Customer satisfaction has a huge impact on the success of your business. Customers are great advocates for your brand, they give you repeat business and they really want you to succeed in the market. Without satisfied customers, you won’t have loyal customers. Without customer loyalty, you may not have long-lasting customers. They will switch to your competitors or the next best option when they can. Customer satisfaction and loyalty saves you money. It costs 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one.
Low satisfaction levels mean your customer retention and loyalty levels are likely to be low too. This is also a sign of poor customer service – a huge problem that costs businesses up to 62 billion dollars a year!
To make sure you have happy and loyal customers and to increase this number, you should work towards increasing customer satisfaction KPIs.
According to the book Marketing Metrics, businesses have a 60-70% chance of selling to existing customers, but only a 5-20% chance of selling to new customers.
With this in mind, can you afford to deliver a poor customer experience? We’ve put together this comprehensive list of 33 great customer service tips that show you how to improve your customer satisfaction levels and increase loyalty.
- Create Unforgettable Customer Experiences (1-13)
- Provide Fast, Convenient Customer Support (14-20)
- Make an Irresistible Offer (21-27)
- Make Feedback Part of Your Brand (28-33)
Create Unforgettable Customer Experiences
Unique customer experiences are an important element of getting people to trust your brand and buy from you. A Wunderman study reveals that around 79% of consumers only choose to do business with a brand that shows they genuinely care about them.
And given that customer experience will overtake price and product as the main brand differentiator by 2020, it has a growing impact on customer satisfaction. Which means it’s best to start focusing on delivering great experiences to your customers.
So let’s get started:
1. Customer Satisfaction is a Strategic Asset
The American Customer Satisfaction Index defines customer satisfaction as a strategic company asset that must be optimized. Satisfaction should not be maximized, but also not ignored; optimization is key. Companies succeed by meeting customers’ expectations of satisfaction through quality, value and addressing complaints. The focus should then be on managing the optimization of satisfaction according to customer expectations and the company resources used.
It is important to understand the optimization of customer satisfaction as there is a complex and ultimately negative relationship between satisfaction and market share. That is, while high and increasing customer satisfaction in small companies leads to market share growth, it becomes more difficult to maintain high satisfaction as market share grows. This is because a larger market share usually brings with it a more heterogeneous customer base and more diverse customer behavior. This makes it more difficult to maintain high satisfaction.
2. Understand What Customers Expect
What demands do customers have regarding their experience with companies? Let’s start with the misnomer of skyrocketing expectations. Over the past 12 years, using ACSI data, customer expectations have been relatively stable at a macro level (across industries and companies), scoring between 79 and 82 on a 100-point scale (with 100 representing the highest expectations). It now appears that companies in the automobile industry, such as BMW, Mercedes and Toyota, always have well above average (>90) expectations of their customers to manage.
Despite consistent expectations across industries, the popular choice for many businesses is to aim higher and higher and at least “always exceed customer expectations.” Is this the future trend in customer expectations? In practice, this is a flawed argument. Because companies should avoid promising to “always exceed expectations” because such a strategy is not sustainable. Companies can and should delight the customer with a great experience, but with realistic goals.
You may interest: What is brand communication?
3. Stay Around and Be Loyal
Customer loyalty to the brands, products and services they buy has increased over the last 12 years. Interestingly, millennials (born 1981-1996) are among the most loyal customers across generations, trailing only the Silent Generation (born 1928-1945), whose numbers are declining. Google and Publix, very different in terms of focus, have high loyalty as perceived by their customers (the average value range over the last 12 years is between 73 and 77; the most loyal is 100).
Trying to earn loyalty across generations and sectors is powerful. ACSI data shows that customers who experience a problem and complain but receive successful complaint handling have above-average loyalty. Near-perfect handling of complaints often results in stronger loyalty than the loyalty of customers with a problem-free experience. But connecting the dots correctly requires what we call “cause and effect” dynamics. This is something that more coarse-grained assessments cannot do with the same reliability and validity.
4. Satisfied Customers Increase Funding
Customer satisfaction should be seen as a strategic company asset that must be optimized, not maximized and certainly not ignored; we’ve already started with that! But customer satisfaction can only be a strategic asset if it affects the financial performance of the company. Numerous scientific studies reveal that the cause-and-effect relationship between customer satisfaction and financial performance is extremely strong.
As evidenced using time series data over the last 30 years, customer satisfaction has been shown to be a positive determinant of stock market performance, reliably outperforming the S&P 500. Satisfaction affects numerous accounting and financial performance factors that are attractive to companies, such as productivity. Market share, revenue, sales growth, cash flows, profitability, return on investment (ROI), cost of capital, stock price, shareholder value, stock market risk and more.
5. Address Your Customers by Name
One of the best ways to deliver a more personal customer experience is to use the customer’s name, whether face-to-face, on the phone, via email or when preparing customer surveys. A friendlier approach that doesn’t feel forced humanizes the consumer-business interaction.
Take the example of Starbucks, one of the top brands with a high NPS score and billions of dollars in revenue. Starbucks employees always address their customers by name when greeting them, ordering their drinks or thanking them for their visit, in order to build the foundation for a long-lasting relationship based on recognition, which is considered the foundation of excellent customer service.
Remember that research shows that people are normally very happy when they hear their name being called. And let’s not forget Dale Carnegie’s famous advice from his book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (a very popular book on business communication skills):
“Names are the sweetest and most important sounds in any language.”
6. Always Send Personalized Messages/Responses
When a customer signs up for your free trial or purchases your product, do you reach out with a personalized email or do you send a generic opt-in sequence?
Automated onboarding sequences are great for helping users familiarize themselves with the product, especially if it has a steep learning curve. But they are far from personal and don’t welcome users the way a personal message can.
When a customer buys your product, signs up for your free trial or sends a question, get in touch personally and ask how you can help them. Even if most customers don’t accept your offer of help, they will appreciate the gesture and have a more favorable impression of your business.
Moreover, first impressions are the most lasting. That’s why it’s important to start on the right foot and keep the momentum going in order to build long-lasting relationships with your customers.
Research conducted by Experian Marketing Services shows that personalized emails
- Have 29% higher open rates
- Get 41% higher click-through rates
- Offer 6x more transaction rates
And nearly 96% of marketers say that this type of personalization improves customer relationships.
So how do you personalize the messages you send to your customers?
Obviously, first of all, it is to use the recipient’s name when addressing them. If you know that the customer is located in a different country, you can also send the message in the customer’s native language. But you should only do this if you are sending a message that the customer is not expected to reply to.
- Other ways to consider:
- Using a friendly, informal or familiar tone and writing style
Using a personalized email to send the message instead of a generic corporate email (just “john@business.com” instead of “brandname@business.com”)
7. Provide Customers with Personal, Old-School Communication
In an age where everything is automated, being a little old school can have huge benefits for your business.
Paul Graham’s famous advice on doing things that don’t scale is as valuable for increasing your customer satisfaction as it is for gaining customers. Your customers will notice that you offer a service that doesn’t scale, from phone support for your best customers to letters and holiday cards.
You should never underestimate the power of thanking your customers for doing business with you. We’re not talking about placing a banner on your homepage that says it. Remember, around 60% of businesses lose a customer because they feel the brand is being too “indifferent” to them.
Thank you notes help you show your customers how much you care about them and that your brand sees them as people, not just a source of profit.
That’s why you should send thank you notes to your customers whenever possible. If your budget allows, consider sending your products with individual thank you notes. If your business has a subscription-based model, simply mail the notes to your customers.
Make sure the notes are customized and signed by hand. Don’t just email or print out a generic note typed into Microsoft Word. Make sure to personalize the cards. Handwrite the customer’s name and make sure the signature follows the same logic. Also customize the tone, look and writing style of the card to reflect your brand.
Remember that the right way to write thank you notes can generate word-of-mouth advertising for your business. How? It’s quite simple: Customers receive the notes, are pleasantly surprised and post a picture (or more) of the note online for all their social media followers to see.
One last idea: consider sending holiday cards, especially on more “unique” holidays like Groundhog Day. It makes you stand out even more.
8. Turn Customer Mistakes into Memorable Experiences
Sometimes it is the customer who makes a mistake, not the company. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to find a solution, even if it’s the customer’s fault. It shows people how much your brand cares about consumers and really pleasantly surprises the customer who made a mistake.
Warby Parker is a great example of turning a customer mistake into a great customer success story. Basically, a customer forgot his glasses on the train and the person sitting opposite him took them back. This person – Anjali Kumar – was also a Senior Manager at Warby Parker.
In addition to retrieving the glasses, Anjali went the extra mile and sent an extra pair of new glasses (saying they noticed the original lenses were a little scratched) and a personalized note.
The result. The customer in question wrote about the event online and it became so popular that it became a hit story in Forbes.
So let your employees know that if they see an opportunity to correct a customer’s mistake in a way that really benefits the company’s image, they should go ahead and do it, even if it’s not during working hours. Just make sure you set a budget for things like this.
In terms of budget, you should also consider that providing memorable experiences doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot, but also investing emotionally through compassion and thoughtfulness. You don’t need to wait for a mistake to take action. You can turn a special but tiring day in your customer’s life into an unforgettable experience with your company.
A perfect example is the way United Airlines treated a customer on a flight to Arizona to meet his birth mother. There is no doubt that it was a truly emotional day for Jason Dorn and the airline went above and beyond from start to finish to make this challenging journey better with kind words, a glass of wine and even a gift on the return.
The customer shared his experience on social networks, thanking United Airlines for encouraging its employees to go the extra mile for their customers. This task, of course, did not go unnoticed and gave the company (current and former employees) a great opportunity to communicate and support their customers online and be proud to be part of the airline’s team. Here is a sample of those comments:
9. Reward Loyal Customers
Modern consumers want personalization. This is what drives more sales and customer loyalty. In general, the best way to offer them a personalized experience is to run a loyalty program, as it will make it easier for you to collect relevant customer data. If we analyze the data from customer loyalty programs we will see that about 79% of consumers are more satisfied with programs that offer a high degree of personalization.
So the goal is to surprise loyal customers with an experience they won’t soon forget, an experience that really suits their tastes.
For example, let’s say you run a brewery. You could reward your long-term customers who promote your brand online with free beer delivered to their doorstep. But why not surprise them with a tour of your brewery instead?
Alternatively, you could offer them free beer. But you can make the whole experience more meaningful by customizing the labels with each customer’s photos, names or other relevant information.
The end result will probably be the same in both cases. You will greatly boost your brand’s image and enjoy word-of-mouth advertising online.
This is just one example, and you can approach it in any way you think is more suitable for your business.
10. Don’t Ignore Your Passives
When brands conduct NPS surveys, respondents are categorized into three types based on their answers. Promoters are customers who score 9 or 10 on their willingness to recommend a brand’s products or services to loved ones and colleagues. Detractors are those who score 6 or lower and are at risk of leaving. They will switch to a brand’s competitors at the next opportunity. Passives are interlopers; they rate you a 7 or 8. Many brands are guilty of ignoring their passives, mostly because they don’t promote your brand or badmouth it. But focusing on passives should be a priority for all brands. With a few improvements to your customer operations and processes, they can become your advocates.
11. Experience the Journey Yourself
There are various touchpoints your customers will interact with before, during or after the purchase. Why not experience this for yourself? Sign up for a demo; see how it goes. Register a complaint, record the turnaround time. Once you know all of this first-hand, you will know which areas need improvement. This will improve customer experience and customer satisfaction by making your processes and operations efficient.
12. Train Your Teams
Well-trained teams are better at handling and resolving customer issues. Trained customer service has better records and significantly increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. A recent survey of US-based customers found that 69% of them said that customer service is extremely important to their loyalty to a brand.
13. Measure customer satisfaction regularly
A study by Bain & Company reveals the following:
Companies with a customer experience mindset increase revenue 4-8% more than other industries.
So how do you know your customer satisfaction scores?
The first step is to measure customer satisfaction. As a result, you can gain valuable insights into areas for improvement. But also find out what works.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Ask how likely customers are to recommend you and predict repeat purchases and referrals.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
See if your customers are satisfied with your product or service.
CES (Customer Effort Score)
Measure the ease of doing business with your company with the Customer Effort Score survey.
By conducting these three customer surveys, you can understand the drivers for improving customer satisfaction.
For example, imagine that you know what your customers complain about. You also know what they like about your products or services. Isn’t it easier to make them happy then?
Suppose a customer mentions slow response times when giving a low CSAT score. You know you will need more people in your support team!
Provide Fast, Convenient Customer Support
Consumers today expect a quick and reasonable response when they encounter a problem with your products/services or have a question about your brand. Think about it; nowadays people often don’t enjoy a lot of free time. Therefore, having to spend even half an hour dealing with customer support can seriously damage customer satisfaction levels.
Speculation aside, research backs up this claim. According to Forrester, 73% of US online adults claim that the best thing a brand can do to offer them excellent customer support is to “value their time”.
Here are a few tips for that:
14. Ensure Employee Satisfaction
Employee experience and customer experience are inextricably linked. Engaged employees are known to go above and beyond to deliver an excellent customer experience. Recognize your employees, reward their efforts, provide them with a great working environment and enrich your customer experience.
15. Offer Multi-Channel Support
How easy is it for your customers to contact you? One of the most common complaints from SaaS customers is that it can take days to get in touch with the support team (especially a real, live person), after which they already call and find answers to their questions or cancel the service.
If you’re not familiar with the idea of omnichannel support, it basically means having a presence and a customer experience strategy on any channel where your customers are active.
Consumers today use multiple channels and devices to shop. It’s more convenient and easier for them and your support strategy needs to cover all of this.
For example, if you run a chain of retail stores, your strategy should include
- Personal interactions with staff
- Social media support (platforms used by your customers)
- Email support
- Phone support
- Live chat support
All this is done to ensure that the customer has a seamless experience regardless of the channel they use.
Around 64% of consumers expect you to offer them access to real-time support, regardless of the channel they use. Another study shows that 90% of consumers want a consistent experience across all channels and devices during vacation.
In terms of profitability, a strong omnichannel approach has the potential to increase your revenue by about 9.5% year over year. At the same time, companies that offer efficient omnichannel support retain an average of 89% of their customers.
16. Reduce Waiting Times
Longer waiting times significantly lower customer satisfaction scores. It is the brand’s responsibility to plan and hire support staff. You cannot offer your customers excuses such as high call volume, finding a solution on the first call, shortage of staff, holiday season, etc. You need to anticipate such situations and plan your measures accordingly.
17. Respond on Social Media
When customers contact your brand on social media to ask for support, make a complaint or ask a question, they’re not just doing it because it’s easy and convenient. They’re also doing it because they expect a quick response.
According to various data, around 42% of consumers expect a response from your brand within 60 minutes of making a complaint. 32% expect a response within 30 minutes! Hubspot’s data says something similar; about 72% of customers who complain on Twitter want a response from the company within an hour.
If you don’t respond in time, people are likely to complain to their friends and social media followers. Moreover, platforms like Facebook make it easy for users to see what your average response time is.
Overall, it’s in your best interest to have one employee focus solely on monitoring and responding to social media comments or, if possible, an entire department. It will clearly increase customer satisfaction and apparently increase customer advocacy.
Make it as easy as possible for your customers to contact you and you will notice an improvement in their perception of you. Email software provider Ontraport does a great job of this by listing their 800 support number at the top of their support pages.
If you offer live chat support, list the hours on your website so that users always know when they can and cannot contact you. If you take more than 24 hours to respond to emails, let users know as soon as they contact you so there is no confusion.
Most customers will tolerate a slower than average response and understand that it will take time to resolve issues. But you only do this if you let them know. Make your support process as transparent and easy as possible. That way you’ll have happier customers who feel genuinely cared about.
You may interest: Respond to DMs and Comments
18. Use Non-General Automated Responses
Automated replies are a good idea because they give customers a clear confirmation that their message has been received. Some people may feel that their requests or questions have not been fulfilled if they do not receive such confirmation.
But don’t fall into the trap of using flat automated responses. Make them more interesting and engaging by adding some personality to the mix. Make the subject line more friendly, like “Hi, thanks for getting in touch” instead of “We’ve received your support request. We’ll take care of it.”
Also, if the software allows, use your customer’s name in the response. And for emails, don’t forget to thank your customers in the subject line or in the body of the email.
Then make sure one of your employees follows up with the customer. Ideally, they should follow up before the deadline promised by the auto-reply. For example, if the response says you will get back to your customers within 24 hours, do it within 3-5 hours.
Basically the idea is to use the software to make under-promises and then have a human employee over-deliver. This is a sure way to increase customer satisfaction and trust in your brand.
Whenever possible, use automated replies on social media as well and follow the same strategy. Facebook, for example, offers such a feature.
19. Offer Self-Help Options
Some modern consumers would rather help themselves than go through a customer support agent or process. According to a Zendesk survey of 7,000 respondents, about 53% of people think it is more important to be able to solve their service-related problems on their own.
One way to offer self-help features is to provide access to an in-depth Knowledge Base or FAQ section. See what the most common complaints and questions are and answer them with detailed articles and step-by-step tutorials.
After all, 91% of people would be happy to use a single online Knowledge Base tailored to their needs. In addition, the use of help and FAQ sections among US adults has increased to 81%.
You can even combine the FAQ/Knowledge Base section with the auto-reply we discussed above. Link it to the email body so that customers can check it if they want until you get back to them. They can actually find the solution they need.
Another thing you can try is using a support chatbot. About 57% of respondents to the Hubspot survey confirmed that they are interested in the idea of working with a chatbot. And according to IBM, chatbots can help reduce customer service costs by up to 30%.
20. Offer 24/7 Customer Support
Given how important it is to offer fast response rates to consumers, it is clear that the only way to do this is to have a dedicated customer support team or department working 24/7, especially if you have a large customer base.
The best way to offer this kind of support is to hire multiple customer representatives and have them work in shifts. If you don’t have a big enough budget, you should also consider outsourcing customer support positions to freelancers in your country or abroad. This will save you money on renting office space.
Using a support chatbot can help with this, but you shouldn’t always rely on it. The Knowledge Base/SSS sections we discussed earlier can also help with the “24/7 feel”.
Live chat features are also useful because they allow agents to work remotely and thus be available more often.
In addition, consumers like the idea of live chat and it has the potential to increase your company’s revenue. In fact, according to ICMI, website visitors who use live chat are 4.5 times more valuable than those who don’t.
Make an Irresistible Offer
One of the mistakes many business owners make when it comes to the topics we will discuss in this chapter is thinking that they are making compromises and sacrifices that will hurt the brand financially.
In reality, providing consumers with an “irresistible offer” is about reducing purchase anxiety in various ways to help them trust your services and products more easily. So they will be much more likely to buy from you instead of your competitors.
Here are a few tips to help you with this:
21. Quality Performance Matters
How have customers’ perceptions of quality evolved (brands, products and services)? What matters in this context is what constitutes quality. Quality as measured under the ACSI refers to reliability and customizability, but customizability dominates reliability as a driver of satisfaction. At a macro level, for the past 12 years, quality has ranged from 79 to 83 on a 100-point scale (100 being the highest quality). For example, Quaker has impressive scores for overall quality, while BMW and Publix top in product and service quality respectively.
In the absence of an increase in perceived quality for many companies, a key issue going forward is likely to be strategies to improve satisfaction. Contrary to what executives often think, quality trumps price. More generally, quality is a driver of customer satisfaction in most economic sectors and industries.
22. Satisfaction is Never Guaranteed
The ACSI score is a scientific assessment of customer satisfaction based on a cause-and-effect system that aims to understand the customer experience, the customer journey and the health of customer-company relationships. ACSI collects customer satisfaction data on an ongoing basis and makes it publicly available periodically. Amazon , Clorox and Heinz are good examples of companies that regularly score high on ACSI’s customer satisfaction index. Also Chick-fil-A, “Fast Food Restaurant” sector has been at its peak for nearly the last decade.
More broadly, satisfaction is a key predictor of macroeconomic growth in a national economy and changes in that country’s economy. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the US economy (GDP), and 30 percent of spending growth in subsequent quarters is driven by increased customer satisfaction. The average range of customer satisfaction as measured by ACSI is 73-77 over the past 12 years, with 100 representing the most satisfied customers.
24. Offer a bulletproof guarantee
The riskier it is for a customer to buy your product, the more a guarantee can help reassure your customers that you care about their experience.
If you sell a physical product, you can reduce customers’ risk by offering a guarantee that the product will meet their expectations. The more customers feel protected against risk, the more likely they are to view your brand (and by extension, your product) favorably.
Brands like JanSport have taken this to the extreme by offering lifetime warranties on many of their products. While your warranty doesn’t have to be for life, proving that you stand by your customers goes a long way in creating a positive feeling.
We’ve already talked about making the refund policy easier to understand by using basic terms. But if you want, you can go the extra mile and add your own brand voice to the text.
For example, if your target audience consists of average, laid-back 20-40 year olds, you can use more friendly, direct and personal language to explain the terms of the money-back guarantee.
At the same time, you should consider adding extra text to the refund policy page letting people know that they can always rely on your customer support if they encounter a problem, and link to the appropriate pages. You could even ensure that a customer support or live chat prompt pops up when people want to request a refund.
25. Provide a Trial Period
In the early days of SaaS, businesses quickly discovered that a free trial takes the guesswork and risk out of buying a product. Today, startups aren’t debating the value of a free trial; they’re debating which trial period is most effective.
With a free trial, potential customers worry less about buyer’s remorse and risky investments since no upfront payment is required.
A few things to note about free trials:
- Don’t ask people for their credit card details when registering a trial account.
- If possible, allow consumers to open a trial account using their social media accounts. This is much easier for them.
- Don’t set any limitations; let trial users enjoy as many features as possible. This way they can experience the real value of your product/service.
- Don’t be too aggressive in promoting your subscriptions during the trial period. You can have a “Pricing/Upgrade” tab in the trial version or inform users to upgrade to the paid version only when their trial period is almost over.
Combine a properly done free trial with a reasonable refund policy and you have a pretty powerful way to motivate people to try your products and services.
Also, in the case of eCommerce products, you can offer clear demo videos of the products you sell as trials don’t work very well. Make sure the videos show everything such as how the product looks from different angles, how it works, how to assemble it, how big it is and other relevant information.
26. Try to Offer Free Return Shipping
Many retailers are often on the fence about it because they think they’ll lose money if the customer has to cover shipping costs or return it.
But the reality is completely different; according to research, 88% of consumers claim that free returns shipping has a big impact on their purchasing decisions. In addition, 67% of respondents to a survey said that free returns would encourage them to buy more online.
Some people think that this policy can be easily abused. However, this can be avoided by implementing a proper refund policy that clearly states the eligibility requirements.
In the worst case scenario, if you are a smaller business or have a tighter budget, you can only offer free returns shipping for certain products, not all of them. After all, even Amazon doesn’t offer free returns shipping for every product it sells.
27. Experiment with Discounts
Discounts are always a great incentive to get people to buy from you. According to Shopify’s own research, merchants who offer active discount codes are 8 times more likely to make a sale.
You can have a page on your website where you display the first-time buyer discount code as well as the monthly code or other discount codes for that matter. You can also send emails to your customers to inform them about various discounts.
Another thing you can try is giving away gifts. This can work really well if you offer a subscription-based service. For example, customers can win an extra month of free service or a subscription that they can share with friends and family. You can also drive a lot of social media engagement by getting users to share posts about the giveaway.
Free shipping is another thing that consumers tend to perceive as a ‘discount’. Because with it, the overall price will also be lower. Remember – 9 out of 10 consumers say free shipping is the #1 incentive to shop online.
Make Feedback Part of Your Brand
Customer feedback is one of the most important assets your business can have. It can tell you a lot about your customer satisfaction levels, as feedback is a clear indicator of how satisfied consumers are with your brand, services and products overall.
Customer feedback can also help you improve your services and products and give you data that can help you make the right business decisions. Taking it seriously also shows consumers how much you value their opinions.
What’s more, according to a Gartner survey, companies that implemented customer experience-focused projects in 2015 started by collecting and analyzing consumer feedback. Therefore, in order to provide a great experience for your customers, you first need to know their opinions, complaints and suggestions.
With that in mind, here’s how you can make your business more feedback-driven:
28. Actively Solicit Feedback from Customers
Don’t just wait for customers to leave feedback; be proactive and ask them for feedback when you have the opportunity. Send them a survey after the purchase or engage with your support team to find out how satisfied they are with your business.
You can also run social media polls asking customers to indicate which part of their interaction with your brand they liked the most and what improvements they would like to see. Whenever you want to introduce a new feature, product or service, be sure to conduct surveys to gauge your customers’ reactions and expectations. Why? Because it’s a surefire way to increase customer satisfaction levels once you’ve launched.
Think about it; you will be sure that people will be willing to pay for what you are offering. This will reduce the risk of a new investment on your behalf. And your customers will be happy not only because they will get something that really fits their needs, but also because you understand how valuable their contribution is.
In this context, it is worth mentioning the term Voice of the Customer, as it represents the needs, desires and dislikes of your target customers. Basically, it is data that helps you offer your customers the solution they really need, not just an average product or service.
Net Promoter Score © surveys are also a great way to ask for valuable feedback. If you are not familiar with them, they are basically 1-question surveys that ask customers how willing they are to recommend your business, products and services to others on a scale from 0 to 10. The questions can also be open-ended if you want to get more in-depth feedback from customers.
Depending on how people respond, they can be segmented into
- Promoters (loyal customers who promote your brand)
- Passives (customers who need extra effort to be loyal)
- Detractors (lost and upset customers)
With this type of information you can collect more relevant feedback. For example, addressing Detractors and Passives constructively
29. Share Feedback Across Departments
It is not enough for only your frontline employees to collect, analyze and respond to customer feedback. Such information should be shared with all employee departments, including management.
What if the main customer complaints are about a problem that can only be solved if management gives the product development team permission to work on it? You will never meet customer needs if you don’t communicate feedback to the upper echelons in the company.
You should also consider encouraging people in management positions, or at least employees in senior positions, to take some time every month or every week to analyze the collected customer feedback and extract the main pain points and suggestions.
The main data can then be structured in different formats (infographic, video, pdf, etc.) and shared with other departments through company emails or newsletters. We recommend sticking to more visual content as it makes it more engaging for employees.
What’s the gain, you ask? Almost all your departments will know exactly what your customers expect from you. It will therefore be easier to coordinate their work.
30. Respond to All Feedback (Both Positive and Negative)
Getting positive reviews is always great for any business. But if you don’t also take the time to respond to these reviews, you won’t get the most out of them. After all, reviews and how you respond to them can affect your search engine rankings.
Google says that responding to reviews increases your business’ online visibility and makes potential customers more likely to visit or do business with you.
It’s also best if you or someone in management does it, as a response from someone higher up will mean more to consumers. Apparently 78% of consumers say that management responding to online reviews makes them feel like the brand cares more about them.
Make sure you respond to both positive and negative reviews. Either way, you should eventually thank the customer for taking the time to provide valuable feedback. When dealing with negative comments, make sure you also apologize. This can double customer satisfaction rather than offering them compensation.
If you are looking for more ideas on how to respond to comments, here are a few examples that might help you.
31. Appreciate Customers who Complain
Learn to appreciate customers who complain. Why? Logically, many companies view customer complaints negatively. Complaints can be annoying, time-consuming and require resources to deal with and handle. Companies that handle complaints perfectly create stronger customer loyalty. However, complaint management needs to be almost perfect for customers to come back and be at least as satisfied as before they complained.
Companies that take complaints seriously develop more competitive brands, products and services. In other words, complaints can be seen as positive! Unfortunately, many dissatisfied customers prefer not to complain. This can have unknown, long-term negative consequences for companies. On the positive side, we regularly see that Campbell’s and Levi’s have very few complaining customers. This is surprising because on average 12.8 percent of customers complain about different industries.
32. Focus on Common Complaints and Offer Solutions
This is something that your management team should address first and foremost. The idea here is that they should really take a close look at your customers’ feedback and identify 3-5 common, recurring complaints that people have.
NPS surveys are really useful in this case. Because to get the best results you should look at the common complaints of both Detractors (angry customers) and Passives (customers who like your brand but don’t “love” it).
Once the most common complaints have been identified, it’s time to prioritize them according to the frequency with which they are mentioned. It is of course better to solve the problem that most people complain about and mention the most. But you can also prioritize complaints that overlap with both Passive and Derogatory groups.
In case it’s a bit difficult to match complaints because the feedback is vague, try grouping them according to themes in improvement categories. For example, “speed up support responses,” “clarify Terms of Service terms,” or “streamline onboarding process.”
When issues are fully identified and prioritized, inform the relevant employee departments. Give them access to all the data they need in an engaging, easy-to-read/easy-to-watch format. Don’t forget to emphasize the sense of urgency in solving problems.
33. Build Communities
Building communities is a great way to handle customer service, promotional and marketing activities and address customer concerns. Having a community manager increases your social media presence and responsiveness. The community manager can monitor all conversations and keep conversations moving in the right direction. They can keep an eye on any product or service concerns and flag them to the team for timely resolution of the complaint. Communities are a great way to gather feedback on new product ideas and existing or upcoming products.
It is also important for your business to be at the forefront of your social media presence. If you want to improve in this area, you might be interested in this article: Instagram page layout
Yes, in this article we talked about how we can ensure customer satisfaction. I hope it was useful. If you are looking for more topics like this to improve your brand, Grower is always here for you. Good Luck!!!
