Customer satisfaction refers to the degree to which customers are happy with a company’s services and products. Needless to say that increasing the levels of customer satisfaction is essential for any modern business as happy customers are much more likely to become dedicated buyers. 

Companies like Argos and Cadburys enjoy high levels of customer satisfaction, which is not surprising as these enterprises ground their business operation on thorough market research and analysis. Follow the lead. 

#1. Find out what the customer wants. Getting this valuable information is easy with free survey software available on the web. Using quality software allows creating simple customer-focused surveys without spending much time and money.

#2. Estimate levels of satisfaction. The starting point for any business improvement strategy is estimating the actual levels of customer satisfaction. Getting five points out of ten undoubtedly means that the customer will be looking for a new provider, while six to eight points mean that you should improve customer satisfaction factors. 

#3. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Include the corresponding questions into the survey to determine what aspects of your business operation need to be improved. Remember that the speed of response to enquiries, lack of innovation, and product quality are the key drivers of overall customer satisfaction.

 #4. Respond to the customer’s needs. After carrying out a survey, respond to the customer’s feedback promptly to demonstrate your clients how much you care about their needs. Launch customer hotlines to ensure the most urgent issues are being dealt with immediately.

#5. Choose the right management. Keep in mind that the company’s management should participate in the increasing customer satisfaction programme.  The management involvement means that improved customer satisfaction is not just a new policy of a single person or group but the whole organisation’s new philosophy. It’s also important to put someone responsible in charge to ensure that the new business improvement plan is followed.

#6. Come up with the right goals. Ensure that each area of your customer satisfaction survey has its own goal, which makes it easier to track the results later. The final customer satisfaction goal should identify the level of impact in advance. For instance, try to plan how much customer satisfaction improvement you expect by the time the next survey is carried out. 

#7. Measure your success. Make sure that the programme brings results but avoid annoying customers with dozens of surveys. Experts advise carrying out global customer satisfaction surveys annually to be able to see the improvements. Thus, Suddenlink, a reputable cable company, runs an annual study on the overall customer satisfaction and experience at each point of contact.

All things considered, high levels of customer satisfaction are linked to your revenue. There are many factors that contribute to customer satisfaction but one thing is obvious – customers appreciate when they are made to feel special and valuable.