Beyond Ease: Understanding the Effort–Satisfaction Gap in Dubai's Real Estate Customer Experience.

A data-driven examination of customer experience standards across Dubai's property investment industry, based on a 115-people primary survey using the NPS, CSAT and CES frameworks.

Sanketh Balaji

Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering

sankethbalaji.tsc@gmail.com

Dr. Ganesha K S

Assistant Professor

Department of Management Studies

Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering

ganeshaks@gmail.com

Abstract

Dubai's real estate market transacted AED 431 billion in the first half of 2025 alone, up 26 percent year on year, with active brokerage offices doubling to over 10,000 in the same period. Against this backdrop, this article draws on a structured survey of 115 property investors, using the Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) frameworks, to examine a paradox at the heart of Dubai's property investment industry: clients increasingly find the buying process easy, yet relatively few describe it as excellent. The survey recorded an NPS of 34.78, a good, industry-norm result, alongside a top-box CSAT of only 14.78 percent, even though the process itself was rated 4.20 out of 5 for ease. This chapter works through what that gap means using the Kano Model and the SERVQUAL framework, identifies unclear cost and legal information, silence after the sale, and a lack of visual proof as the three leading sources of friction, and models the financial case for closing them, an estimated 80 percent lift in customer lifetime value and a three-year return above 300 percent. It closes with a twelve-month implementation roadmap and a set of channel service standards for any Dubai-facing consultancy.

Keywords: customer experience, real estate, Net Promoter Score, customer satisfaction, customer effort score, Dubai property investment, service quality