Is customer satisfaction on your list of top priorities? It should be.
Customer satisfaction is definitely one of the key factors which determine whether your business will succeed or fail.
Let’s look at some stats that prove this claim:
- 65% of buyers value positive customer experience more than great advertising.
- More than 70% of buyers point to customer experience as a very important factor in buying decisions.
- More than 85% of buyers are willing to pay more for great customer experience.
- More than 65% of customers leave because they feel the company doesn’t care about their business.
- More than 90% of unsatisfied customers will never buy from you again.
To put it bluntly, if you’re indifferent towards your customers, you can’t expect them to use your product or service. It’s as simple as that.
Why Is Customer Satisfaction Important?
Here are 5 reasons why customer satisfaction is important for your business:
1. Customer Loyalty Pays Off
Research says that investing in acquiring a new customer can cost 5 times more than investing in keeping a current one.
So, it is safe to say that investing in brand loyalty is not only smart, but it is also cost-effective: Research has found that by lowering your customer churn rate by only 5%, your profitability could increase up to 125%.
Want to know how to make your customers feel appreciated? Listen to what they want: more than 65% of them said that their choice of retailer is influenced by where they can earn rewards program/customer loyalty points.
2. You Could Easily Lose Your Customers
Customers nowadays have a wide choice and easy access to thousands of brands and only one negative review can cause them to take their business elsewhere. In fact, more than 55% of customers said they would stop using a brand if it had a negative review go unaddressed.
Clients want their negative experiences to be recognized, so responding to reviews (both positive and negative) is an easy way to increase customer satisfaction.
Gaining and retaining customers is a never-ending process. Make sure to communicate with them on a regular basis. Use surveys and polls to ask questions, send personalized offers and messages, offer customer support, etc.
In other words, don’t take your clients for granted. Take care of their needs and they’ll reward you with their loyalty.
3. Customer Satisfaction Separates You From the Competition
According to McKinsey, more than 70% of companies with “above average” CX maturity perform better financially than their competitors.
Fred Reichheld, the creator of Net Promoter, says that the majority of customers would rather pay a premium to continue to do business with a brand than switch to a competitor they’re not familiar with.
Standing out from the competition requires more than coming up with new concepts or lowering prices. If you want to differentiate yourself from the other companies that offer similar services or products, you need to offer superior customer experience.
4. Satisfied Customers Can Help You Grow
Happy customers are more likely to share your content on social networks and engage with your posts by leaving favorable comments.
Take this into consideration when planning your future marketing campaigns. You can use it later as a source for success stories or case studies and position yourself as a company that provides outstanding customer experience.
5. Customer Satisfaction is Reflected in Your Revenue
One of the crucial customer satisfaction metrics is – money.
Satisfied customers won’t go to your competitors or consider their offers. They’ll be happy to do business with your brand again, buy repeatedly, and recommend your products/services to others. If you make sure to meet your customers’ needs while delivering high-quality services, they’ll be completely satisfied. Soon, this will translate into increased sales and revenue.
That’s why customer satisfaction should be measured on a regular basis. Not only when you have free time or when your business is facing some kind of crisis. If you’re not sure how to do it, keep reading.
How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
In order to determine whether your customers are satisfied, you need to measure customer satisfaction. Because not all customers articulate their dissatisfaction openly on social media. Some of them won’t say a word and simply go to your competition.
Measuring customer satisfaction will also help you to identify happy clients who could point out where you’re doing really well and possibly be turned into brand advocates.
The first step is to communicate with your customers and collect feedback in order to identify possible issues and make the necessary improvements. The quality of questions you ask will determine the usefulness of the answers you get. Ask questions about every aspect of your customer service:
- The quantity and quality of offered services and products
- Your prices
- Your company aesthetics (for instance, your physical stores, corporate values, and brand messaging)
- How well your products/services meet their needs.
- Important and missing features.
Ask your customers if there’s anything they’d change and whether they would recommend you to others.
Also, make sure to ask them to rate how satisfied they were with your services. Your average rating will give you a general idea of where you are standing. Finally, don’t forget to ask about your competitors.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how important customer satisfaction is and started to collect customer feedback, it’s time to get down to work. When it comes to improving customer satisfaction, the most valuable ideas will come from your own clients. Every company is different and every industry has different customer expectations and competitors.
Listen to what your customers are saying and determine what makes them dissatisfied. Once you identify their pain points and start fixing them, you’ll begin creating a better customer experience, leading to increased loyalty and improved revenues.
