Every company should aspire to achieve maximum customer satisfaction, a useful condition to ensure satisfactory profitability and promote the positive image of the brand. Customer satisfaction is a measure of customer satisfaction and a useful basis for improving one's activities and increasing customer retention.
What is customer satisfaction?
Customer satisfaction is a concept that measures customer satisfaction with a brand, product or service.
In fact, customers can evaluate the purchasing experience towards a company in terms of:
- Product Quality
- benefits of use
- value for money
- obtaining special benefits
- keep the promises made
When customer expectations regarding the shopping experience are exceeded, it becomes easier to establish a long-lasting positive relationship with the customer. In fact, the customer perceives that his needs are satisfied and that he even obtains something more than he would obtain from the offer of others, so he has no reason to buy from other sellers.
Customer satisfaction measures five different aspects of satisfaction:
- material aspects (premises, personal, means of transportation, etc.)
- reliability (ability to perform the assigned task correctly)
- quick response to customer needs
- ability to respond to customer needs as expected
- customer service and the ability to convey positive feelings to customers
These aspects are analyzed from the point of view of expectations and actual satisfaction obtained from use. By comparing these evaluations, it is possible to study the discrepancy between the imagined and real situation, and understand whether this can affect the commercial profitability of the brand.
A satisfied client accepts commercial proposals of the highest level
Customer satisfaction also fuels customer loyalty, favoring the conditions that push the customer to continue buying repeatedly over time. Furthermore, a satisfied customer tends to accept commercial offers for a higher amount than they normally perceive as convenient. Greater customer satisfaction makes it possible to avoid resorting to pricing strategies that lead to competing with low-end competitors and to continue maintaining prices in line with quality.
In fact, the customer perceives greater quality and a commitment to creating solutions that are more relevant to their needs and is willing to pay more to obtain what effectively meets their needs. A satisfied customer can lead to positive word of mouth that increases brand visibility and conveys a feeling of satisfaction with the solutions provided.
Companies can develop specific tests and questionnaires to monitor customer satisfaction and objectively measure satisfaction with the activities carried out, as well as obtain valuable information on aspects to improve so that customers are more satisfied.
Customer satisfaction data is used to evaluate a company's sales prospects in the future, allowing management to get an idea of the brand's profitability and the ability to continue selling to loyal customers over time.
How to measure customer satisfaction
Companies have every interest in evaluating their customers' satisfaction in detail to determine whether it is appropriate to develop strategies aimed at improving the appreciation of the brand identity and making commercial offers better understood.
Customer satisfaction indicators allow you to experience first-hand the appreciation that customers feel for the brand's offering, in terms of benefit/cost ratio.
Obviously, different corporate communication channels are useful for sending questionnaires in the way customers prefer, in order to increase the chances of them completing them. Companies have several elements to evaluate customer satisfaction such as:
- form on site
- email feedback requests
- paper questionnaires
- questions asked by employees in sales stores that can be used together or alternatively to achieve greater coverage. If possible, it is necessary to ensure that the interested parties give an answer when they feel comfortable, so that they do not return improvised and not really heard, for example, to quickly get rid of the questionnaire.
The ServQual (Service Quality) method allows us to know the gap between customer expectations and the performance obtained through a questionnaire. In this way it is possible to estimate the discrepancies between what was expected and what was received, to know what aspects to correct and prevent reputational crises that can destroy the value of the brand.
Indicators
The indicators that provide a measure of customer satisfaction are:
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): The average degree of consumer satisfaction with a product, service, or initiative.
- net promoter score (NPS) – the propensity of customers to recommend a product, service, or brand to someone else
Therefore, satisfaction is expressed with a series of levels that allow for a response that is objectively comparable to customer satisfaction. Therefore, we can apply a rating from 1 to 5 (where one is "Not at all" and five is "Very much") to have a concrete confirmation of satisfaction. Then we will group all the customers who have returned the same value and compare them with the total, to obtain the satisfaction percentages for each range.
For example, having an 80% rating range between 4 and 5 is certainly a more desirable condition than having 50% of votes below three and 50% of 3 and above.
The Network Promoter is a very important variable since it gives an idea of the ability to transform customers into brand evangelists, subjects who spontaneously spread the company's messages and produce content that increases the visibility of the brand. Thanks to their work, companies multiply the scope of their commercial activities by reaching a much broader audience than the one they originally had within their reach.
Obviously, not all customers feel encouraged to answer satisfaction questionnaires: in this case it may be useful to point out that the information collected, in addition to being anonymous, will help companies improve the service, with the consequent benefits for those who provide it. . Involving operators directly in contact with customers helps them feel more motivated to provide feedback, so as not to disappoint counterparties.
For example, we can have restaurant cashiers who are in charge of asking customers how their evening went and what they may not have been satisfied with, service point assistants who ask customers what they think of the service provided, to hotel receptionists to whom clients can ask for an evaluation of the service by outsourcing their subsequent reservation requests.
A customer who feels followed by companies in terms of needs to be satisfied is a more easily loyal customer, because they know that they will obtain products and services that are more in line with their needs than those standardized by other brands.
What activities increase customer satisfaction
- definition and application of prices that satisfy customer expectations
- reward brand loyalty through special offers, coupons, personalized promotions
- Optimize the customer experience of company apps and websites so that buyers are incentivized to continue using them
- monitor customer opinion through surveys, interviews, questionnaires and feedback requests
Obtaining timely data from the modules intended to obtain feedback allows the different departments of the company to refine corrections in their business plan, develop strategies more in line with their commercial target, and set realistic, achievable objectives.
