Most businesses will say that customer satisfaction is one of their top priorities and indeed, many have policies and practices in place as a means to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. But how do you really know how satisfied your customers are with your services or your product?
Customer satisfaction surveys and client feedback forms are two easy and simple ways to collect information about how your customers feel. They are also cost-efficient and effective ways for small businesses and entrepreneurs to gain a better understanding of what is working and what is not working about their business practices.
Here are some important points about customer satisfaction:
1. A recent analysis by Fred Reichheld, author of “Loyalty Rules”, found that an increase as small as 5% in customer retention had the potential to increase profits by 25% to 95%, depending on the business.
2. Surveys give customers the chance to really think and reflect back on their experience and their satisfaction with that experience with you or your business. Responding to a survey gives your customers the chance to “talk” to you about that experience as well.
3. Surveys and feedback provide you with the opportunity to find out what is not working and gives you the chance to fix it or change it. Satisfaction surveys give the customer a sense that accountability is important to you. You can also provide your customers with a platform for telling you how the problem could be fixed.
4. Good surveying will not only tell you if the customer was satisfied or not, but WHAT they were satisfied about. What is it that you did for them that really knocked their socks off? Find out what is of value to your customer. Asking the right questions is crucial. Surveys are useful if they are measuring the right things in the right way and then using the data to draw the right conclusions.
5. Most customers appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback and like to know that a business is interested in what they think or how they felt about their experience. Sometimes customer loyalty is more about the customer’s emotional connection to the experience or the business than it is to the value or usefulness of the product received.
6. Feedback and surveys provide data for future marketing campaigns. Customer satisfaction data can help direct you to highlight what’s working well in additional marketing materials. With the customer’s permission, you may have the opportunity to contact them for follow-up which could result in further business or perhaps even a testimonial for other marketing promotions.
Using customer feedback can tell you whether what you are doing is setting you apart from everyone else in an exceptional way or whether you’re just setting yourself apart from your own success and your bottom-line.
JK Virtual Office Resources has the background and expertise to assist you with all aspects of customer surveying and feedback including survey development, data collection, data analyses and final reporting. For more information on how we can assist you with customer service, visit our Services page or contact us.