One of the most important factors in a business’s success is to ensure that consumers are satisfied. Yesterday’s customers or clients should look back at their experiences fondly. Today’s customers or clients should walk away with a smile. And they don’t know it yet, but tomorrow’s consumers won’t hesitate to come to you because they heard nothing but positive things about you from yesterday’s and today’s consumers. In order for all of this to happen, however, you have to know how to determine customer satisfaction.
After all, having all consumers happy might sound like wishful thinking – and in some ways, it is. However, even when consumers are not completely happy, you can do something about it in order to improve for the future.
5 Tips on How to Determine Customer Satisfaction
1. Make sure you fulfill your promises.
In a nutshell: Give them excellent products and great customer service at a reasonable price. You want them to trust you. When your customers get what they expect – or maybe even more than what they expected – they will come back. That’s an obvious way to know they were satisfied.
But that probably will not happen with all of them. …
2. Find out what went wrong.
For those customers who did not come back, reach out to them to find out why. Let them know their patronage was appreciated and that you want their feedback in order to help you improve. Take that feedback seriously.
3. Make sure you were on the same page from day one.
There’s a good chance that if customers were not satisfied, it had very little to do with you. It’s possible that they were expecting something other than what they purchased or organized through your business.
As a simple example, let’s say a man is looking for household cleaning products. He fails to read the label on a container and accidentally purchases a wood-polishing product to clean his windows. After he uses it, he quickly realizes his folly when he can’t see out of the windows due to the film that has formed.
That man is probably an “unsatisfied customer,” but it’s not necessarily your fault. However, you don’t want to waste time, money or resources, so when you talk with customers or clients, find out exactly what they want and how they intend to use it.
4. Keep up with satisfied customers.
You want your customers to keep coming back, so build up a rapport with them through personal contact. Depending on what type of business you represent, occasionally touch base with them by phone, as appropriate, to tell them about special promotions or about how you have made changes to your business that you believe will benefit them.
5. Keep records.
Don’t fail to analyze the results of your communications with customers about their experiences. Look for patterns regarding their approval or disappointment. Soon, you’ll be able to pinpoint what is working and what is not.
Contact Trident QMS for Additional Tips
If you need additional tips on how to determine customer satisfaction, contact us through our Trident QMS website or by phone at 520-314-4343. Through our many years of experience, we have accumulated numerous ways to determine customer satisfaction. We will be happy to share them with you in order to help you keep your current customers raving to your future customers for years to come.