<p>Every percentage point, every chart, and every trend is a narrative of the human connection between a business and its consumer. Feefo has developed this in-depth guide to customer satisfaction, detailing what it is, how to measure it, and how to build your business on it.  </p><h2>What is customer satisfaction?</h2><p>Customer satisfaction is a gauge of how well the goods or services a company offers align with customer expectations. To define customer satisfaction is to understand it as a reflection of the degree to which customers feel contented and fulfilled with their purchase decisions. It is the measurement against which companies can judge the effectiveness of their products, services, and customer touchpoints.</p><p>The internet and social media platforms have given customers a powerful voice and more comprehensive visibility for their opinions and experiences. Businesses now need to pay closer attention to surveying customer satisfaction through traditional channels and digital platforms where feedback is instantaneous and far-reaching. </p><p>The modern approach to customer satisfaction also involves a constant feedback loop, where businesses engage with and act upon customer insights rapidly. This responsiveness is not a luxury but a necessity in a world where consumer loyalty is contingent on the immediate and effective resolution of issues.</p><h2>Why should you monitor customer satisfaction?</h2><p>Monitoring customer satisfaction is not merely a reactive measure but a strategic imperative that can significantly influence business growth and sustainability. When companies define customer satisfaction as a key performance indicator, they unlock the potential to tailor experiences that foster long-term customer relationships. By consistently measuring and responding to the outcomes of a customer satisfaction survey, businesses gain actionable insights that can drive product innovation, service improvements, and market competitiveness.</p><h3>Retaining customers</h3><p>One of the most compelling reasons to survey customer satisfaction is its direct correlation with customer retention. It is a well-established business axiom that retaining an existing customer is significantly less expensive than acquiring a new one. By understanding customer satisfaction in their customers' eyes, businesses can more effectively predict and prevent churn. This results in a more stable revenue base and forms the foundation of organic growth through upselling and cross-selling opportunities.</p><p>The cost dynamics of customer retention versus acquisition further underscore the importance of monitoring customer satisfaction. Acquisition involves marketing, education, and conversion costs, while retention focuses on delighting existing customers already familiar with the brand. By emphasising customer satisfaction, companies can reduce the overall expenses of keeping their customer base engaged and satisfied, thus maximising profitability.</p><h3>Brand image</h3><p>Additionally, the ripple effect of customer satisfaction on brand reputation must be considered. The definition of customer satisfaction is shaped by public opinion as much as by personal experience, so a satisfied customer is a brand's most credible advocate. Word-of-mouth, amplified by social media, can be a powerful accelerator for brand exposure and trust. Positive customer experiences that lead to personal endorsements are invaluable, often leading to viral marketing effects that no paid advertising can achieve.</p><p>In contrast, negative feedback can spread quickly, tarnishing a brand's reputation if not managed correctly. Therefore, a thorough and consistent approach to monitoring customer satisfaction is crucial. This involves quantitative metrics and qualitative insights that can help a brand align more closely with its customers' expectations and values.</p><h2>How to measure customer satisfaction</h2><p>Measuring customer satisfaction is not just about confirming that customers are content; it’s about obtaining precise data to guide strategic decisions. This critical analysis aids in refining the customer journey, improving product quality, and, ultimately, enhancing the overall health of a business.</p><h3>Customer satisfaction surveys</h3><p>Businesses must develop concise, relevant, and engaging surveys to survey customer satisfaction effectively. Effective surveys begin with clear objectives: What do you wish to learn, and how will this information serve your business goals? </p><p>Ensuring that each question is designed to elicit helpful information corresponding to the actionable metrics is essential. A well-constructed customer satisfaction survey balances closed-ended questions; which provide quantifiable data, and open-ended questions; which offer richer, qualitative insights.</p><h3>Analysing customer satisfaction survey responses</h3><p>Once the data is collected, the next step is to analyse the customer satisfaction survey responses to glean meaningful insights. This process involves looking at:</p><ul><li>Response rates and distribution: High response rates often indicate high customer engagement and interest in the company’s products or services. Analysing the distribution of responses helps understand the overall satisfaction level across your customer base.</li><li>Satisfaction trends over time: Monitoring how satisfaction levels change over time is crucial. It enables businesses to see whether their initiatives are improving the customer experience or if new emerging issues require attention. This trend analysis can also highlight seasonal variations in satisfaction, which may be necessary for businesses with seasonal products or services.</li><li>Open-ended feedback and theme analysis: Qualitative data from open-ended questions can be rich in insights. Businesses can uncover the nuances behind the ratings by employing text analysis and identifying recurring themes. These unstructured responses often reveal the 'why' behind customer sentiments, offering a deeper understanding of the customer experience.</li></ul><p>Measuring customer satisfaction is a continuous process that demands regular attention and refinement. By combining quantitative and qualitative data from customer satisfaction surveys, businesses can develop a comprehensive view of their performance through their customers' eyes. This holistic approach allows for targeted improvements and a more satisfying customer experience that fosters loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.</p><h2>Customer satisfaction tools</h2><p>Businesses use various tools to truly harness customer satisfaction insights, each providing different lenses to view the customer experience. Understanding and employing the right mix of these tools can paint a comprehensive picture of where a business stands in the eyes of its customers.</p><h3>Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)</h3><p>The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a straightforward metric that asks customers to rate their satisfaction with a service, product, or specific interaction. Typically measured on a scale — for instance, from 1 to 5 — this score is calculated by dividing the sum of respondents who answered with the top satisfaction points by the total number of respondents, multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. This figure represents the proportion of satisfied customers with the entity being evaluated. The CSAT helps get a quick read on customer sentiments post-interaction and can be a vital indicator of customer feelings at specific touchpoints.</p><h3>Customer Effort Score (CES)</h3><p>The Customer Effort Score (CES) measures the ease of customer experience with a company’s product or service. Businesses can understand how the' effort level' impacts customer loyalty by asking customers to rate the effort required to use a product or resolve an issue — usually on a scale from 'Very Easy' to 'Very Difficult'. CES is particularly valuable when looking to streamline processes, reduce customer pain points, and increase the overall efficiency of customer interactions.</p><h3>Net Promoter Score (NPS)</h3><p><a href="https://www.feefo.com/uk/business/features/nps" target="_self">The Net Promoter Score (NPS)</a> evaluates customer loyalty and the likelihood of customers recommending a company’s product or service to others. Customers are asked how likely they are to recommend the business on a scale of 0-10. Respondents are then categorised as Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), or Detractors (0-6). The percentage of Detractors is subtracted from the percentage of Promoters to determine the NPS. This score is significant as it correlates with revenue growth and can be an early indicator of future business performance.</p><h3>Direct feedback</h3><p>Direct feedback is obtained through explicit communication channels such as surveys, customer interviews, or digital communication like live chat. Handling this feedback involves not just a collection but also acknowledging and acting upon it. It requires a systematic approach to ensure that feedback is routed to the right teams and that the company responds to customers promptly and constructively.</p><h3>Indirect feedback</h3><p>Indirect feedback encompasses unsolicited customer opinions and comments across various channels, like social media, review platforms, and forums. This type of feedback can be gold mines of insights but requires tools for monitoring mentions, sentiment analysis, and trend spotting. Mining this data effectively can help businesses preempt issues, identify advocates, and fine-tune their market strategies.</p><h2>How to achieve customer satisfaction</h2><p>Achieving customer satisfaction is not an end goal but a continuous process that evolves with changing consumer needs and market dynamics. To consistently maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, businesses must be proactive and precise in their strategies.</p><h3>Aligning products and services with customer needs</h3><p>To define customer satisfaction in the context of product alignment, businesses must ensure that their offerings meet and exceed customer expectations. This requires understanding the customer's needs, which can be gleaned through direct feedback and market research. Regularly surveying customer satisfaction allows companies to keep their finger on the pulse of consumer demands, tailoring their products and services to address their target audience's evolving preferences and requirements.</p><h3>Ensuring quality and value consistency</h3><p>The definition of customer satisfaction is synonymous with the quality and value that customers perceive in your products or services. Consistency in delivering high-quality experiences reassures customers they can rely on your brand, fostering trust and loyalty. This entails strict quality control measures, continuous improvement processes, and a value proposition that resonates with customers. It is this consistency that often transforms first-time buyers into lifelong patrons.</p><h3>Excellent customer service</h3><p>Every customer service interaction must be an opportunity to solidify a customer's satisfaction with your brand. Investing in comprehensive training and development for customer service teams is essential. Employees should be adept at problem-solving and communicating effectively, empathising with customers, and delivering solutions that leave customers feeling valued and respected.</p><h3>Addressing feedback</h3><p>The final customer satisfaction puzzle is how a business responds to feedback. It’s not enough to survey customer satisfaction; what is critical is taking that feedback and translating it into action. How businesses address the feedback defines their commitment to customer satisfaction. This means resolving issues promptly and making systemic changes to prevent future problems, showing customers that their input has a tangible impact on how the business operates.</p><h2>Understand your customers with Feefo</h2><p>Don't leave customer satisfaction to chance. By engaging with Feefo, you gain access to advanced tools and expert insights that can help transform the way you capture and act on customer feedback. Whether by deploying a robust customer satisfaction survey or harnessing direct feedback, Feefo offers tailored solutions that resonate with your unique business needs.</p><p>Take the next step in your journey towards exceptional customer satisfaction with Feefo by <a href="https://www.feefo.com/uk/business/contact" target="_self">contacting</a> our team today to learn more.</p>

If you want a demo of how Feefo could work for you, or discuss our solutions and opportunities further, get in touch and one of our friendly team will be happy to answer any queries.

Want to find out more about Feefo? 

Start collecting trusted reviews with Feefo 

<p>Reviews are just the beginning. At Feefo, we build lasting relationships with brands around the world who choose us to help translate customer feedback into actionable insight.&nbsp;</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Fill out your details below and one of our friendly experts will be in touch to show you around Feefo.</strong></p>

At Feefo, we help you choose with confidence because behind every right decision is a reliable review. 

Increase sales and boost conversion rates

Reach new audiences and improve your brand reputation

Drive traffic to your site and grow new consumer confidence 

Why Feefo

Get in touch

Why Customer Satisfaction is Crucial For Your Business to Succeed?

Customer_satisfaction_-_hero.png

<h2>What is customer engagement?</h2><p>Customer engagement is all about the interactions you have with your customers and the way they interact with you. These interactions or engagements can range anywhere from messaging a company via live chat, to making a purchase on a website.</p><p>It’s up to you what engagements you believe are valuable and meaningful to the relationship with your customers. Visiting a website could be counted as an engagement, but it’s not necessarily meaningful, unless they fill in a form or make an enquiry.</p><h2>Why is customer engagement important and what are the benefits?</h2><p>Investing time and resources into your customer engagement strategy can result in lots of positive outcomes. It can help your business understand the relationship you have with your customers, improve your communication with them, boost customer loyalty and attract new customers.</p><p>Your bottom line will benefit from engaging with your customers and offering them a great experience, with research showing that <a href="https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/" target="_blank">86% of buyers will pay more</a> for a better customer experience. Aside from increased sales and revenue, a strong customer engagement strategy can also help to reduce churn. As many as <a href="https://www.providesupport.com/blog/real-cost-of-losing-customers-due-to-poor-customer-service/" target="_blank">60% of consumers stop doing business with a brand</a> if they have a negative experience.</p><p>Getting your customer engagement strategy right can also benefit your brand awareness and recognition, which is key to bringing in new leads. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ekolsky/cx-for-executives" target="_blank">72% of customers will share a positive experience</a> with at least six people – for your brand, this could include referrals to friends and family, positive reviews online, great case studies, or promotion on social media.</p><h2>How to create a customer engagement strategy</h2><p>If you’re ready to create a customer engagement strategy, carrying out a thorough analysis of your customers and their interactions with your business is the best place to start. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be in a much better position to create a successful customer experience strategy that's bespoke to your business.</p><p>Use our step-by-step guide to source the information you need to create your customer engagement strategy.</p><h2>Improve your customer experience</h2><p>Your customer experience has a huge impact on your engagement, so it’s important to get it right. Start by defining what your customer journey looks like with a customer experience map, which plots how your customers engage with your business and how they feel at each stage.</p><p>This allows you to see where the positive engagements are happening and when your customers are happiest, as well as any areas that need improvement. Good customer experience maps are highly detailed and cover every channel and touchpoint where a customer may encounter your brand.</p><p>Another key part of improving your customer experience is understanding who your key customers are. The best way to do this is to create customer profiles or personas. Customer profiles help you identify who your ideal customers are and how you can attract and retain them.</p><h2>Collect feedback</h2><p>To fully understand every interaction a customer (or potential customer) has with your brand, you need to ask them what they thought at each stage of their journey. There are lots of different ways to collect feedback, but the two main methods are customer reviews and surveys.</p><p>Customer reviews are ideal for understanding which of your engagements are working, where customers are most engaged and which touchpoints are most important to them. Tools like Feefo’s Feedback Request Manager allow you to collect feedback at every stage of the customer journey, as well as tailor feedback campaigns to your different buyer personas.</p><p>Most businesses only collect feedback on the buying experience and the product or service, but what about the after sales service? If a customer had to contact your support team, ask them for feedback on the assistance they received. This can help you understand how helpful your support staff are, and if they need further training.</p><p>You also need to understand why a consumer decided against doing business with you. Surveys are a great way to get insight from anyone, whether they’ve bought your products or not. They’re completely private and anonymous too, so you can collect more detailed and more honest feedback.</p>

<h2>Offer personalised experiences</h2><p>Research shows that <a href="https://us.epsilon.com/pressroom/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-of-consumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalized-experiences" target="_blank">80% of customers are more likely to purchase</a> a product or service from a brand that provides personalised experiences. Customers want to be treated as individuals, so it’s important to tailor your messaging in each communication with them as much as possible.</p><p>This is where your customer profiles come in handy. Use the information gathered for your customer profiles to tailor every engagement a consumer has with your brand, from when they browse your website, to when your customer service team are replying to their review. Making your customers feel seen, understood and appreciated at an individual level as you engage with them is a great way to deliver an exceptional customer experience.</p><h2>Show your human side</h2><p>Make your brand, and the interactions you have with your customers, more human. Try to strike a balance between automation and human interaction. For example, if you use chatbots on your website, you may want to automate simple questions to save your customer service team valuable time. However, you still need to ensure you have customer service agents available to take over these conversations when a customer asks a more challenging question or wants to make a complaint.</p><p>Think about your brand’s ethics and beliefs, too. 71% of consumers prefer <a href="https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insights/strategy/brand-purpose" target="_blank">buying from a brand that aligns with their values</a>. Whatever your passion is, tell people about it and give them a way to get involved. This will help create more opportunities for consumers to have meaningful engagements with your brand and could be the key difference between someone choosing your business over another.</p><h2>Increase your number of customer touchpoints</h2><p>You want consumers to encounter your brand as much as possible before, during and after they’ve purchased something from you. This can help to:</p><ul><li>Increase your chance of converting a browser into a buyer.</li><li>Build customer confidence through the buying processes – they may even choose to spend more with you.</li><li>Encourage customer loyalty, repeat purchases and recommendations.</li></ul><p>Your customer touchpoints will vary depending on your business, but there are several different ways people could encounter your brand, depending on what stage of the buying journey they’re in.</p><p>Pre-purchase touchpoints include ratings and reviews, advertising, content marketing, social media, word-of-mouth recommendations, influencer marketing, PR, organic search, testimonials and case studies.</p><p>During purchase touchpoints include your website, product catalogue, store, brand or office, sales team, ratings and reviews.</p><p>Finally, post-purchase touchpoints cover transactional emails, marketing emails, support team follow ups, feedback requests and subscription renewals.</p><p>If there are touchpoints listed above that you haven’t considered before, it could be worth taking advantage of these opportunities to engage with your customers by adding them to your customer journey map. This list can help you analyse where your business is falling short when it comes to communicating with your customers, so you can improve your customer engagement strategy.</p><h2>Digital customer engagement channels</h2><p>Digital customer engagement is the process of using online or digital channels to interact, listen to and acquire a customer. Whether it’s through your website, app, social media or third-party websites, engaging with your customers through digital channels is crucial. Let’s look at some of the most popular tools for engaging customers digitally.</p><h2>Paid search</h2><p>Pay per click (PPC) search ads are a low-cost way to market your business online. They are the ‘sponsored ads’ that appear on the top and bottom of the search engine results page (SERP). To get the most out of PPC, it’s important to target your ads to ensure they reach the right users, include the keywords that your audience are searching with, and provide clear call to actions (CTAs) to encourage browsers to click on your ad.</p><h2>Email newsletters</h2><p>Emails are one of the most engaging channels of communication. Email marketing provides an excellent return on investment, while email newsletters are the<a href="https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2020_B2B_Research_Final.pdf" target="_blank"> most effective method of nurturing leads</a>. Email newsletters are a cost-effective digital engagement channel, as they can reach all your customers (and potential customers) directly through a single campaign.</p><h2>Social media</h2><p>Social media is a free, easy to implement and widely used digital engagement channel. Engaging your customers on social media will help increase your brand’s awareness and build an online community of followers who share and engage with your brand. Share your Feefo reviews on social media to keep customers engaged with your products and reply to comments directly to show you value their feedback.</p><h2>Live chat</h2><p>Chatbots and live chat servicing help speed up requests and queries, and many businesses choose to automate frequently asked questions to save time and resources. Customers who want quick answers will reach out to the chat option and will engage with your brand more when their query is resolved quickly.</p><h2>Webinars and events</h2><p>Webinars, talks and live events are a great way to engage customers in an interactive setting. Webinars are a<a href="https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/webinar-statistics/" target="_blank"> favourite among B2B professionals</a>, with more than half of users participating in them at least once a week. Your business can use this channel to engage your partners, clients and even employees. It’s important to choose a topic that your customers are interested in and try to keep it to 45 minutes or less.<span></span><span></span><span></span></p>

<h2>Videos</h2><p>Video is an effective medium for keeping your audience engaged. You don’t need a big budget to create quality videos, so this is a channel that works well for businesses of any size. If you’re posting videos to social media channels like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, keep them short and snappy to make them engaging and shareable. Quick tutorials and guides on how to use products also work well.</p><h2>Traditional customer engagement channels</h2><p>More than <a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/future-of-marketing/digital-transformation/online-to-offline-marketing/" target="_blank">80% of shoppers still prefer to purchase a product </a>they need immediately from a store, so it’s important to engage with your customers offline too. Consider whether your brand could use some of these more traditional channels to engage with your customers and deliver a great experience at all touchpoints.</p><h2>Create a welcoming environment</h2><p>First impressions matter, so make your store welcoming and inviting for shoppers. Emphasise your brand’s identity to capture your audience’s attention and consider offering in-store perks like free WiFi, allowing your customers to engage with your content while they’re shopping.</p><h2>Offer self-service</h2><p>Give your customers the chance to be independent while making a purchase decision by offering self-service kiosks. Boost engagement and improve the customer experience by allowing them to customise their own experiences in-store. Most stores now offer self-checkout options, which can help customers avoid long queues, making their shopping experience easier and hassle-free.</p><h2>Collect feedback in-store</h2><p>Asking customers for their feedback in-store, as well as online, is a great way to enhance customer loyalty. There are a range of tools you can employ to encourage customers to leave feedback, from touchscreens to QR codes on receipts.</p><h2>Offer referral and reward programmes</h2><p>Your customers can be a valuable asset when it comes to promoting your brand. Offer rewards and referral incentives to encourage your audience to recommend you to others. Brands with referral programmes benefit from higher conversion rates than those without.</p><h2>Customer engagement metrics and tracking tools</h2><p>Reviewing your performance will help you to fine-tune your customer engagement strategy and keep it relevant to your customers. Some of the best key performance indicators to measure when tracking your results include:</p><ul><li>More positive customer reviews – monitor your review website, social media channels, customer service inbox and any other spaces online where customer conversations might be taking place.</li><li>More traffic on your site – software such as Google Analytics can help you to measure how many people are visiting your website.</li><li>Year-on-year increase in search volume for your brand keywords or upward trend – sign up for an SEO monitoring tool like SEMRush, which will help you to keep track of how many people are searching online for your brand.</li><li>More leads or sales – a successful customer engagement strategy can lead to increased leads and revenue. Implement robust tracking so that you can clearly show month-on-month and year-on-year increases across both metrics.</li><li>Longer time spent on page – an engaged website visitor is a visitor who spends more time on your website. Google Analytics will help you to track time spent on page and average session duration, which shows how engaged people are with your website.</li></ul><h2>How Feefo can improve your customer engagement</h2><p>Collecting feedback is an important part of your customer engagement strategy. Feefo has a range of tools you can use to improve your customer engagement.</p><h2>Help shoppers find the feedback they need</h2><p>Your website is one of the most important parts of your customer journey, especially if you’re an ecommerce business. Once someone is on your website, you want to keep them there until they make a purchase, booking or enquiry.</p><p>Feefo’s Dynamic Topic Display tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify themes in your feedback so browsers can easily find the reviews they’re looking for. Not only does this help save consumers valuable time, but it also helps to keep them onsite, engaged and more likely to convert.</p><h2>Analyse your customer feedback with ease</h2><p>Feefo’s Customer Sentiment Insight tool can help your business identify issues and successes quickly. It identifies popular themes in your feedback and the emotion surrounding them, allowing you to analyse this feedback internally by automatically grouping them into categories. These categories advise you how to act on each topic, allowing you to quickly and easily see which engagements are positive for customers, and which need improvements.</p><h2>Track specific customer engagements</h2><p>If you know exactly what you want to track across your feedback, Feefo’s Insight Labels allow you to do exactly that. For example, if you tag reviews left after customers have been in touch with your customer service team with the staff member’s name, you can track who’s getting the most positive or negative feedback, so you know who needs additional support or training.</p>

Want to find out more about Feefo? Get in touch

Customer engagement: the complete guide on how to succeed in customer satisfaction 

Customer-engagement-one.png

You may also enjoy reading...

Customer engagement: the complete guide on how to succeed in customer satisfaction

<p>As consumer needs and expectations continue to evolve, long-term business success often hinges on the ability to offer a listening ear.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Reviews serve as an open communication channel for customers, empowering them to voice their thoughts on a brand and participate in shaping its future. For business leaders, they provide an opportunity to tap into the collective intelligence of customers, leveraging their diverse perspectives to build a strong competitive advantage and enact meaningful change.&nbsp;</p><p>Through this eBook, we shed light on how reviews can be used to drive revenue growth, supported by practical examples from market-leading brands. We also outline key considerations for business leaders when implementing a customer feedback strategy.</p>