https://smallbusiness.chron.

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improve-customer-satisfaction-20723.html

What Are the Recommended Strategies to Use to Improve

Customer Satisfaction?
by Charmayne Smith

Achieving and maintaining superior customer satisfaction is a continuous process that lasts
throughout the lifespan of the organization. Products and services revolve around customer demand,
evolving technologies and economic impacts. As long as these factors exist, organization must
continuously review and modify their customer strategies to meet and exceed customer
expectations.
Listen

To improve customer satisfaction, the business must understand its customer’s concerns and needs.
The information can be gathered through customer forums and surveys, as well as through the
interactions that occur during normal transactions. Use the comments and concerns to ascertain
ways the business can achieve a better response. Gather ideas various individuals within the
business to gain an insight on how the potential adjustments will impact the customer and the
company.

raining

Effective customer service and sales is the first step toward customer satisfaction. Employees
should be thoroughly trained on their products and services, and able to confidently answer
questions and converse on the products. Implementing training and continuous education programs
are very effective methods for improving and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Responsiveness

The evolution of technology has made customer support more than just a phone service. Many modern
businesses provide their customers with multiple customer service options, including live chat, email and video
conferencing. Although traditional phone support remains, implementing multiple lines of communication
improves the business’s responsiveness which, ultimately, improves customer satisfaction.

Effective Website

Beloit College’s 2015 Mindset List explains that this new set of upcoming professionals have always had
access to the internet and often evade businesses with uninformative websites, or no websites at all. These
generations of purchasers, as well as the other millions of internet-savvy users, often prefer to look toward the
business’s website for information and answers before reaching out to the company. Implement a thoroughly-
versed website for your business and include a “frequently asked questions” section that addresses the most
common concerns and questions posed by your customers.

http://customerthink.com/10-ways-to-improve-customer-loyalty/

10 Ways To Improve Customer Loyalty

Kushal Dev

-
October 12, 2017

Customer satisfaction is a rating. Loyalty is a brand.

~Shep Hyken
While almost every company measures customer satisfaction via some kind of customer feedback, only a few brands
are able to build customer loyalty. The problem with satisfied customers is that they are not necessarily loyal! A
customer could be very satisfied with your product or service, but would nevertheless move on to another provider
for a better price. Brands like Starbucks, Apple and Harley Davidson are testimony to the fact that a differentiated
customer experience could go a long way in building customer loyalty. Although there is no definite formula to
build and improve customer loyalty, I am sharing a few guidelines that should help.

1. Reward your customers, and not just with discounts

Rewards are the shortcut to customer loyalty. Customers love surprises and gifts in all forms. A
personalised thank you card, access to a special event or increased loyalty points are some of the ways to
show your gratitude towards customers for their business. Surely we could do much more than just
marketing campaigns that send discount coupons to lure customers to impulse buying.

2. Be loyal to attract loyalty

Satisfaction is a phase whereas loyalty is a virtue. To expect the latter in customers, companies should
show loyalty towards customers as well. In simpler terms, companies should invest in retaining their
customers. Don’t just chase them during the sales cycle. Keep them engaged even after the sale, show them
you care by proactively reaching out to ensure they are having a good experience; to win customer loyalty,
show them that you are loyal to them first.

3. Make the relationship more than just business like

As a company, we tend to talk to our customers only when they do business with us or when they are in
need of our support. This level of engagement will never make us their favourite. Understanding their likes
and dislikes and getting to know them up close boosts loyalty. Broaden your relationship with customers
and watch how things change for the better.
4. Be reliable

When we keep our promises, we show our customers that they are not taken for granted. Also, their respect
for us grows with every commitment we meet. Customer loyalty automatically increases when customers
remember us for our sincerity, instead of thinking of us for our inability to deliver on our promises.

5. Give more and more

Giving need not always be in the form of rewards or discounts. Delivering the products ahead of the
schedule is also a great way to enhance customer experience and be remembered for a good reason.
Through such acts, customers understand that we are trying our best to out-do ourselves and our customers’
expectations.

6. Be honest even if it means no business for you

As our customers have different tastes, not all of our products might interest them. We must accept that and
not force anything on them. If you would have the heart to recommend a competitor’s product because it
meets a customer’s requirement better, your customer will never forget that. In one of my earlier article,
I’ve shared how a restaurant recommended us to another eatery for a night out with friends because their
ambience did not suit my requirement. And I was stunned! I ended up going to the same restaurant and am
a ‘Promoter’!
The very fact that a company is more interested in the customer’s need than its business, will go a long way
in building customer loyalty.

7. Technology is good, but the human touch is great!

Though we are highly dependent on technology for efficiency, there are lots of areas where automated
machines cannot answer all of our customers’ queries. Having one to one interactions with our customers
makes it easy for both of us to understand each other better. Customers open up more when there is a
human voice with an understanding tone on the other end rather than hearing the beep of a machine.

8. Be caring and expressive

We might find that one of our regular customers hasn’t paid us a visit in a long time. It is definitely not a
good thing. We must immediately express that we miss them and if the situation permits, invite them back
with some kind of reward or gift. The customers need to know that their presence makes a huge difference!
If we do not care to let them know, they would not care to visit us either. Let us show some love that our
customers cannot help but be loyal to us.

9. Give attention to the little things

If observed closely, companies that are fortunate to have loyal customers have one thing in common; they
care about the little things. It could be as small as restaurants adding hooks to the bottom of the tables that
hold the customers belongings, or offering them something to eat or drink while they are looking around in
our store. Its these little things, which is often overlooked, that wins the hearts of our customers.

10. Recognise your regular customers and invest more in them

 Customers are aplenty but who of them all is really helping us grow? Identifying those who never leave us
during our highs and lows need to be recognised and treated with extra care. Of course, every customer
deserves our attention, but investing in those promising a long term loyalty must inevitably be put in the
priority list.

Apart from the above mentioned points, being warm, addressing customers by their name and being approachable
are a few more things that work in obvious ways to increase customer loyalty. Customers remember how
conversations start and end with an organisation. So it is only wise that we do not take them for granted and rub
them the wrong way. Make things more direct and easy. Loyalty will automatically follow.