Ask any business owner and they’ll tell you their top priority at all times is to improve customer satisfaction. Your customers are your biggest brand promoters and help set your business apart from the competition. Conversely, unhappy customers can negatively impact your business’ brand by influencing your customers to possibly shop elsewhere. With consumer shopping behaviors changing rapidly, it’s more important than ever to meet and exceed their expectations. Check out these 5 actionable, practical tips on how to improve your customer satisfaction now.
Improve Customer Satisfaction By Knowing Your Clientele
A whopping, 76% of consumers surveyed by Bizreport view customer service as the biggest test of just how much a company values them. While you probably have a really good idea of your best-selling products, it’s important to take that a step further. Understanding what drives your customers to purchase your products helps you deliver outstanding customer service. This builds trust and loyalty which in turn provides positive word of mouth recommendations.
When you know your customers, their challenges and what problems your products solve for them, you are better able to predict your customers’ future needs and wants. You can plan ahead, innovate, and create solutions and offers that are unique to your business and your customers.
Ask yourself these questions to gain a better understanding of your customers:
– What does your product offer that a similar product from your competitor doesn’t?
– What problem or problems does your product solve for your customers?
– What value does your product add to your customers’ life?
– What can you do to innovate new products or offerings?
– What role does shipping play for your customers?
Communicate Clearly with Your Customers
According to research done by thinkJar, about 1 in 26 unhappy customers actually complain. However, 91% of those unhappy non-complainers just leave a business entirely. In addition, 84% of consumers become frustrated when the person they speak to does not have the information they need. And to top that off, 66% of those surveyed who decided to switch brands did so because of poor service. According to Harvard Business Review, 65% of consumers are more likely to speak negatively or leave negative reviews after a bad experience.
You and your customers are in a relationship of sorts, and the key to any good relationship is communication. If you and your team are unclear when it comes to business details, such as return policies, coupons and promos, and shipping information, then you are more than likely going to end up with dissatisfied customers.
Get Feedback from Your Customers
A great way to improve your customer satisfaction is to get feedback from your customers. This will help you better understand your customers’ needs, challenges, what issues they may be experiencing, if they have ideas for new products, and ways you can improve your business to better serve your customers.
One of the best way to get customer feedback is sending out brief surveys from time to time. You can have each survey focus on a specific topic, such as products, communication, shipping, and others. A great way to get your customers to respond to your survey request is to offer a discount or promo code as a thank you.
This will make your brand stand out for making strides to continually improve, being open to hearing feedback, and for offering a discount.
Another great way to collect customer feedback is when your customers contact your customer service representatives. It’s a great opportunity for them to ask questions about how they use your product, are they satisfied using the product or service, what challenges are they facing etc.
Turn Feedback into Action
Customers who complete surveys or speak with company representatives will want to see their feedback put into action. Like the saying goes, less talk, more action. That definitely holds true for businesses wanting to improve customer satisfaction.
– What did you learn from customer surveys & conversations?
– What steps are you taking to turn the feedback into action?
– Are there new products or offerings you plan on rolling out?
Once you know what you’re going to do, consider sending an email to your customers to excite them about what’s coming. You can keep it brief but communicating that you have taken their feedback seriously and have new features rolling out based on that feedback will go a long way in retaining customers.
Address Complaints Quickly
Even with the best customer service and best products, sometimes things still go haywire. No business is completely immune to unhappy customers. When your customers have an issue or complaint, address it quickly, clearly, and kindly.
Sometimes things may be out of your control, such as when weather-related shipping delays occur. Sometimes the return process is too complicated. No matter what the complaint, addressing the issues promptly can actually help you keep your customer.
FreightCenter Can Help You Improve Customer Satisfaction
As a third-party logistics provider (3PL), FreightCenter can help you improve customer satisfaction by helping you ship smarter. No matter what you’re shipping or where you are shipping to, FreightCenter delivers competitive rates with our fully vetted carrier network.
Save money, save time and streamline your shipping and deliver outstanding customer service with FreightCenter. Our shipping experts can help your business improve customer satisfaction by helping you ship like a pro. Get started with a free online quote or give us a call at 800.716.7608.
