How satisfied are your customers? Aside from running a poll or collecting feedback on a frequent basis, you can assess how customers engage with you. The volume of sales and frequency of orders can be massive indicators of how satisfied people are doing business with your company and whether you need to address any issues impacting this relationship.
While the customer isn’t always right, they are king, and without them, you won’t have a business to run. So, paying attention to how satisfied they are and how well you’re delivering on your promises can allow you to make changes where required to boost customer satisfaction and ensure that you are building positive relations that nurture mutually beneficial relationships.
So, how can you improve customer satisfaction?
Understand The Customer
Before you do anything else, you need to understand the customer, their needs, their pain points, and why they need what you’re selling. You need to glean as much information as possible to help you develop an in-depth picture of your customer base, who you are advertising to and who will benefit from what you provide. The more you understand the customer, the easier it will be for you to improve customer satisfaction rates and boost your customer service options to help you meet their needs and do exactly what they need you to do.
Put Yourself In The Customer’s Shoes
This can be really eye-opening. Being in the customer’s position can allow you to assess what you do and how you can do it better, as well as experience what the customer does.
Putting yourself in this position allows you to preempt any issues, answer any questions and determine the possible outcomes. For example, if you are onboarding new customers, it might be that they don’t fully understand the process, so sending over tutorials will allow them to set up accounts with ease can be beneficial; if you’re sending out products, it can be determining how they would like it to be shipped and the information they require so you can add this clearly to your website or order details with tracking options so they can know exactly what to expect when as soon as their purchase is shipped.
Ask for Feedback
Feedback is instrumental for all businesses because you won’t know what you’re doing right and where things are falling short without it. You can ask for feedback by sending out questionnaires after sales or at various points during their journey, and you can use this to help you get a better view of what you are doing right and where you need to make changes.
Remember, part of collecting feedback is acting on it and making the changes required to boost satisfaction—both the good and the bad.
And it’s never been easier to collect feedback, as a BrightLocal survey found that 68% of consumers are more than happy to leave feedback.
Offer MultiChannel Support
Gone are the days of one point of contact for your business, You need to make sure that you are offering multi-channel support so your customers can access what they need however they engage with your company. Typical options to cover can include
- Website support via live chat services
- Email support
- Social media support
- Phone support
The more avenues people offer to contact your company, the more satisfied they will be, as it is easier for them to engage with you and get what they need.
Offer Incentives and Freebies
Most people love getting a little bit extra when dealing with a company, whether it’s going above and beyond to deliver the correct information by going out of your way to provide more than you typically would or taking the time to deep dive into the customer’s needs on a more personal level.
You might want to include freebies or sneak peeks within their order. For example, if you sell canned drinks, then adding custom koozies with their order to keep drinks cool can be a nice little touch. If you send out freshly baked goods, then offering a sample of a new treat or flavour can help you boost customer satisfaction as can slightly increasing the size of the order and offering discounts for loyalty and more extensive purchase options, too. The more incentivised they are, the more likely they are to stick with you because they are satisfied with what you are offering.
Train Your Team
Never overlook your team’s importance in boosting customer satisfaction. Because if they don’t know how to do their job correctly this will impact the customer experience. You want to deliver the best service possible at all times. If you have employees who help you to do what you do, they need to work to the highest standards possible, too. This means equipping them with the tools, training, and knowledge to helpy our customers where needed and deliver exceptional customer service time and time again. The more they know, the more helpful they will be, the more they can do, and the easier it will be, the smoother the process will be for everyone involved, and fewer mistakes and problems will arise due to staff errors.
Respond To Reviews
Customers want to know that they are valued, and if they’re giving you reviews or feedback directly or via review sites, you need to engage with these reviews, both good and bad, actively. The more valued they feel, the more satisfied they will be with your company. Even if the feedback isn’t so good, you can make it better by engaging with the customer to address their concerns and rectify things for them. Reaching out directly allows you to make amends or give thanks and share your appreciation based on the content of the review. Still, it’s imperative you engage with any reviews to help you improve customer relations and continue to build on what you do or make appropriate changes where required.
Customer service can directly impact customer satisfaction, along with many other factors. Knowing how your customers feel about your company, acting on feedback and reviews, and going above and beyond can help you ensure that everyone who comes into contact with your company has the best experience.