Another Satisfied Customer: 8 Ways to Accelerate Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is essential to the contact centre—and improving it is easier than you think.
In the customer service game, is there anything more important than customer satisfaction?
Oh sure, there’s no denying that metrics like First Contact Resolution (FCR) and average handle time (AHT) are essential as well. Every metric has a role to play in your customer service outreach. These are really just a means to an end, though. Fast problem resolutions, minimal customer touchpoints, and every other data-based benchmark are sought after in search of the same goal: making your customers happier.
With that goal in mind, let’s review 10 strategies for bringing up your customer satisfaction and making everyone involved happier with the process:
1. Customer Service Communities
Building communities and forums for customer discussion can be a powerful way to improve your customer’s experience. These communities build trust and provide a way for your customers to be heard. A survey by Get Satisfaction via smartcustomerservice highlighted the value of these services for businesses. The data showed that 72 percent of respondents use communities to get product feedback, 67 percent use them to solicit new ideas for products or features from customers, and 46 percent use them for new intel on beta products or product testing.
2. Employee Satisfaction
If your employees are happy, your customers will be happy. Happy employees are more engaged, friendlier, and provide higher quality customer service. The responsibility is on management for this one. Reach out to your staff to let them know they’re appreciated, and that appreciation will trickle down to your customers. According to research by Genesys, 78 percent of customers claimed that quality customer service reps were the defining characteristic of a happy service experience.
3. Know What Your Customer Wants
Though it should go without saying, understanding your customer goals and needs is an essential part of raising customer satisfaction. This even includes knowing when a customer doesn’t want to speak to an agent. Customers with easy problems might be satisfied with the quick fix of an automated response or online form, but be careful. Your goal is more satisfaction, and sending a frustrated customer to an automated system is a recipe for disaster.
4. First Contact Resolution
In a perfect world, every customer complaint would be resolved on the first attempt. Unfortunately, our less-than perfect society isn’t so simple. Train your agents to listen, be flexible, and come up with creative solutions. High FCR rates are an excellent metric for any centre to strive for, and is closely tied to customer satisfaction.
5. Streamlined Agent Matching
If there’s anything more frustrating than having to contact customer service more than once, it’s contacting them more than once and having to repeat all of your problems to a different agent than you previously worked with. Track customer touchpoints with your CRM systems and try to match your agents up with the customers they’re familiar with. Saving your callers the hassle of having to repeat themselves can be a lifesaver for maintaining satisfaction and positivity.
6. Reward Programs
Reward systems for long-standing customers can be excellent ways to show appreciation and reward loyalty. These might be as simple as discounts or membership programs, but can include unique services and premium offers that drive revenue and make your customer feel special.
7. Acknowledge the Bad
Dissatisfied customers are just as important as the satisfied ones. They might even be more important—customers are usually upset for a reason, providing your centre with valuable feedback about its agents and practices that should be implemented in the future. According to Lee Resources Int. via virtualhold, for every customer that complains, there are 26 other unhappy customers that will have remained silent.
8. Prioritize the Customer
In the tense cross-fire of a bustling contact centre, it’s easy to forget about what really matters. Your agents aren’t just simple problem solvers; they’re relationship managers. Their goal is to deliver an effective and quality experience that leaves the customer satisfied. Train your agents to assess each customer’s entire journey through your organization. What are their problems? What solutions have they tried? Treat your customers like people instead of metrics to be collected.
Another Satisfied Customer
Customers are looking for more than an average service experience.
These days, consumers expect outreach that is fast, friendly, and tailored to their unique circumstances. Contact centres get so caught up trying to track and analyze every metric to meet this goal that they forget the reason they’re doing it in the first place—making their customers happy. Assess the practices in your own contact centre. If your centre contains happy and well-trained agents, optimized call software, and a clear focus on the customer experience, better satisfaction rates will be well within reach. Curious about more ways to accelerate your customer satisfaction goals? Check out our free whitepaper!
