Customer satisfaction wars

Customer satisfaction has become absolutely essential in achieving business objectives as it provides a metric against which to measure and improve every step of the service chain. However, many companies still struggle with this notion, because how do you quantify customer satisfaction from the perspective of each individual customer?

There are four aspects that are crucial to understanding what underpins customer satisfaction:

1. Emotional

You know the old adage of how first impressions last? This resounds loudly in the customer-to-business interaction. The individual’s emotional reaction is likely to be the biggest indicator of customer satisfaction, and of his or her overall opinion of your service. This is why each touchpoint needs to effective and consistent; otherwise, the sense of customer satisfaction can go south quickly.

Imagine Leia contacts a new-to-market mobile service provider’s call centre agent to enquire about their opening specials only to find that the agent is disinterested and short with her. She’s likely to think the company doesn’t care for her business and she’ll stick with her current service provider or seek another provider.

2. Loyalty

Customer satisfaction happens as a result of positive interactions, and if an individual has the same positive experience each time he or she engages with you, you’re more likely to win his or her loyalty. Tying in with the emotional element, loyalty is measured by a combination of factors, such as overall customer satisfaction, the likelihood of using the service/product again, and the likelihood of recommending your brand to others. The latter is important, since the word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing tool.

If Leia receives great service from Jedi Mobile, she’s likely to continue taking her X-wing there and to recommend the company to her brother Luke.

3. Affect

How does the services/product affect customer satisfaction? Does it fulfil the customer’s needs and address their situation, or does it miss the mark? Affect and customer satisfaction are closely related, and the latter is dependent on the interaction being perceived relevant or able to solve a need.

Leia required a new pink lightsaber in less than 48 hours. If the delivery arrived within that time, Leia would’ve felt positive about the experience since her needs were met.

4. Consistency

While a positive customer experience goes a long way, it’s important for an organisation to maintain high levels of consistency at all times. This means that your customer journey, communication and emotional consistencies need to be benchmarked to ensure customer satisfaction.

While Leia’s trying out her new lightsaber, Darth Vader purchases parts for his Death Star from Sith Motors. Every interaction has been positive from reception through to the parts department and Vader refuses to take his Death Star anywhere else, all because of consistent customer satisfaction.

A recent research project conducted by McKinsey & Company found that measuring satisfaction on the entire customer journey is 30% more predictive of overall customer satisfaction than measuring happiness for each individual interaction. Their findings also showed that maximising satisfaction with customer journeys has the potential not only to increase customer satisfaction by 20% but also to lift revenue by up to 15% while lowering the cost of serving customers by as much as 20%.

Your business needs to provide its clients with a great customer care management system. A system where their ideas are heard, complaints are dealt with swiftly and the products/services they truly want are made available to them. A customer satisfaction survey solution can assist you by:

• Gathering relevant client feedback
• Translating accurate reports to show where the business can take action
• Ensuring that each and every customer feels that you are doing everything you can to make them happy

Ready to take your customer satisfaction to the next level?