Increasing Customer Satisfaction - Important KPIs and Measures

Satisfied customers are the foundation for the economic success of your company. If you make your customers happy, the chances increase that they will come back and recommend your company among their network of contacts as well as on various rating portals.

Unhappy customers, on the other hand, cause a downturn in the road to success and are to be avoided at all costs. In this article, you will learn how to manage your company in a customer-oriented manner and how to deal with dissatisfied customers.

Increasing Customer Satisfaction Thumbs up

We give you important KPIs so that you can measure customer satisfaction and initiate necessary measures. Satisfied customers are no accident, they are the result of extensive quality work.

What exactly means Customer Satisfaction?

Every customer has a certain expectation of the performance of a company, service, or product. Customer satisfaction results from the comparison between the subjective expectation and the perceived performance. A customer is satisfied when his expectations are met or even exceeded.

If not, there is dissatisfaction. Customer satisfaction is thus an essential corporate activity aimed at fulfilling the expectations and wishes of customers.

The implementation of such activities requires specific knowledge and procedures. It is significant that as an entrepreneur, you know how to organize customer satisfaction processes properly, identify needs as well as requirements of customers and efficiently meet them.

Why is Customer Satisfaction so Crucial?

Customer satisfaction is the most crucial prerequisite for long-term customer loyalty and the expansion of the customer base due to a high recommendation rate. A satisfied customer also usually becomes a regular customer who comes back again and again.

Customer satisfaction includes factors such as the range of products offered, payment methods, service, and shipping and delivery options. Customer satisfaction leads to a high customer value, which includes purchasing frequency, fault tolerance and the willingness to provide feedback and recommend the company to others.

How to measure Customer Satisfaction?

This is an important question. Because only if you know whether your customers are satisfied or not because of concrete and comparable key figures can you initiate appropriate measures, as well as measure their success.

Important considerations for measuring customer satisfaction are:

  • What is the goal of the measurement?
  • How often do I want to carry out a customer satisfaction measurement?
  • Should the measurement of customer satisfaction only refer to certain products, services, or to the entire product range?

Analyze the current situation of your business and answer these questions. This will make it easier for you to select the appropriate metrics for customer satisfaction.

Besides the simple methods like collecting feedback from customer conversations, there are reliable customer satisfaction metrics and methods to measure customer satisfaction.

Measure Customer Satisfaction – Some KPIs

  • Net Promoter Score
  • Customer Satisfaction Score
  • Customer Effort Score

Which customer satisfaction metric you ultimately choose depends on your current situation and your goals.

Net Promoter Score

Measuring customer satisfaction with Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one of the most popular methods. This measures the probability of a recommendation by the customer.

To perform a customer satisfaction analysis with the NPS, ask customers how likely they are to recommend your company, product, or service to others. The customers should enter the probability on a scale from 1 to 10.

  • Critics: Scale 1 – 6
  • Passive Customer: Scale 7 – 8
  • Promoter: Scale 9 – 10

The calculation of NPS is relatively simple. Subtract The percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.

Formula: %-Critics – %-Promoter = Net Promoter Score

The advantage of this customer satisfaction metric is that it relates not only to the emotional level (satisfied/dissatisfied), but also to intend. Moreover, thanks to the evaluative feedback, you can deduce whether a product or service is good enough.

Customer Satisfaction Score

The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a simple method to measure customer satisfaction. Mostly, this KPI refers to the service or a service.

The central question in CSAT is: How satisfied are you with the service you received or with our service? For the answer options, most companies use a satisfaction scale 1 – 10 or satisfaction scale 1 – 5.

Measuring customer satisfaction – CSAT metric

Example satisfaction scale 1 – 5

  • 1 – very unsatisfied
  • 2 – unsatisfied
  • 3 – neutral
  • 4 – satisfied
  • 5 – very unsatisfied

Calculation of the CSAT value

Formula: Number of satisfied customers (scale 4 and 5) / Number of respondents x 100 = Percentage of satisfied customers.

Numerical example: 54 customers who selected 4 and 5 / 72 (customers surveyed) x 100 = 75.

This means that 75% of customers are satisfied with your performance. The higher the number, the more satisfied your clients are.

Customer Effort Score

Customer Effort Score (CES) shows how easy or complicated customers find it to work with a company. It calculates the effort customers have to make to clarify a concern (e.g., questions about the product, problems, etc.).

CES requires a customer survey and is particularly suitable for improving service. Possible contents of the survey:

  • The customer service is easy to reach.
  • My request could be clarified.
  • I have found what I was looking for.

For example, customers can give their rating with a grading scale of 1 - 5 (1=agree completely; 5=disagree completely).

Formula: CES = sum of grades / number of responses

The lower the CES value, the better the score. The higher the number, the more difficult it is for customers to interact with the company.

How you increase Customer Satisfaction? — 8 appropriate Measures

There are many measures to win customers and increase customer satisfaction. After you have analyzed and evaluated customer satisfaction, the next step is to define a suitable measure to attract customers.

1. Service is Key

The customer is always right and accordingly expects great service. Appreciation and courtesy are important building blocks in dealing with customers. If a customer feels appreciated, he is very likely to rate the service positively. Regularly review the quality of your service. Be responsive to customers' needs and wishes. The quality of customer service has a major impact on the company's image.

2. Keeping the Quality Promise

Don't leave quality to chance. This includes not only outstanding quality of the products and services offered. Your quality promise should run through all areas such as marketing, consulting and service.

Most customers are willing to spend more money for good products and great service. Show high enthusiasm for your products and services. Define firm structures and processes to improve quality management in the company. Evaluate the product range and processes regularly. This will help identify and successfully close any quality gaps.

3. Stand out from the Competition

Analyze your competitors. What can you do that your competitors can't? Offer your customers something special and create a unique selling proposition. Be faster and better than the rest of the competition.

4. Digital Signage as USP

Keep up with the times and implement digital signage technology in your company. You will not only reach your target group more easily, but also save costs. Integrate suitable digital signage solutions and inform your clients efficiently about products, services, and offers.

4. Making it as easy as Possible for Customers

In simplicity lies genius. Customers want to have a shopping experience without hassles or problems. Analyze your processes. Which sub-processes can you simplify?

5. Queue Management

There is nothing more annoying for customers than long waiting times. Anyone who has to stand at the checkout for a long time becomes dissatisfied. Digital Signage offers an excellent solution for queue management and thus contributes decisively to customer satisfaction. The digital displays efficiently manage queues, reducing waiting time. Furthermore, important information and product advertising can be displayed at specific intervals.

6. Digital Signs

Digital signs help customers quickly access essential information such as product descriptions or price promotions. The content can be customized and for a specific target audience at any time. Digitally signage is environmentally friendly and saves a lot of paper. You no longer need flyers or costly posters. Sustainability is also very well received by many customers and increases customer satisfaction.

7. Direct contact with Dissatisfied Customers

Eventually, there is an unhappy customer in every business. Whether it's just a bad day or a little carelessness on your part, there are many reasons for a dissatisfied and bad-tempered customer. No need to panic!

How do you deal with Dissatisfied Customers?

Seek direct contact with the dissatisfied customer. Dealing with such customers is easier if you do not take the complaint personally. Regardless of the channel through which the complaint reaches you (in person, by phone, or by e-mail), attempt to put yourself in the customer's shoes and view the situation from his or her perspective.

What does a complaining customer expect?

A dissatisfied customer expects you to take his complaint seriously and set out to make amends. Listen actively, ask questions and show understanding for his complaint. Apologize to the customer, using the appropriate words, facial expressions and gestures. Offer the customer a benefit. A voucher or a small gift will put a satisfied smile on the customer's face.

8. Get Feedback with Digital Signage

Digital signage displays help you measure customer satisfaction. Install an interactive digital signage display in the checkout or entrance area. Allow your customers to digitally participate in surveys and provide feedback. The advantage is that the data ends up in the system right away and is processed there. This eliminates the tedious data collection and evaluation of questionnaires in paper form.

Smiley Feedback

Conclusion

Customer satisfaction is the base for the success of the company. Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score and Customer Effort Score are essential KPIs to measure customer satisfaction and initiate effective measures. Digital signage offers itself as a great solution to increase customer satisfaction. Dynamic advertising, digital displays for customer ratings or queue management – the application possibilities of digital signage are manifold and support entrepreneurs on their way to success.

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Gravatar Nikolaos Sagiadinos
Author: Niko Sagiadinos
Developer & Co-Founder SmilControl – Digital Signage
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