Customer satisfaction is one of the most important metrics in business that not only helps boost sales and generate revenue but is also a key factor for acquiring a new customer base. Today, the competitive environment of the marketplace is such you can’t ignore the value of happy and loyal clients. Satisfied customers are no less than brand ambassadors themselves—they recommend your product or service, and also make others trust in your business.
A high degree of client satisfaction is a deciding point of differentiation, meaning it helps you stand out of the competition, which in turn can take your brand places that you wouldn’t have imagined. The simple reason for this is companies that provide a high level of customer experience, are able to build environments where satisfaction is high and customer advocates are plenty.
There are ways to satisfy your valuable client wherein you need to incorporate a strategic approach. In other words, you have to optimize your business in such a way that outstanding customer experience becomes your main strength. Great customer experience should be your topmost priority and to optimize your business, you need a strong business plan. Thus a professional SBA business plan can be extremely helpful for you in carving perfect customer service strategies.
Here is how you can optimize your business to improve customer satisfaction:
1. Develop smart customer retention techniques
In the process of acquiring new customers, you must not forget to retain your existing customers. To that effect, it’s a good idea to scratch your data and note which type of customers are being retained. According to a Gartner report, 80 percent of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20 percent of your existing clients.
Another study by Bain & Company shows that a 5 percent increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent. So what do these statistics suggest? That client retention pays heavily. What you have to do is observe your customer’s purchase patterns and behaviors; spend time in studying different customer groups and find out which customers are needed to be retained at higher rates. You can also provide a coupon for first-time shoppers or improve your upsell offerings.
2. Build trust with your clients
Every time your customer interacts with your brand, their perception gets impacted. That is why building trust holds so much value—trustworthiness and customer satisfaction go hand in hand. Building trust depends a lot on delivering products or services that actually help your client; therefore you have to constantly keep innovating. You should relentlessly be looking for the next big idea.
Trust also depends on how well you communicate with your clients. Are they able to find answers through self-service channels over contacting customer support? Are you able to respond to their questions online quickly and effectively? Make sure your customer service representatives are enthusiastic, energetic and excited to help your customers. Another important factor for building trust with your customers is educating them. That is to say, when you provide them with useful, relevant and easy-to-find information that helps them solve their problems, they will start trusting your brand even more.
3. Empower your team to provide exceptional customer service
Empowering your employees is much more than just telling them what to do; what it actually comes down to is who you hire and how you train and treat them. Are your employees able to seamlessly fit into your culture?
For delivering exceptional customer service, your employees should possess a variety of skills, which they can share with others in the team. Energetic employees with great ideas are more likely to motivate others and can keep customers happy. You can ask some pertinent questions to your employees, like—how do they think companies should operate? How do they think customers should be treated? How have their experiences been with customers in the past? If only you have the answers to these questions, your team will be empowered.
4. Seek customer feedback for improvement
Customer complaints, concerns, and suggestions are inevitable in any business; so instead of bothering with it consider customer feedback as a gift. You can use these feedbacks to improve your product or service, or/and client experience. Today, there are many channels through which your customers can contact you, so responding to them is as much beneficial as it is necessary for you. Customer feedback surveys are invaluable for learning how your service is performing in relation to your clients’ expectations. Most importantly, you can take necessary action and steps before it’s too late.
5. Use social media and content marketing strategies
In the current digital age, social media has become indispensable. More and more people are connecting with brands and businesses through various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. So it is a nice strategy to follow your clients on social media (Twitter is best for this) and engage in healthy conversations. Be personal and thank them each in a unique way. If possible, share their testimonials with the world.
Another important business optimization is to ramp up your content marketing strategy. It will help you reach a wider audience of potential clients along with retaining the existing ones. How should you interact with them using content marketing? You should start by posting longer, more actionable and more educational blogs. The best way to do this is produce content which you, yourself would read and share with your friends. You should also invest in distributing good content and also listen to the member if your niche.
Final thoughts
To put it simply: your customers are your paychecks—no clients, no business. However, simply catering to customers and not making them feel special is just the half job done. You should also emphasize on satisfying your customers fully, and provide the experience that no one can. It is up to your own strategies and understanding how you optimize your business, but the above-mentioned techniques will certainly help you in improving customer satisfaction.
