Jump on a trend that is sure to produce tangible financial rewards. If you don’t have some kind of customer feedback mechanism in place, usually a satisfaction survey, you are one step behind your competitors.

The latest research conducted over the last 18 months has reinforced why organizations need to continue improving their customer experience and customer service skills.  Develop a clear direction and focus for your organization to improve the customer experience through supporting tools and training programs. Below you’ll find the 4 key findings why: 

·       76% of consumers say they view customer service as a sign of how much a company values them. - Source: 2015 Aspect Consumer Experience Survey

·       60% of consumers have higher expectations for customer service now than they did just one year ago. - Source: 2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service Report

·       97% of global consumers say that customer service is very important in their choice of and loyalty to a brand. - Source: 2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service Report

·       88% of people have been influenced by online reviews, to make a purchase decision. - Source:  Zendesk

Where To Start

There will always be opportunities to improve, but you need to figure out first in which domain it is most relevant to start making changes. There for it is important to reach out and make sure to engage the people around you to share their feedback and ideas. They need to know the higher objective of your open call, and preferably also how you will use their input. Most of them will understand that not all input can be acted upon, as long as there is some kind of reasoning behind it that can be shared.

It is most appreciated to ask for anonymous feedback. This will reduce political powers, but most of all to create full freedom of speech. In the end it enables you to expand your customer insight, to develop a more profound understanding of the things that are expected from your organization. The outcomes of the satisfaction surveys will help to cluster the domains that need extra exploration to challenge the status quo. A common way is launching qualitative challenges to source ideas or solutions to reach your pre-defined objective. Every form of input should be measured to give a good impression of the result to follow.

Act Now

In case it isn’t obvious, keeping customers satisfied means you are less likely to lose them to a competitor. To gain back the trust of an old customer, asks four to ten times more than retaining one. The best way to retain customers is to ensure they are satisfied by acting on their suggestions as identified in frequent surveys or challenges. The question I ask you is: “Are you ready for it?”.