Many of the annual planning sessions we have with clients involve critical conversations about building and strengthening the brand and gaining market share through promotions and product launches. We create calendars and budgets. We develop media and public relations plans. We define plans for key industry events and tradeshows. All of these activities are extremely valuable to map out as we turn the calendar to another year.
Where does customer satisfaction fit into this conversation? Collecting customer satisfaction data and implementing programs to improve satisfaction levels does not always fall directly in the hands of the marketing department. But if your brand is truly defined by the overall experience and perception of your customers, shouldn’t the marketing team champion a customer satisfaction initiative to ensure your brand value is upheld and that your brand promises are kept?
Here are more reasons why it’s important to get to know your customers better with a customer satisfaction initiative:
Customer satisfaction drives company profitability and market share. In fact, customer loyalty directly correlates with revenue growth. Customer satisfaction surveys can help companies forecast customer retention and defection. Measuring customer satisfaction — in a meaningful way that allows a business to quickly improve the customer experience — is a great competitive differentiator.
A successful customer satisfaction program can create significant cost savings in the long run, since acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying and retaining existing customers. This is especially significant at a time like now, when we’re all trying to do more for less.
Customer satisfaction programs may also improve a company’s relationship with its employees. Research suggests that employee engagement is also linked with customer satisfaction: Simply put, employees prefer to work where customers are satisfied.
The first step in initiating a successful customer satisfaction program requires an engaged, cross-functional team from your organization, represented by colleagues in sales and marketing, customer support, product development, aftermarket, shipping, and logistics. Buy-in and ownership from this team will build a culture of accountability and ensure a successful program.
There are many survey collection tools and methods available. The fact that there is not one common customer satisfaction metric that exists can create some indecision on what key measurement to adopt. A successful program requires a consistent but flexible approach and a solid action plan once the data is collected. The data is only valuable if it is actionable.
As you consider implementing a customer satisfaction program, you’ll debate over the best method to gather customer satisfaction data. You’ll wrestle over what are the best questions to ask. You will find there are many key metrics to evaluate. One thing is for sure: Improving customer satisfaction at every level of the organization makes good business sense.
Here are a couple of resources to help you take the first steps in evaluating a program for measuring and improving customer satisfaction:
Fred Reichheld, The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2006.
Two Rivers Marketing, Measuring Customer Satisfaction: A Great Competitive Differentiator, 2009.
