Customer satisfaction at the heart of your strategy

This notion may seem obvious, and yet ! Today, too many companies are only looking at their profit and loss account, without worrying about other indicators that are also (or even more) important for the success of a company. There is one indicator that must be considered: customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction must be at the centre of the company’s strategy, the site or the brand. Why ? Simply because customers are the heart of your business ! Without them, no sales, therefore no revenue (and therefore a catastrophic profit and loss account). Every action must be thought out and consumer-oriented ! Simply adopting this mindset allows decisions to be made in the direction of quality of experience, and not only in the direction of profit.

Yeah, but how ? There is a multitude of possibilities to increase customer satisfaction:

  • Intuitive navigation,
  • The purchase assistance service (click-to-chat, product recommendations, customer reviews, etc.),
  • Free shipping,
  • The implementation of loyalty programs (exclusive discounts, private sales, gifts, etc.)

Of course, this list is non-exhaustive, but it already improves the visitor experience on your site.

The ultimate goal of customer satisfaction is to convert your visitors into buyers and retain them. And that’s where the companies go. Indeed, satisfied customers will be more able to buy on the site, whether more often or for higher baskets (69% of satisfied consumers buy more). These same customers will also be more likely to be loyal to you, as you are meeting their needs. When we know that a loyalty strategy costs 5 to 7 times less than acquiring new customers, the stakes are huge.

Finally, making customer satisfaction a priority is a real asset for your business strategy !

Customer support: change your methods

Being able to reach customer service is (too) often synonymous with “torment”: endless waiting times, voice mail, multiple interlocutors, etc. The worst part is when you reach out to a client advisor and explain your problem to them, they start reading a script and give you a totally inadequate answer to your need. You feel like you’re talking to a robot, who doesn’t even listen to you and just recites the text in front of him. This is clearly the type of experience that makes you want to flee as quickly as possible (in a competitor). A look of déjà vu?

The main thing is to work on these weak points, which are the difficulty of reaching customer service (which is sometimes the fruit of a real desire of the company) and the quality of customer support (still too often non-existent). Here are a few ways to improve access to your customer service:

  • Make your means of contact (mail, email, telephone, chat, etc.) visible,
  • Indicate your availability times,
  • Avoid voice mail, and set up a call-back (to call the visitor directly),
  • Be creative and test your customer service as a consumer might

Obviously, access to customer service is a very important step, but it is another step that will improve or degrade the overall experience. This step is the accompaniment of the visitor by an advisor. It is here that the relationship must be of quality because it is the moment that the visitor expects and on which he puts a lot to have a solution.

The quality of the customer experience is the key, here are some ideas to improve the quality of exchanges between your advisors and your visitors.

Banning scripts

They are counterproductive, generating frustration and therefore dissatisfaction of your visitors. Even if the primary intention of a script is good and aims to help telecounsellors to respond to their clients, it soon becomes obsolete. Agents quickly find themselves locked into scenarios that are not updated as regularly and rapidly as client situations and needs evolve.

Listen to personalize

By deleting the scripts, the exchange between the visitor and the advisor will be more natural and will look like a real conversation. This listening will allow you to personalize the support of the client to best meet his needs. The consulting dimension must have its place in a customer service !

Show your interest

The least you can do is to ensure that the proposed solution corresponds to your client’s problem. If that is not the case, do not hesitate to ask him again what he needs. Showing interest to the visitor is a factor in generating satisfaction.

Changing support methods is a key to the success of a quality customer relationship strategy. Indeed, it is essential to give priority to quality over quantity. Ultimately, quality will generate quantity. Client issues are so important that it would be dangerous to ignore them.

target first soltutions

Fight for your customers

Your advisors will see many dissatisfied clients. The main reason for dissatisfaction is generally related to the gap between consumer expectations and the perception of their experience with the company or product. It is therefore essential to understand the specific reason for dissatisfaction.

A majority of dissatisfied customers will contact you simply to obtain compensation. Listen to them, understand the nature and consequences of their problem, and make sure you solve it. If you get involved with them, they will feel it and be better able to “forgive” you for the damage done. The posture and attitude adopted are as important as the resolution of the problem itself.

Another, more complicated situation may present itself: an angry and virulent customer, who is very angry at you for the damage he suffered “because” of you. Managing this type of dissatisfied customer is essential. He may have to spread his discontent among his entourage, on social networks or on customer reviews. In this case, the attitude you will adopt is paramount in resolving the “conflict”. The best posture is empathy. Put yourself in his shoes and try to understand the consequences of the incident before looking for the cause of the problem. Speak calmly, reassure the visitor by telling them that you understand their situation and that you will find the best solution together.

You have to understand one thing: if the client calls you and asks for compensation, it’s that they give you a very small chance to get it back. It is therefore essential to fight to solve his problem, and turn his dissatisfaction into satisfaction. The customer advisor’s attitude will determine the success of the unsatisfied customer’s “recovery”. Remember, empathy and proactivity are sources of success in the customer relationship. Fight for your customers, they are the ones who make you live !

Customize to engage your customers

As we keep saying, personalizing the customer experience is both an expectation from consumers and a great opportunity for brands. Indeed, 69% of Internet users want to live a personalized experience. And this experience obviously requires a quality customer service. The use of suitable tools greatly facilitates the possibility of customization of the experience. CRM or click-to-chat are formidable tools to know your customers and offer them a customer experience and personalized follow-up.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to convert your visitors, retain your customers and engage them with your brand. Their commitment will be through recurring purchases on your site and through the promotion of your brand via word-of-mouth, social networks or customer reviews. The engagement of visitors to your site is a great proof of the effectiveness of your customer relationship strategy. Consumers are demanding, but they also know how to thank brands that strive to give them a quality experience.

Employee motivation as an essential asset

This may seem surprising, and yet ! The motivation and well-being of employees play a key role in the success of a customer service strategy. Indeed, a happy employee, focused on the customer and the goal of satisfaction is important will prove to be an excellent asset to provide quality customer service.

You can see the smile, but you can hear it too ! When you contact a customer service department, you see the direct difference between an advisor who is involved and motivated and an advisor who is not committed to solving the problem.

The concept of Symmetry of Attentions completely illustrates this phenomenon, which means that the quality of the relationship between employees and their employer is the symmetry of the quality of the relationship between the company and its customers. In practice, this goes far beyond a symmetry of attitudes, it is also a question of ensuring symmetry in the equipment: it seems obvious, but we must ensure that employees have the same level of knowledge and agility as customers.

Be customer focused

This is an obvious element but which is still forgotten today by a (too many) large number of companies. The “power” of decision-making lies with consumers, and it grows with technological innovations and the tools they have to consume. Consumers are no longer just buying a product, they are buying an experience. And if it’s not good, they change and go to competition. The latter is increasingly harsh and consumers benefit from it: they are increasingly demanding.

From this observation, we can easily deduce that it is essential to consider them and meet their expectations.

Given the stakes and the importance of customer satisfaction, it would be extremely dangerous to ignore the customer when defining a strategy. Stay customer focused: listen, understand, adapt.

 

Did this article convince you to put customer relations at the heart of your strategy ?

demo chatbot