Getting the most from customer satisfaction scores requires knowing what factors determine audience attitudes and expectations. You can then design surveys to measure the variables that influence customer satisfaction.
It’s important to track customer satisfaction frequently, such as once a quarter. This way, you can spot trends and act immediately.
Customer Effort Score (CES)
CES surveys relay vital data about the difficulty of customer interactions and help you improve your product or service. For example, if you have many customers who have to go through a long process to resolve an issue with your product or service, it may be time to revamp your onboarding or customer support processes. It will reduce the time your customers spend waiting to get an answer or solve their problems and will also improve your customer satisfaction (CSAT) score.
You can find out how easy it is for your customers to recommend your products and services to their friends and family by using Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys and looking at your CES score. Customers’ likelihood to refer your company, goods, or services can be used to assess customer happiness and spot brand ambassadors; this is how to get the most from customer satisfaction scores.
When evaluating your CES survey results, it’s important to remember that your questions’ wording is crucial. Whether you use an agree/disagree scale, a numbered scale, or an emoticon-based scale, how your survey questions are phrased can significantly impact your results. For this reason, it’s best to use third-party survey software that allows you to modify the wording of your questions and provide a wide variety of response options.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The most common customer satisfaction statistic used nowadays is NPS. It is an indicator of the proportion of customers who are likely to tell others about your business, offering, or service. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of promoters from the percentage of detractors. Bain and NICE Satmetrix developed NPS surveys asking respondents, “On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?”
In addition to the main NPS survey question, many companies include supplemental questions designed to help identify and understand what’s driving their scores. These supplementary questions can also help companies identify their most unhappy customers and take action to address those issues.
Another way to look at NPS is to compare it with industry NPS benchmarks. It can be helpful when evaluating your progress in customer loyalty over time.
Remembering that NPS is a snapshot of customer sentiment at a given time is also essential. Changes to your company or the marketplace can impact your NPS score, so measuring frequently and acting in real-time is crucial. You can do this by sending NPS surveys at critical touchpoints, such as after a purchase or support call, and using tools like user pilot to analyze responses automatically and identify common themes (or tags). Using these tags will allow you to quickly pinpoint problem areas in your customer journey that need attention.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer lifetime value (CLV) measures how much a customer will spend with your business over their entire relationship. This metric helps inform customer acquisition, retention, and marketing strategies. For example, a company may want to increase its CLV by offering discounts or loyalty programs to customers with high purchase frequencies.
Another way to boost your CLV is by upselling and cross-selling. Companies excel at this strategy by promoting related products to shoppers when they check out or order. Bundling items or offering discounts can appeal to bargain shoppers, brand loyalists, and new customers.
A great way to increase CLV is by improving the overall customer experience. By implementing strategies like a fast and easy return policy, curated item selections, and omnichannel customer support, you can create a more memorable experience for your customers. It will help you stand out from your competition and foster long-term loyalty that increases CLV.
Additionally, soliciting consumer feedback will help you raise your CLV. You may discover what matters most to your clients by creating useful surveys that seek precise comments on pricing, product quality, and service encounters. This information can then be used to design better products, services, and experiences that maximize customer satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
CSAT, or customer satisfaction, gauges customers’ happiness with your good or service. It’s one of the most useful CX metrics for understanding what is and isn’t working, so it’s essential to include it in your survey strategy. However, it should be used with other CX metrics, such as CES and NPS, to gain the most valuable insights.
CSAT surveys are often concise and targeted, making it easy to gather customer responses. They ask a single question that measures a specific aspect of the customer experience, like their product, transaction, or interaction with your company. Customers are asked to select a number on a scale of one to five or one to 10 or use verbal indicators such as very unsatisfied, dissatisfied, neutral, or satisfied. They can also choose from various international symbols or emojis to indicate their level of satisfaction.
It’s important to understand that CSAT is only a snapshot of how satisfied your customers are at a certain point in time. You must collect a large enough sample size to make sense of the results and identify trends over time. For this reason, it’s crucial to survey at least every other business cycle or customer journey stage. You can also track CSAT with other metrics, such as ticket volume and first response time to see how changes to your support processes impact satisfaction levels.
