaction is 10 dollars, and they increase the average to 12.50... that is a 25 percent increase in sales.
yes... sales is driven through factors like locations, hours, and coupons... but when all is equal... customer service creates a differentiated environment where you will be more likely to go back when all things is equal, or spend more at the location with the better customer service because you found the detergent and don't have to get it later.
sample size is low..... which does goes back to things we can not control. However, you can add up sample size month to month..., and then add that sample size on the district, region, area, and company, and get a bigger picture of what is really going on.