86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. Even more than businesses need customers, they need happy customers.
Generally, a good customer experience, or 'CX', leads to high customer satisfaction, and satisfaction can be directly equated to loyalty. Deliver great customer experience and you can expect your customers to stay put - it’s really that simple.
In this day and age, loyalty is worth its weight in gold.
What is customer satisfaction?
Essentially, customer satisfaction is a measure of how services or products supplied by a company miss, meet or surpass customer expectations.
It’s a two-way relationship:
- Customers want your attention
- Your business can influence this desire for attention
Placing customer satisfaction at the centre of your businesses strategy, activities and services is now widely acknowledged as a main driver for sustainable success, business growth and an increase in turnover.
Just 1 happy customer can equal as many as 9 referrals for a business, according to a study by American Express.
How will measuring CX help me build a stronger relationship with my customers?
You need to know if you are doing, delivering or telling your customers the right thing.
Measuring customer satisfaction can tell you whether your service or product is meeting your customers' needs:
- Do they understand what is being offered?
- Do they believe what you are telling them?
- Does their actual experiences match up to your perceived levels of customer service?
It is only by gathering customer satisfaction insight, for instance using a satisfaction survey, that can you really know if you are actually meeting customer expectations.
Generally speaking, if you provide a good customer experience then you'll retain your customer. It's customer retention that will help you build upon and nurture the customer relationship, so you get to know more about your customer types and personalise the customer experience accordingly and frequently.
The businesses and organisations staying ahead of the competition are the ones that regularly measure their customer relationships at all levels of the customer journey; grasping what their customers want, value, and most importantly what they are saying about them.
59% of 25-34 year olds will share poor customer experiences online, according to a study by New Voice Media.
How has customer experience insight helped our clients?
A Mackman case study
We undertook customer perception and satisfaction research on behalf of ILECS, International Lift & Escalator Consultants. As part of ILECS' marketing strategy, we used yearly customer perception and satisfaction research to investigate specific aspects of the customer experience to discover where improvements could be made, and to understand the strength of the ILECS brand in their marketplace.
The year one findings revealed key areas in the business for customer service improvement. After a period of review and subsequent changes to customer service delivery, ILECS saw an increase in the quality of leads and sales inquiries. In addition, we undertook perception research that aided the development of a new brand image.
What's next?
Speak to someone today about gauging the interest of your customers by calling 01787 388038 or email: customerservice@mackmangroup.co.uk
Dr Gemma Mackman
Research Director
Dr Gemma Mackman is co-founder and Research Director of the Mackman Group. Her professional career has given her a broad knowledge of business practices, an appreciation of good customer service and experience of a diverse range of sectors. Gemma is also a member of the Market Research Society and has completed research training provided by the Economic and Social Research Council.
More About Gemma
