Customer Engagement: The Price of Not Getting It Right
Aware of it or not, your customers are in a relationship with your brand. People use phrases such as “falling in love” with a brand they are excited about. They often feel as if other brand followers are family. But even after many years of being in love, customers will still break up with that brand after a bad experience — and run into the waiting arms of your competitors. Once that happens, they won’t be back.
Here’s a study that might make you say ouch: Even among beloved brands in the U.S., 17% of customers will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. Worldwide, that percentage climbs to 32%. In Latin America, it’s 49%!
As in any relationship, you’ll want to know as soon as possible if anything is wrong — and how to fix it. But since your business is in a relationship with thousands — perhaps millions — of people, you can’t have a one-on-one with all of them. But, you can use customer satisfaction surveys.
Satisfaction Surveys: A Valuable CX Strategy Tool
What you don’t know can hurt you. Customer satisfaction surveys can bring up issues that you might not be aware of and help you to fix them. As per a report by Microsoft, 77% of consumers see brands in a better light if they care enough to invite and accept customer feedback.
Identify Trends and Understand Your Customers
Customer satisfaction surveys gather data. And with that data, you can develop a clearer picture of what is happening. You can find out whether you are meeting, falling short of, or (hopefully) surpassing your customer’s expectations.
You can also find out which channels they prefer to engage with and when. Don’t take it personally if consumers share negative feedback. If one customer is complaining about a particular product or service, it’s likely others are facing the same issue.
Increase Customer Loyalty and Grow Your Brand
Surveys not only show how much you care about your customers but also offer them another platform to engage with you. By including surveys as part of an omni-channel customer experience (i.e., emails, social media, SMS) you have the potential to reach customers at the right time and the right place.
Yet despite social media and new technology, nothing beats a trusted personal recommendation — or condemnation. When consumers have a terrible experience with your brand, they will spread the word. When problems are discovered, such as customer service center outages or poor product quality, you have the chance to make things right by fixing them.
Instead of badmouthing your brand, chances are that customers will rave about how your company cared enough to go above and beyond. Creating an outstanding customer experience out of an initial problem can be vital in reducing customer churn and increasing profits.
What Customer Satisfaction Surveys Can’t Do
- They can’t assure that your customers will respond. Customers are willing to share personal information with companies, but only in exchange for some type of value (such as a discount, coupon, or freebie). They also want to know that their privacy and information are kept safe.
- They can’t predict the future. Just because a customer says they’re satisfied doesn’t mean they’ll come back. If you uncover a problem, it isn’t enough to apologize and refund their money. Think of their experience. Possessing a faulty product creates hassle and inconvenience. To ultimately improve the experience, the product must be made more durable to eliminate dissatisfaction in the first place.
- They can’t create the experience your customers don’t know they want yet. That’s up to you. Once you know your customers better, it’s time to think about how to go above and beyond. For example, when a family stayed at a Ritz-Carlton hotel, the customer’s young son left his beloved Joshie the Giraffe behind. To calm the child, his father explained that Joshie was staying behind for an extended vacation. He then emailed the resort to explain the situation. The resort not only found and sent the toy home, but created a photo booklet showing everything Joshie had done during his extra stay! Encourage new ideas from your teams, do A/B testing, and continue to listen to your customers.
Ensure Success with Expert Customer Experience Management
Are you uncertain how to detect problems that may drive your customers to break up with you? Radius Global Solutions can help. We have over 25 years of experience building successful customer experience strategies for global businesses. We can provide you with tools such as expert sales and market research (including surveys), omni-channel customer care and automation, and data services.
Radius offers customer engagement strategies that can not only satisfy your customers, but delight them. Contact us today to learn how our specialist teams can pinpoint customers’ challenges before they become a problem.
