It might sound like the bleeding obvious, but customer satisfaction can tell you plenty about your current sales results. For starters, a contribution to Forbes declared the cost of winning a new client is five to six times more expensive than retaining a current customer. Furthermore, there is a 60 to 70 per cent probability of selling to an existing customer, compared to 5 to 20 per cent for a new prospect.
But how do you know whether you’re meeting client expectations? At a simple level, it’s usually a strong sign that improvement is need, if they take their business elsewhere. However, before allowing customers to reach the point of no return, there are methods for measuring and tracking satisfaction, which are worth some consideration.
Measuring customer satisfaction
Using a survey is the most logical and practical way for measuring satisfaction. There are many cost effective online survey tools available today, such as Survey Monkey, which are free, or very low cost, to use. That’s the easy bit. Now you need to establish some satisfaction measurements.
Six metrics for measuring customer satisfaction
There are six key metrics for measuring customer satisfaction. These involve the use of a simple 1-5 scoring system, where 1 is ‘totally dissatisfied’ and 5 is ‘extremely satisfied’. Let’s start with the overall satisfaction rating for your business.
1. Overall satisfaction rating: Knowing this score can provide you with data that can be tracked over time. If the score drops over a six-month period, it’s a case of “Houston, we have a problem”.
2. Specific deliverable satisfaction: This involves asking your clients to rate a particular aspect of your service. By seeking this information, you can determine what’s hot and what’s not. Asking for more specific details about aspects of your service offering gives you a better chance of keeping your customers satisfied.
3. Expectation vs. perception: This helps you track whether your services are living up to customer expectations – and if you’ve established the right expectations upfront.
4. Client experience compared to ideal experience: This relates to how you rate in the minds of your customers against their customer satisfaction exemplar. For example, a client may be happy with your level of service, but when compared to their lawyer, accountant or personal trainer, you may not stack up.
5. Likelihood to recommend: A metric for measuring the prospect for a referral can determine whether a client will go into bat for you or not. The higher the score, the more likely they’ll be to drive referral business your way.
6. Repeat purchase intention: Quite simply, this metric seeks to determine whether a client will seek the same or additional services from you. It’s a valuable indicator of client satisfaction.
When it comes to client surveys, you can write your own questions and deliver them through the likes of MailChimp. However, with a DIY approach, there’s always the danger of getting the results you want to hear. To ensure a level of impartiality, seek the advice of a marketing professional to help you build and deliver a valuable survey.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
If you want to get very serious, consider the NPS, which is a management tool enabling businesses to accurately gauge customer satisfaction. The costs for using the NPS can be as little as a few hundred dollars, but you’ll need to hire the services of a certified NPS practitioner to implement it effectively and impartially. Again, there will be consultancy costs, which are determined by how regularly you use the NPS and the survey size.
The questions and scores should be constructed by the NPS practitioner in consultation with you, so there’s no fence sitting. From the survey results, you will be able to determine your detractors, promoters – and who couldn’t care less! Moreover, there’s a huge NPS user ecosystem, which can help you can benchmark your scores against similar business globally.
Customer satisfaction is a major bellwether for your business, as it can directly translate to sales results. At the same time, it won’t cost and arm and a leg to measure client approval levels. If you’re not sure where to start, seek out some marketing advice. It will be money well spent.
