Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well a product, service, or experience with a business measures up to the customer’s expectation. High customer satisfaction increases the likelihood that a customer will continue the business relationship and recommend the business to others.
Why is customer satisfaction important?
High customer satisfaction yields several extremely positive results. Satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat customers, improving revenue and increasing customer lifetime value. They are also more likely to recommend a business to friends and family and, just as important, to not leave negative and damaging reviews. Ultimately, customer satisfaction is a critical point of differentiation for businesses operating in a marketplace where customers can easily click to find another business.
What are customer satisfaction metrics?
Companies use a variety of metrics to measure customer satisfaction.
- Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) measures how satisfied a customer is with a given interaction.
- Customer effort score (CES) measures how easy a given interaction was for a customer. Less effort generally equates to higher satisfaction.
- Customer churn rate measures the number of customers who stop doing business with the company, which is often attributed to dissatisfaction.
- Net promoter score (NPS) reveals how likely a customer is to recommend a service or product to other people.
What determines customer satisfaction?
Many factors determine customer satisfaction, enabling companies to improve satisfaction in multiple ways.
- Offer multichannel support. Omnichannel support increases satisfaction by meeting customers wherever and whenever they choose to interact with the company.
- Make things convenient. Customers love convenience, whether it’s self-service options that let them find what they need easily or frictionless payment processes that let them avoid re-entering personal information and credit card details for a web purchase.
- Focus on speed. Customers love speed, too, as when products arrive quickly, webpages load fast, and customer service teams resolve issues within minutes.
- Manage expectations. Since satisfaction depends highly on expectations, letting customers know up front what they can expect from a product, service, or experience goes a long way to improving overall satisfaction.
- Personalize communication. From personalized marketing messages to contact center agents who have a complete history of the customer’s interactions at their fingertips, personalization makes customers feel seen and valued.
- Resolve issues quickly. While there will always be issues with products, services, and customer experiences, companies can improve customer satisfaction by resolving them as quickly as possible.
- Lead with empathy. Customers appreciate agents and sales reps who can empathize with their pain points and understand their needs.
How do you measure customer satisfaction?
Most businesses measure customer satisfaction with surveys. In-app surveys integrate a feedback bar into a website, allowing customers to give their opinion as they engage with the company. Post-service surveys via email or text measure satisfaction immediately after delivery of a product or service, when the experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind. Follow-up email surveys measure satisfaction at some point after an interaction and provide the opportunity for more in-depth insight. However, all of these surveys inevitably capture only a fraction of customer opinion, and results tend to be biased since dissatisfied customers are more likely to respond. For this reason, conversation intelligence software has emerged as a more comprehensive way to measure customer satisfaction.
What is conversation intelligence software?
Conversation intelligence software provides insight into 100% of customer interactions across all touchpoints and channels. Conversation intelligence platforms use voice analytics to analyze phone calls with customers, and text analytics to analyze email, chat, SMS text, social media, web interactions, and more. By converting the unstructured information in these interactions into structured data, conversation intelligence software makes it possible for businesses to gain comprehensive insight into customer expectations and satisfaction.
How does CallMiner measure customer satisfaction?
As the global leader in conversation intelligence technology, CallMiner offers the most comprehensive platform for analyzing omnichannel customer interactions at scale. The CallMiner Eureka platform enables businesses to identify customer sentiment, behavioral patterns, and the drivers of their decisions. By providing insights based on all customer interactions across all channels, CallMiner provides a fuller understanding of what customers expect at every touchpoint and how well the business is meeting those expectations, allowing companies to identify areas for improvements that can increase customer satisfaction.
