7 Steps to Improve Customer Satisfaction

While the old adage “the customer is always right” doesn’t always hold true— it’s no secret that a happy consumer base can help drive business. The best way to stimulate traffic for your business is to improve satisfaction. 

Customer satisfaction doesn’t have to be rocket science. Here are 7 strategies to help you improve customer experience.

1. Nobody Likes to Repeat Themselves

How many times have you been put on hold, only to find that you’ve been transferred to another representative that has no idea what’s going on?

According to ZenDesk, 72% of consumers attribute poor consumer experience with having to explain their problem to multiple people.

To prevent a loss in communication through a multi-step process, eliminate the need to move through the support chain. By providing a more personalized experience to the consumer. This change will make the consumer feel prioritized, which will help improve your brand perception.

2. Watch Social Media Channels like a Hawk

Twitter has become a safe haven for frustrated consumers. By allowing dissatisfied consumers to complain about your brand, you’re not only damaging brand reputation, but are also allowing your competitors to capitalize from it.

Check out this Twitter interaction between YouTube sensation, Justine Ezarik, and Southwest Airlines.

By realizing their competitor, American Airlines couldn’t meet the needs of a public figure, Southwest was able to attract attention to their brand— while highlighting the negatives of their competitor.

Don’t be American Airlines, solve the problem— before your competitors do.

3. Lend a Helping Hand

Some products may have a learning curve, make sure it isn’t a roadblock. Offering learning material can allow for a consumer to have a better overall product experience, which leads to a better brand experience.

After a product sale, contact your consumer either by phone or email and provide them with learning tools and resources. Your consumers will appreciate your commitment to their experience.

4. Reward Your Consumers

Sometimes customers feel like pawns, let your consumers know how much you value them by providing rewards that come attached with a “WOW” factor.

Use this marketing strategy implemented by TD Bank as a general outline for your rewards plan to improve customer satisfaction.

While you don’t have to reward everyone—make sure everyone knows about the effort your company is making to add value, so remember to leverage social media to share the rewards you give.

5. Flexibility

It’s often difficult for customer service representatives to address consumer concerns, as they must go through the chain of command.

By expanding what your consumer specialists can do, you give them more creative power to meet consumer expectations. This increase in flexibility allows for a much more streamlined customer experience.

6. Feedback Shouldn’t Be Work

Gathering accurate data is difficult, most people don’t want to fill out consumer feedback surveys.

Solve this problem by stylizing your surveys to look more approachable and minimizing time spent filling out the survey.

You can later expand on survey data by following up with consumers for more specific data.

7. Problem Prevention

Leverage all available data tools to prevent an issue before it arises. For instance, if a consumer purchases a set of auto parts for a vehicle and you notice that they have also purchased an incompatible part— follow through and confirm their purchase.

This honesty may lose the sale of a particular component, but it’s a major play to boost the perceived integrity of your brand.