Customers interact with your business every single day, and these interactions can make or break your brand.
It’s a domino effect according to Neil Patel!
Poor customer satisfaction leads to poor retention, which leads to a narrow customer base, which leads to poor word-of-mouth, which leads to a plunge in profitability.
It's no longer about having the best product at the best price- that's only half the battle. You also need to work on marketing the product through every stage of the customer journey.
Marketing these days isn’t about attracting new leads through push methods like content and advertising. It can also be done subtly, and at a subconscious, intuitive level through customer satisfaction.
Walker Consulting predicts that customer experience will be the key differentiator by 2020. We’re now dealing with highly-empowered buyers, and for them, it’s all about having a satisfying experience at the end of the day.
Providing a high-quality product isn’t enough to stand out from the market anymore. It needs to be accompanied by high-quality customer support.
Handle your customers well, and you’ll watch them transform into an ambassador for your brand.
So, how do we achieve soaring levels of customer satisfaction? Our approach is to work backwards. So today, we’re focusing on how to overcome the largest challenges of customer satisfaction.
What is customer satisfaction and why is it important?
Customer Satisfaction is a way of measuring the satisfaction level of your customers. It is used to check how happy your customers are with your product/service. To measure this, companies tend to use different types of surveys which are often sent directly once the interaction with the customer is over.
Acquiring new customers is never easy, it takes in a lot of resources. It includes:
As per research, acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining your previous customers. Though it might look like a shocking fact for some, it makes a lot of sense from a customer's perspective. Your customers won't be very happy about spending money on your product or service until they are completely satisfied with your offerings. Building trust isn't easy and with thousands of companies offering similar solutions making a decision would be difficult. A satisfied customer trust's your brand and offerings making them more likely to return in the future.
The chances of having no competition in your industry are highly unlikely. The internet revolution has given industries a platform to sell their products and services. This has pushed companies into becoming highly competitive.
The only way to stand out and make your presence count is by giving a phenomenal customer experience.
A happy customer would not only return but will also promote your company through word of mouth. On top of that, a happy customer is also willing to pay more for a better experience.
A satisfied/happy customer would bring growth to a company by repeated purchases. To survive in any industry, you need to have a good customer base and a strong following in the market. If your customers are not sticking with your company in the long run, your business would end up failing.
All this is only possible by providing a good customer experience. Hence we can conclude that customer satisfaction indeed does drive growth in your business.
No customer support team likes to deal with angry and unsatisfied customers.
Every business faces some unsatisfied customers at times, but no agent would like to interact solely with unsatisfied customers at all times. Facing such customers at all times every day would be exhausting for your agents. This might even lead to lower employee morale and lower engagement rates.
A disengaged employee has a harder time serving your customers and also providing a good customer experience to them. This loop continues until you change it by providing a good experience for your customers.
A good customer experience can reverse the above cycle.
There's a direct relationship between customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction. It's hard to find out what comes first, but it’s critical to invest in both to maintain a balance.
What are the 3 C's of customer satisfaction?
The "3 Cs of customer satisfaction" refers to the three key factors that contribute to a customer's overall satisfaction with a product or service:
- Convenience: Customers are more likely to be satisfied if they can easily access the product or service they need. This may involve factors such as the availability of the product or service, the ease of making a purchase, and the convenience of the delivery or pick-up process or any other aligned process.
- Comfort: Comfort is of the utmost importance Customers are more likely to be satisfied if they feel comfortable using the product or service. This may involve factors such as the design and functionality of the product, the quality of the service, and the overall customer experience.
- Customization: Customers are more likely to be satisfied if they feel that the product or service is tailored to their needs and preferences. This may involve offering a range of options or the ability to customize the product or service to meet the customer's specific requirements.
By focusing on these three key factors, businesses can improve the customer's overall satisfaction with their products or services. A good customer experience can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
What are the challenges of customer satisfaction?
To satisfy customers, you need to ensure your platform is accessible at all times. Customers need to be able to access your products and services, without any barriers and on a platform of their choice. You also must ensure your business follows an always-on approach. Customers must receive immediate service whenever they reach out to your business.
Integrate a multichannel approach to customer service to allow customers to find you on their favorite platform.
You must ensure your platform is easy to access and browse through. Processes like navigating and browsing must become straightforward and streamlined for both customers and prospects that land on your page. Having a platform that complicated will only lead to more frustrated customers, plus prospects that will turn away and never return.
Tighten up website navigation through new forms of user interfaces, like conversational UI.
For customers and prospects to become comfortable with your business, there needs to be no barriers on communication. You need to think about incorporating conversational intelligence tools that allow customers to communicate with your platform in their language of choice.
You must provide your live agents with tools that provide a one-view of all customer queries. And the data needs to be transparent enough so agents and supervisors can swoop in when necessary and resolve the query without wasting the customer’s time in repeating themselves.
Personalization is key when it comes to increasing customer retention.
Customer service isn’t just about delivering quality service. It’s about delivering it at the right time. Customers demand speed and quality, so take advantage of real-time experiences. You must think about ways to reduce average response time and resolution times.
Show up when customers need you with tools such as chatbots for immediate response and access to information.
5 ways to overcome the challenges of customer satisfaction?
So now that we’ve covered the factors that impact customer satisfaction, how do we overcome the largest problems in customer satisfaction?
The volume of requests has increased significantly with the rise of highly-empowered customers. Customers are not only asking questions, but they’re asking them through multiple channels. If you’re used to handling 1-1 interactions, this is a huge jump.
You have to remember that satisfaction needs to be scalable. Agents need the resources to handle multiple inquiries at a time, and customers need to have choices on where to reach out to the brand.
The key is to engage with customers on a platform they’re comfortable with tools that allow you to do so. Engati allows you to deploy across 14 channels while providing you with a one-view of all customer interactions, so you know exactly what your customers want on which platform, all in real-time.
Newer customers may face struggles with communicating their concerns over their products, but the expectation remains the same. Which is, to solve the problem immediately.
Agents need to have the tools to cut through what they’re saying. We’ve all heard the saying that a picture speaks 1000 words, so why not use a platform that supports file transfer? The Engati platform supports multimedia messaging, which allows customers to communicate their problems with ease.
More than that, the Engati Live Chat platform also allows agents to take notes to understand the full picture. While the customers are explaining what’s going on, agents can jot notes down. These notes can be shared amongst agents and supervisors so that in case there is a need to step in, the platform allows that transparency.
The largest challenge of customer satisfaction! Exceeding expectations. The key is to set up reasonable expectations, but to deliver every time. There’s no need for grandiose gestures, sometimes it’s showing up when you’re needed. Use an Engati chatbot solution to provide immediate assistance to customers in real-time.
Another technique is to personalize by communicating with customers on their platform in their language of choice. Engati has over 54 languages to choose from, so no customers get left behind.
It’s about getting your customers to talk. Exceeding expectations is all about providing a safe space for your customers to voice their concerns. The better you know your clients, the better you can care for them. Give them a platform to explain what they need, and then address their needs.
Receiving high volumes of requests can be draining for any customer service agent. In fact, most queries that reach their inbox end up being the same query just rephrased. These concerns can easily be addressed using an intelligent chatbot.
Here’s how a chatbot can handle this customer service challenge:
Backed by DocuSense technologies and the power of eSense GPT (a GPT-based Generative AI engine) powered, Engati chatbots can answer any customer queries in real-time. All your agents have to do is upload the knowledge base, and the chatbots can parse through the document and deliver the information to your customers within seconds. Training becomes instantaneous, and the more your customers engage with these bots, the faster they learn.
Another huge customer satisfaction problem is how to address these concerns without breaking the bank. You can’t put a price on good customer experience, but you can get started for free. The Engati digital CX platform can be used across any industry with the starting price of 0$.
To conclude
When you tackle these customer satisfaction challenges, you’re not only taking care of customers, but you’re strengthening your brand too. The strongest marketing tool is the power of word-of-mouth. Transform your customers into brand ambassadors by providing them with the proper care, and tackling these customer satisfaction issues and your business will flourish in no time.
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