What is gap analysis in snap?

Gap analysis shows the difference between how important attributes are to your respondents and how satisfied they are with those attributes. It is a really useful way of comparing the results from your satisfaction and importance questions and allows for easy interpretation.

By comparing importance and satisfaction scores on your chart you can use gap analysis to identify priorities for improvement.

Gap analysis indicates that if the satisfaction bar is shorter than the importance one the company may have a problem!

Gap analysis chart

Interpreting the gap analysis chart:

A 5-point scale has been used on this questionnaire for both importance and satisfaction ratings from 1 to 5. (1= totally dissatisfied to 5= totally satisfied) and (1= not at all important to 5 = extremely important). The chart tells us how important various aspects of service are to customers, compared with how satisfied customers actually are with particular attributes e.g. helpdesk and users guide. The gap is the mean score for the satisfaction rating subtracted from the mean score for the importance rating, e.g. Q5c-Q3c.

The table on the following page gives an interpretation of the findings in the chart. To summarise, if the mean score of a service is positive – above zero, then respondents’ rate the service very important but they are not satisfied with the service they are receiving. In this instance, action is required. If the gap is below zero, negative, this indicates over achievement; respondents’ rate this attribute relatively unimportant, but are very satisfied with the service. In this instance no action/improvement is required. The closer the gap is to zero the better balance there is between importance and satisfaction.


If there is a topic you would like a worksheet on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com