Step-by-Step Guide to Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction should be just as important as providing high-quality products and preserving profit margin. Unsatisfied customers lead to low retention rates and decreasing business revenue. Research shows that only 1 in 26 unhappy customers will complain while 91% of unsatisfied customers will simply choose to leave without providing any feedback. This means you need to make sure you keep your customers happy and you have a clear picture of your customer satisfaction score.

According to some studies, bringing in new customers is 5 to 25 times more expensive than keeping your current customers. This can only mean that it is wise to invest in your customer service team and train them to develop the right customer service skills that resonate with customers. Bad customer experiences are also clear indicators of customer churn. Customer churn is the rate at which paying customers leave your business and stop contributing to your business revenue.

In other words, bad experiences for your customers may affect your business more than you can imagine. If you want satisfied customers, you should get to know your customers and provide them the customer journey they want. Here is a step by step guide to customer satisfaction that can set the foundation for an impeccable relationship with your customers:

1. Collect customer feedback

The key to happy customers is to listen to your customers. Customer feedback is paramount for businesses that want to understand what the customer needs. Showing that you are interested in their opinion and reviews will make them feel valued and provide for direct interaction with them. The fastest way to collect customer feedback is through customer satisfaction surveys. Surveys provide a tool to measure customer satisfaction, discover your company’s strong points and identify the areas where you need to make improvements to meet your customer expectations.

While digital analytics would be a simpler way to get access to data about your customers, this tool doesn’t provide insights into the customer’s emotional responses. Customer satisfaction surveys allow for clear answers to clear questions and facilitate a better understanding of their journey. Follow-up customer surveys are always a good idea because they can capture the customer’s impressions and accurate opinions about their experience right after the interaction. Do not wait too long to send follow-up surveys. Time has a funny way of giving new dimensions to experiences!

2. Hire the right customer service staff

The key to an impressive customer satisfaction score is to have the right customer service staff to meet customer demands and mitigate any potential conflicts. A customer service department is vital for any business that relies on customer loyalty to grow and increase its business revenue. Your customer service employees should have the right skills and temperament to interact with the type of customers your company has. More importantly, they shouldn’t lack empathy! Customer empathy is vital for flawless customer interaction and facilitates the transition from negative feedback to a positive experience.

Your customer service team should reinforce positive interactions with customers and should not hesitate to go that extra mile to make sure your clients feel they have been heard, understood, and respected for their opinions. If you want to make sure you hire the right people for the job, you should consider adding emotional intelligence testing to the hiring process. Native abilities like intuition and calm play an important role in keeping a high customer satisfaction level.

3. Build customer profiles

Once you have the right customer service team in place, it will be easy to build accurate customer profiles that will allow better customer interaction and a higher level of customer retention. Customer success often depends on knowing what type of customer your customer service team will encounter. You can base your customer profiles on four personality types:

• analytical
• personal
• functional
• intuitive

Analytical customers appreciate facts and correct information and will never fall for an emotional approach to customer service. They need a clear response to their question and will value fast response times that prove they are dealing with trained professionals with specific expertise.

On the other hand, personal customers are looking for a two-way connection with the customer service representative. They value a positive interaction and appreciate a discussion that goes beyond their customer issues.

Functional customers have nothing against predefined scripts and are all for following clear steps. Predictability is expected and encouraged with this type of customer. And lastly, the intuitive customers are the ones that focus on results. They are not interested in interaction only in a solution to their issue. The process needs to be fast and on point.

4. Improve and personalize

Based on the results of your customer surveys and the feedback of your customer service team, you can take action to improve your products and/or services to better meet customer demands and expectations. Turn customer feedback into action and make changes that customers can notice and appreciate. Taking action following customer surveys lets the customers know their time was well spent when filling out the forms and their expectations were heard.

Another way to show that you value your customers and they matter to your business, is to personalize your interaction with them. Make sure you remember their name and use it correctly to create a friendly and safe space for them to communicate with you. If you want to go the extra mile and keep your customers happy, you can enrich your interaction with birthday cards and seasonal greetings that personalize and humanize the experience with your company.

Moreover, marketing campaigns are better received when they address the customer’s specific needs and if promoters have the right skills to make the client feel valued and important.

Customer success doesn’t depend only on the quality of your products or services. It relies heavily on keeping loyal customers interested and happy, and dealing with customer issues expediently, positively, and empathically. And for this, you need a customer service team that embraces challenges and is invested in providing the best customer experience!