To say that customer satisfaction is important would be an understatement. To truly understand the magnitude of customer satisfaction and why it is important, we must look at how it impacts each and every function of a company and how it ties into larger organizational success. Let’s allow some numbers to do the talking here.

A recent survey stated that 93 percent of customers are more likely to go for repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service. Another survey showed that nearly 83 percent of customers feel more loyal towards brands that help resolve their complaints, and Bain & Company research revealed that a business’ revenues can grow between 4 percent and 8 percent above their market benchmark when customer service experiences are prioritized.

These statistics establish the fact that customer satisfaction is almost the lynchpin to success for companies across sectors.  So how then do we understand what customer satisfaction is and how can organizations work to maintain a high level of it?

The father of modern marketing Philip Kotler describes customer satisfaction as a “person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations.” This definition continues to be the base of all other modern marketing explanations of customer satisfaction and companies have various tools to help them quantify and study customer satisfaction. And while this is an important first step, what can companies do once they have this data and how can they leverage it to maintain high levels of or improve their customer satisfaction scores?

The ABCs of High Customer Satisfaction

Understanding Customers: No company can ensure customer satisfaction if they don’t understand who their customers are and what their pain points are. The first step in this process is to draw up a profile of customers and truly understand their problems; what is it that needs resolving, and what are the challenges they are facing while using your product/service? Back these questions up with key data points such as demographic information and customer profiling. Today, there are a host of AI and other tech-enabled tools that can help do this. Only when armed with all of this information and understanding can a company proceed to anticipate customers’ needs and meet their level of expectations.

Listen and Listen Actively: Although this sounds like advice out of a self-help book, listening and listening keenly are crucial aspects of maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. This is because, when an organization listens, it opens up a window of opportunity where customers can express their concerns and issues. Furthermore, listening actively entails going beyond just registering a customer’s complaint or concern, instead, it involves paying close attention to what they are saying and helping them to truly resolve their problem. The act of listening needs a company and its representatives to be constantly in tune with their customers’ emotions so that they feel heard and understood. Listening is, thus, one of the most powerful tools that can help gain a holistic view of overall customer sentiment.

Real-Time Data Sharing: While many companies have the right attitude and tools in place to collect valuable feedback from customers, they fall short when it comes to sharing this information in real time with the right people. Data is of no use if merely collected and stored, instead, it has to be shared at the right time with the concerned teams in the organization for there to be real change. Sales teams, operations, marketing, and customer service must have immediate access to both the positive and negative feedback that comes the company’s way. Sharing the right feedback at the right moment can ensure that customer concerns are dealt with in a timely manner, eliminating the scope for unnecessary delays. In our 24x7 digitally connected world, relaying information in real-time time is crucial to building a consistently high-performing customer satisfaction strategy.

Omnichannel Support: Whether it is emails, phone calls, social media, or instant messaging, companies today have to be where their customers are. In a digital-forward world, this is imperative as customers are easily dissatisfied if companies aren’t available on the same platforms as they are to voice their concerns and grievances. An omnichannel model gives companies the ability to cater to customers across multiple platforms and touchpoints, providing a wholesome brand experience and a superior customer satisfaction experience.

Leverage Technology: There was a time when customer service survived on the shoulders of the good old telephone! However, the world has moved on, and today, there are a plethora of other options. For instance, chatbots are gaining increasing popularity because of their ability to be active 24x7, ensuring that customers in any part of the world can be serviced instantly. Powered by artificial intelligence, chatbots can ask relevant questions and resolve simple queries within a matter of minutes. Similarly, using visual tools to enhance real-time assistance is another way to drive up customer satisfaction. Here, tools such as live chat or face-to-face chat combined with options for co-browsing or collaborative browsing that enable customer support agents to collaborate with a customer's browser in real-time can help immensely. Such tools help with faster solutions for customer problems, better diagnoses of issues, and more importantly, it adds an element of personal touch, elevating the customer experience to the next level.

Measure Customer Satisfaction Regularly: Measuring customer satisfaction on a daily basis is key as it helps companies to evaluate the strategies that are working and relook at the ones that aren’t. There is no benefit in implementing a slew of customer satisfaction measures but then not going back and assessing their effectiveness. Using the right metric tools such as Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Effort Score (CES) is key to understanding whether customers are responding to your service strategies.

As customer expectations continue to grow and evolve, companies and organizations across the world will have to be in tandem and upgrade their customer satisfaction strategies accordingly. In the future, effective customer satisfaction will depend on how well companies can provide personalized experiences that leave customers feeling happy. And leveraging tech tools, AI, and omnichannel models will be crucial to staying relevant in today’s highly competitive landscape.