Customer Experience: How To Find Out If Your Customers Are Happy?
Joe felt like Company Inc. could’ve treated him better.
“I stayed on the phone for 30 minutes until they could find someone to help me!”, he told Maria. “And in the end, I was still left with a lot of questions.”
“Why?”, Maria asked.
“Whoever was on the other side sure didn’t feel like working that day”, he replied.
“Well, why don’t you leave a complaint?”
“No”, Joe shrugged. “I’ll just find someone else.”
Needless to say, Joe won’t be purchasing from that company again.
Let’s suppose you’re Company Inc. Joe might not tell you he had a terrible experience, but they will tell Maria, who will tell Sally, who will tell Jessica...
All customers are like Joe. They want what they want, whenever they want. If they don’t get it, they’ll simply go somewhere else for business.
If they had one great experience with a certain company, where they were treated marvelously, received fast and useful replies, and felt valued, they will expect every other company--regardless of the product or service they sell--to do the same.
Unmatched customer experience (CX) is where successful businesses focus.
How do we know that?
1,920 business professionals shared their top priority for the next 5 years. Customer experience reigned supreme, above product and pricing. If you want the percentage, 49.5% of businesses have placed CX on top of their list, because they know it’s that important for their sales.
And your company should follow suit.
Why Investing Heavily in Customer Experience is a Promising Move
Want to double your revenue in 3 years? Outstanding CX initiatives will give you that, and there’s a fair reason behind it.
Over 80% of buyers are willing to pay more for a product or service if they were well-received and had all of their questions answered. And that’s a no-brainer: would you rather give your money to a company that treats you well and is readily available to solve your problems or one that doesn’t seem to care about your valuable time?
As you can see, with the latest marketing trends come the latest marketing challenges. And one of them includes finding out whether your customer is truly happy with your company. How to find out, once and for all?
Signs Your Customer is Happy With Your Product or Service
They Leave Encouraging Feedback and Reviews
Your reviews are a goldmine. Don’t take them for granted.
If your customers constantly rate your company with 5-stars and are always commenting about how happy they are with your service, rejoice. You’re on the right track.
However (and this is important) don’t mistake a lack of negative reviews for happy customers. Remember Joe, from the beginning of this article?
That reinforces the importance of reaching out to your customers using quick customer satisfaction surveys. They only take a minute, yet bring you valuable, lasting insights.
They Spread the Word
You’ll know a customer is satisfied when they become your referrals. They’re so happy, they’ll gladly tell friends and family about your product or service without getting anything in return. And you can learn about it by including questions like “how did you hear about us?” in your surveys.
You could even call them your marketers at this point.
They’re Recurring and Participative
If a customer always comes back, you’re doing something right. It doesn’t matter the time of year, if they ever need a product or service you offer, they won’t go to anyone else, but straight to your company.
They follow you on social media. They react to your posts. They’re the ideal customer.
They Reach Out to You or Your Employees
Is there a better feeling than having someone go to your business e-mail (or chat, or number) and personally thank you for an incredible experience?
(Pssst...this is the perfect time to kindly ask for a testimonial!)
Or maybe, the customer offers you kind words of advice for improvement. Value them. This is also a sign that they’re happy, but could be even more.
Are any of the above aren’t happening? If not, don’t fret.
This is your chance to start applying better CX practices and watching the results as they flow in. But first, you need to recognize the most common CX challenges and nip them in the bud. Here they are.
How to Overcome CX Challenges to Retain Happy Customers
The most common challenges you’ll find in the CX are the following.
Lack of consistency, as a result of:
Not communicating properly across a variety of channels.
Not providing enough contact options to solve your customer’s problems as quickly as possible.
Not investing in services that smooth out the customer journey.
A failure to exceed expectations, led by:
Not studying your reviews (even the bad ones).
Not willing to take constructive criticism.
Not transforming feedback into results.
Unprepared customer service representatives, thanks to:
Poorly trained staff.
Not enough resources for customer service representatives.
Not nurturing a customer-centered policy.
And here’s how each of them can be solved.
Be Consistent Across All Channels
Some customers prefer personally reaching out to a representative by visiting a store, for instance. Others will go to your site and communicate via live chat. Others will write you a detailed e-mail. All customers have their own preferred communication channels.
While it’s awesome that your company has so many contact touchpoints, there’s one drawback: friction. If the customer needs to repeat themselves constantly and feel like they’re wasting their time, they’ll move on to the next company--which offers a similar service but with better CX.
Omnichannel servicing prevents that and assures consistent communication across different channels--whether online or offline. That’s because all customer data is stored in one platform (not all over the place), keeping the process smooth for both employees and customers.
Over 80% of companies have started investing in omnichannel CX, seeing that the results have brought in a steady stream of satisfied customers.
Listen to Feedback to Exceed Your Customer’s Expectations
Do you think you know your customer?
80% of companies think they know their customers, and well, they’re wrong. The reality is many companies neglect their customers.
Regardless of how long your company has been in business, there’s no chance you know your customers more than...themselves. The whole data-driven targeted marketing and persona development process can only take us so far.
You need to hear it from the source.
Don’t just read your reviews, reply to them, and call it a day. Actively listen, ask questions. Be empathetic. Make an effort to truly solve their problems, if there are any. When your company genuinely cares, it shows.
Empower a Customer-Centered Company
As crazy as it may sound, not all companies are customer-centered.
Only now companies are starting to notice that maybe--just maybe--they’re not selling more because they were focusing their efforts in the wrong place.
That’s why the customer service professionals you hire should be aware of the customer-first company policy and be trained accordingly. Of course, companies can (and should) make it easier by motivating employees with modern customer service software. Check out Zendesk’s updated list of the best CS software available.
The Takeaway
Ever thought the current challenges your company is facing might be a direct result of poor customer experience? If not, you should consider it.
Getting started isn’t a walk in the park, though. If you feel like you could use a little boost, you can book a free consultation to improve your strategy.
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