When your customers are satisfied, your business is more successful. Think about it, satisfied customers are more likely to leave positive reviews, more likely to recommend you to friends and family, and more likely to become repeat customers themselves too, but how exactly do you do that?
Below are a few proven strategies for boosting customer satisfaction levels right now…
Ask for feedback
One of the best ways to boost customer satisfaction levels within your business is to ask for continuous feedback at every step along the way of the customer journey. Salesforce data reveals that a staggering 92 percent of people are likely to buy something else from a company if they have an excellent customer service experience, and the only real way to know whether you are offering a good experience is by obtaining feedback from your customers, which is why this is the first and most important step top boosting customer satisfaction levels.
What kind of feedback should you ask for? Things like what they think about your brand, how easy it was to make a purchase, and how helpful customer service staff were – are things that will affect them when they come to make purchase decisions now and in the future.
Of course, there is no point in asking for feedback if you do not bother to monitor that feedback and make positive changes when it becomes clear that many customers are complaining about the same things, so you need to not only ask for feedback but also act on it.
Keep an eye on KPIs
If you want to ensure that you are boosting customer satisfaction levels, then you need to ensure that you are measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) at all times. Doing so will enable you to set and measure yourself against various targets so you can see how well you’re doing, and work out which areas you need to improve in.
When it comes to boosting customer satisfaction levels. Some KPIs you might want to consider monitoring include:
- Customer satisfaction scores
- Conversion rates
- Customer retention levels
- Average complaint resolution times
- Net promoter scores
But, of course, every business is different, so think about which metrics are likely to be most meaningful to your and your customers and ensure you keep a tight watch over them during the course of business life.
Utilize chatbots and live chat services
Customers are unlikely to be satisfied with your company if they have a negative customer service experience. Things can go wrong from time to time, and customers may need to contact your business – this in itself will not cause them to think badly of your company – but if they then struggle to get in touch with anyone in customer service, have to spend hours o the phone ion order to resolve their issues, or have a customer service agent who is rude and dismissive, then they are likely to be very dissatisfied.
Something that can really help with this particular issue is live chat software and AI Chatbots. This link shows you how to add live chat software to your website, and as you can see, it is not at all complicated, and it could just transform your customers’ experience.
Both AI chatbots and live online chat enable your customers to get the answers they need quickly and efficiently without having to hang on the telephone or wait for an email reply, which means they are less likely to get frustrated, more likely to have answers to their questions, and more likely to make a purchase/leave a positive review at the end of their interactions too. It really is that simple.
Boost response times
Relayed to the above, if you want to boost customer satisfaction levels. Then improving response times is a big part of that. Customers do not like to be kept waiting, They want to be able to get answers to their questions and make purchases as quickly as possible. If they are prevented from doing that in any way, there is a good chance they will abandon your company for the competition.
As well as using chatbots and live chat to improve your customer service response times you will need to do what you can to also optimize your website so that it responds quickly to various actions customers make from loading the website initially to performing faster product searches.
You will also need to ensure that you are quick at answering posts on social media. Research suggests that 42 percent of customers expect to have a reply to their question within 60 minutes of it being posted, with a further 32 percent expecting to hear back from you within 30 minutes of posting on social media, and 11 percent expecting an instantaneous response. This is why it might be a good idea for you to think about hiring a social media manager to run that side of things for you.
Basically, the faster you can make the whole process of making a purchase and interacting with your business, the more satisfied your customers will be.
Make it simple to make a purchase
Something that turns many customers off and makes them annoyed with a company, is when it is difficult for them to actually make a purchase. People want the online experience to be just like the physical one where all you need to do is present your purchases, swipe your credit card, and make your purchase in an instant. If you make it more difficult than it needs to be, customers are likely to become frustrated.
How do you make the process of buying something from you simpler? Start by implementing one-click add to cart features that will allow customers to select their purchases quickly. Then, make sure that your company accepts as many payment methods as possible, from Paypal and credit cards to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. So that the customer can always pay in the manner that they are most comfortable with. You may also want to think about adding one-click payment options, which companies like Amazon already offer, to remove one more pain point from making a purchase.
Reward their loyalty
Rewarding your customers for their loyalty is a sure-fire way to boost customer satisfaction levels. When customers choose to buy your products snd services time and time again, they expect to see some benefits of doing so. If you aren’t already offering them special discount codes, point-based loyalty schemes, free gifts on their birthdays, and things of that nature, then now is the time to change that because, not only do they deserve to be rewarded for their loyalty, but doing so makes financial sense too.
You see, it is between five and twenty-five times cheaper to retain existing customers than it is to find new ones. And not only that but the more looked-after your customers feel, the more likely they are to positively review snd recommend your company, which will actually help you to pick up new customers too.
Offer discounts to everyone
Rewarding your loyal customers is a good thing to do, but if you want to increase customer satisfaction levels, it is a good idea to offer discounts to all of your customers from time to time too.
Everyone likes to feel like they are getting good value for money, and by offering a decent discount on your products and services, you can pretty much guarantee that you will get more sales, while also fostering a positive image of your business amongst customers.
In fact, customers will spend around 25 percent more on businesses that offer discount codes than those that do not, so not only could this strategy improve customer satisfaction levels. But it could actually turn out to be more lucrative for you in the end too.
Be open and honest
If your company is always open and honest with customers; if you do not lie about your products and services or promise on things you cannot deliver, then you will get a reputation for being an honest company that people can trust.
Your customers will know exactly what they are signing up for when they make a purchase with you, and providing you deliver, they will then be satisfied with your service.
It can be tempting for businesses to embellish what they can offer, but then they risk falling short of the mark, which will, of course,e lead to their customers being dissatisfied. It really is not worth the risk when the risk could be bad reviews and a ruined reputation, so always be open and honest.
Make canceling and complaining simple
Many businesses also try to make it really difficult for customers to get in touch to cancel their order or make a complaint. They think this will help them to keep more of the money they have made ins aisles and minimize their complaints, but all it will do is frustrate the customers and make them leave bad reviews so make both processes as simple and intuitive as possible – make it a one-click thing if possible – and keep your reputation.
Customer satisfaction is important, so take it seriously!