Service Quality Measurement Blog

Make Customer Complaints a positive source of customer feedback

Customer complaints are inevitable in business. It doesn’t matter whether you have the best attitude, a wonderful product and a great team. At one point or another, a customer will be unsatisfied with the service in some way. 

The way you handle complaints contributes to customer satisfaction, and this can determine whether you’re able to retain a customer. As manager, you will probably shoulder the majority of complaints and be tasked with resolving them. Even if you’re able to resolve issues, use these complaints as examples to better train your staff in customer satisfaction and welcome more feedback from customers with customer surveys. 

Don’t simply brush off complaints once they’ve been resolved. These same issues can arise in the future, and if you’re unavailable, your team will have to deal with customers. Make your team aware of all complaints and mandate that all customer complaints be summarized. During meetings, ask staff members to explain how they would handle the situation. Listen to cusotmers using surveys, provide feedback to your staff, and role play different issues. 

Taking these measures can better prepare your staff on how to handle issues with customers. Being prepared leads to better service, and ultimately improves customer satisfaction. This is important because satisfied customers are loyal customers.

Customer Satisfaction in Today's world

In a world of 24 hour service, customer service remains at a top premium for both international and local businesses. Customer service levels do care how someone has built up their business, how much hard work they put into growing their product, or how much it meets the needs of their customers. It is important to keep customer satisfaction levels at the top of class.

How does one remain at the top of the field? Sure being technology driven, forward thinking and employing a hard working staff helps. However, ultimately it is the customers who decide which direction business goes. Without monitoring customer satisfaction, it is very possible your company could fail, no matter how great your product or service is.

Because of the high demands from customers, it is extremely important for businesses to put in the time and hard work to learn and measure customer satisfaction.

An easy way to do this is to set-up a type of customer service survey. Surveys are an excellent way to gauge the satisfaction of a customer but not put pressure on the customer to name themselves. Surveys can be done anonymously. Anonymity provides the customer as sense of trust and allows them to be completely honest in their representations of the service they have been provided by the business.

Customer service surveys allow businesses to gauge their customer's satisfaction with the service and allow them to grow a healthy business.

Venting Customers = Valuable customer feedback

As a manager you have a weighty responsibility. Not only are you responsible for training your staff and handling other administrative tasks, but you're also responsible for keeping customers happy. 

Customer satisfaction and customer feedback carries a lot of weight. And if your customers are not pleased with the level of service at your establishment, this can damage your reputation in the community. 

There is no such thing as a perfect company, and problems with arise. However, it's the way that you handle these problems that determine whether you have good customer service. 

Here are three ways to address issues and maintain customer satisfaction. 

1. Allow customers to vent. You may feel inclined to cut off customers or ignore their complaints. This can complicate the matter. Allow customers to express their frustrations and lend a listening ear. Do not interrupt and use the information they provide you to improve your business.

2. Make sure you understand the problem. Once the customer finishes venting, paraphrase the issue back to him. This shows that you've been listening, and demonstrates a willingness to understand his concern. 

3. Offer a solution. Ideally, you want to retain the customer. Brainstorm ways to smooth over the problem. For example, you might offer the customer a refund or take a percentage off his purchase. If you run a restaurant, you might offer to pay for his meal.

Give your customers an opportunity to voice their opinions by conducting a customer satisfcation survey.  Sometimes all your customers need to start providing their feedback is a new channel to open up.

3 ways to measure Customer Satisfaction

How well is my company performing? This is a common question asked by many small business owners, but the question isn't always easy to answer. As a small business owner, you want to meet your customer's expectations. This is how you build a solid reputation in the community and maintain your existing customers. Customer satisfaction should always be a priority, and fortunately, there are simple ways to determine how customers feel about your establishment. 

1. Ask questions. Whether you run a restaurant, sell software, or own a retail store, it doesn't hurt to briefly visit with customers and ask about their experience thus far. Let's say you run a restaurant. You might browse the dining area and visit tables as families end their meals. How was your meal? Is everything okay? The majority of customers will say yes and keep the conversation brief. But if there's a real problem, they will speak up. 

2. Customer phone surveys. These anonymous phonesurveys are a key way to learn how others view your staff and establishment. Don't overwhelm customers. But once or twice a year, you might invite them to complete a phone survey. They can evaluate the establishment, the customer service, the prices, the quality of food or merchandise, as well as offer suggestions for improvement.

3. Customer web Surveys. Web surveys allow customers to complete a survey on their own time.  A customer can start a survey and then come back to it and finish it later.  Although web surveys have a lower response rate, they can be very valuable to your customer satisfaction strategy.

Your customers are always ready to provide feedback to you, however, many times are looking for some guidance on how to do so.  Provide your customers with opportunities to provide you with feedback and the information will flow in.  

The next step is just making sure that your customers know that their feedback is being used to improve products and services.

Allow your customers to provide valuable customer feedback

Customer service is an important aspect of running a business. Whether you're the owner of a company or the manager, the way you and your staff deal with customers directly affects your reputation. But despite the extra effort to satisfy your customers, success depends on how customers view your service. In your mind, you may provide stellar service and address customer needs in a timely manner. But if your customers think otherwise, this can impact the success of your business. 

To understand how customers currently feel, consider the benefits of surveys. A customer survey can provide the answers that you need. Surveys give customers the opportunity to provide feedback. They can rate your service, as well as make suggestions for improvement. By encouraging completion of a customer survey, and seriously considering the feedback, you can greatly improve your relationship with customers. Understandably, the truth can hurt. However, the more you understand about your customer's needs, the better.

Be prepared to take the feedback that your customers provide and use it to improve your business. The initial amount of feedback data you recieve can be overwhelming and can require a lot of time so be sure to have a quality reporting tool at your disposal, similar to the SERVICE 800 eSMART reporting tool.  A robust reporting tool will allow you to sort through your feedback data quickly and efficiently which will allow you to act on your feedback as quick as possible.

4 Simple Ways to Boost Customer Satisfaction

The last thing business owners or managers want to do is receive a customer complaint. The way customers view your establishment and service carries a lot of weight. Customers talk, and a few complaints can spread like wildfire and hurt your company's reputation. But with effort and determination, you can boost customer satisfaction and present your business in the best light. 

Here are 4 simple ways to boost customer satisfaction:

1. Be approachable. Train your staff to be attentive and friendly to customers, and make sure that you set a good example. It's important to greet customers as they enter your business, as well as acknowledge customers who exist. 

2. Respond quickly to problems and thank the customer for brining the issue to you.  It may be hard to handle some customer problems when it seems as if they are being unreasonable, however its important to handle each issue with poise. 

3. Create a customer satisfaction survey. It can be difficult to hear how customers actually feel about your company. But if you're unaware of a problem, you can't make improvements. Get customer feedback and ask customers to complete a survey about your business.

4. Follow up with your customers based on the feedback you recieve from the survey data. Your customers took time out of their days to provide you with feedback, make sure they know how valuable their time and opinions are to your business.

By utilizing these simple tricks your business will be well along the way to boosting customer satisfaction.  

Use a survey to Build a Loyal Consumer Base

Knowing whether your company is functioning the way it should and at the level you want, requires paying close attention to every aspect of your business. Unfortunately, we can only be in one place at a time, so watching everything that goes on in our business is nearly impossible. This is why customer satisfaction measurement and benchmarking are so important.

By monitoring how employees and products interact with your consumer base, and learning what works, and, more importantly, what needs work, your company can continue to improve and provide the best for its clientele.  Additionally, asking your customers for their honest opinion on your products and services greatly increases customer loyalty and will build your overall customer base's loyalty.

Ignoring the voice of the customer is not in a company’s best interest. Good customer satisfaction ratings, especially for new companies, are vital in order for a business to succeed and grow. Service Quality management can occur through the use of targeted surveys, recordings of customer service interactions, online efficacy monitoring, and a host of other tools. With the data at your fingertips, you can grow your company, and build a loyal consumer base that will return year after year.

Most importantly is making sure to close the loop with your customers following a survey campaign.  Do not expect your cusotmers to continue to provide their valuable feedback if you don't let them know that it is being used for.  

Ensure Customer Satisfaction with customer surveys

Surveys are wonderful tools that measure a sample of a population in order to create a statistical model for understanding a larger population. When carried out and analyzed appropriately, a survey can provide valuable insight into whether a product, process, or idea is popular or effective. For businesses, a customer survey can clarify what is working and what is not, and can also provide useful information about what products or services are worth developing.

Surveying customers can be carried out in multiple ways. Whether by phone, web, or in person a survey can be conducted at any time. Whatever the method, a survey can be a very effective business tool. Relatively easy to administer, cost-effective, and efficient with regards to collecting a range of data from multiple parties. Surveys can take some of the guesswork out of knowing what your company’s consumer base wants and needs. At the end of the day, customer satisfaction is the most important aspect of your business, and a survey can help insure that your customers are always happy.

Getting started with surveying doesn't take a lot of time, however, it does take some experience.  It's important to develop surveys that are short and require very little time from your customer.  It is easy for someone being survey to experience fatigue so make sure to keep them in mind.  Additionally, make sure you're asking the right questions that will yeild the most valuable and actionable insights.

With the help of a properly constructed survey, your company will be able to gain valuable insight into minds of your customers.  Having access to this information is just the beginning, remember that your customers expect you to do something with what you've learned.

Listen to your customer feedback

If you run a business you know you are always looking for ways to improve customer service and the entire customer experience.

Surveying customers has long been the standard practice to hear the voice of the customer; to understand where a business might be lacking and to ask them for places they would like to see improvements.

Make sure when you offer a customer survey that you respond to each suggestion. If someone is dissatisfied, acknowledge that you hear them and will put into place the changes if it is possible. If it is not possible, you should offer an apology and let them know you understand their concerns, but that it is not the company policy at this time. People want to be heard and know that the company on the other end is listening. It makes the biggest difference. Customers know what they want and if yours is the business that offers it great, if not, they will find someone else to fill your spot that will listen.

Remember, too, that just because you run a successful business and have many repeat customers, don’t believe for a second that if you change something everyone will still be happy. There are reasons they are repeat customers; you are doing something right. Find out what that is from a customer survey so you can continue doing it. It can be very costly to change something only to find out nobody likes the change and you have to change back.

Customer surveys are a great tool to not only find out what your company needs to do to improve, but also what your company needs to keep doing well. You want your valuable customers no only coming back, you want them to refer others!

Employee Satisfaction - Dont forget about them!

Though many people focus on branding, advertising, and marketing when launching a company, they often overlook the very important human aspect of their business. A company’s employees are the public face of the business. They are responsible for the first impression that the public receives of the business.

It is vital that employees, who are the frontline of any business, are clear about company standards and practices, and that they are able to communicate effectively and efficiently with anyone who approaches them about a company’s products or services. Customer satisfaction can make or break a business but employee satisfaction is just as important.

Monitoring employee and client interactions is a delicate process. If handled inappropriately it can have the unpleasant effect of alienating staff or slowing down the ability of the company to function efficiently. Employee satisfaction is of equal importantance to customer satisfaction. They are the life of your business.

With the right tools and resources, however, practicing customer satisfaction measurement, monitoring communication and response times, and addressing areas of concern in a timely manner, can make a huge difference in your company’s customer satisfaction. Paying attention to what works, and what does not, is all it takes to help your company stand head and shoulders above your competition.   

SERVICE 800 can start a employee satisfaction measurement program for you in days, so you can start simply and evolve your measurements over time.  Why wait? Can you afford not to know? Start improving customer service now.