There are a few keys to running a successful business for the long haul, but arguably none is more important than attaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
Achieving and maintaining customer satisfaction remains a top priority for businesses in every industry at every level. Good customer satisfaction is what encourages customer retention and builds a positive reputation around your business that generates further investment from new and existing customers. Conversely, poor customer satisfaction will do the exact opposite – rapidly decreasing retention and reputation which will hit hardest in the form of reduced revenue.
It’s certainly no surprise that customer happiness is key to your success, but what can help you get there as a business?
Collect and use customer feedback
Customer feedback – it’s out there in every corner of the business world, from thousands of reviews per product on Amazon through to handwritten notes in the suggestion boxes of small businesses. Some might say this information should often be taken with a pinch of salt, but what you do with your direct customer feedback could make or break your business.
Feedback is only beneficial if you actually put the legitimate suggestions into action. Act on the most common themes, and you’ll find yourself rewarded with your customers’ appreciation of your adaptability. Ignore it, and you’ll likely lose the customers who put forward the suggestions, as well as the many, many more who quietly share the same opinion.
Use customer friendly systems
User experience (UX) creates a huge buzz these days, and, particularly if you’re a business with a strong e-commerce base, it’s absolutely critical to your success.
You should consider your products or service as an end-to-end customer experience, and how well your customers can navigate, understand and buy into that experience will be vital to whether they bother to do it again. Examples of good UX practice including creating clear and easy to navigate landing pages, developing effortless usability of your site and encouraging simple payment through open banking solutions.
Move with the times
It’s the old adage in business: “adapt or die”. And since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to where we are now, there has never been a period where adaptability in business has been more important.
With the almost complete cessation of brick-and-mortar retail over large chunks of the last 18 months, the way in which we shop and consume has changed vastly. E-commerce, which was already very much on the rise, has taken a much greater foothold in the general retail picture, while customers have come to expect alternative ways of shopping, from QR code table service in pubs and restaurants through to all-encompassing online shopping solutions.
As such, businesses quickly found out how their flexibility in operations (or lack thereof) would impact them over the lockdown period. Those set in more traditional ways and product bases quickly fell by the wayside, while those able to adapt to the new normal found survival – and even opportunity and greater success.
Today’s market demands forward thinking businesses with mobile friendly websites, active and relevant social media channels, and ultra-convenient services. To be successful, it’s essential your business keeps up with the times.
To summarise, then; understanding the importance of a high level of customer satisfaction is simple – establishing methods of achieving and maintaining it is less so. With a new world of commerce and industry out there in a post-pandemic society, it’s vital that your business looks to address its customer service concerns quickly and effectively to stay in the game.
