An overwhelming majority of consumers say good customer service encourages them to spend more money. As a result, the importance of customer satisfaction continues to grow for retailers and services providers across industries.
But how do you know if you’re giving your customers a great experience? This article is going to provide you with some easy ways to collect and track your CX metrics.
1. Surveys
Directly asking customers to fill out a survey is an excellent way to get feedback. Yet, there is no one standard CX survey.
One popular way to present customers with a survey is via your app or website. You can offer the survey to the customer as they interact with your platform. It shouldn’t be longer than a few simple questions. You don’t want to interrupt their experience.
Additionally, you can have a short post-purchase or post-service survey. These surveys often have a higher response rate and more honest feedback. You can do something similar with phone services.
The customer can quickly provide survey answers by pressing a few buttons when the service call is over. Further, you can do post-service surveys in person by giving customers an iPad or a short questionnaire form to fill out before they leave.
For long-term or repeat customers, you can use email surveys. In an email survey, you can ask more extended questions with room for additional feedback. Of course, because the time required is longer, engagement won’t be as high. But, these surveys are great for receiving more detailed feedback.
If you’re stuck on what questions to ask in your surveys, the folks at Checkmarket.com have you covered. They know what to ask your customers to get actionable conclusions.
Remember, always keep the questions relevant to the customer’s goal. This improves engagement and leads to better results.
2. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
The Customer Satisfaction Score measures how satisfied customers are with your products and services. It measures how customers feel in the moment. CSAT is one of the most common ways businesses measure customer satisfaction.
You use a number scale. Businesses typically choose to use a scale of:
- 1-3
- 1-5
- 1-10
Customers use the scale to indicate how satisfied they are with your service. The lowest number means highly unsatisfied. The highest number means highly satisfied.
To get your average score, you add up all the responses and divide the amount by the total number of respondents.
The CSAT metric is direct, but it doesn’t always lead to accurate results because it’s based on emotion. For example, if the customer feels indifferent, their response may be vague. Using a simpler scale is more robust to consumer differences and better at capturing service quality.
However, this CSAT score is rudimentary at best.
3. Customer Effort Score (CES)
The Customer Effort Score is a customer-centric approach for understanding quality and customer loyalty.
A customer responds to questions about the amount of effort they need to exert to get their service or issue resolved. You can also call this ease of experience. For example, the experience can relate to making a purchase, finding information, or resolving an issue.
CES is similar to CSAT because it measures customer satisfaction. However, CES focuses on customer convenience. As a result, it’s superior at predicting consumer behavior.
But, you need to ask the question right after the customer experience to get the best results. With CES, you can pay more attention to unhappy customers. Then, when it’s easy to do business with you, your customer satisfaction and loyalty will improve.
4. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score measures how likely your customers will recommend your services to a friend. It provides more information than the CSAT.
NPS is distinct because it’s about your intention of referring. The attention shifts to whether the business is good enough to put your reputation on the line for it. While still emotionally charged, the focus is different.
Response rates are usually high with NPS. Plus, it prompts your customers to think about referring when they might not have done so before.
To calculate your NPS, you can use the responses from your CSAT. Or, you can ask the question directly to customers. Then you create three categories based on the answers. They are:
- Detractors (0-6)
- Passes (7-8)
- Promoters (9-10)
You need to subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. Then you will have your NPS.
5. Social Media Metrics
Customers are vocal on social media. Whether they flaunt purchases or diss brands, they make their voices heard. It’s an easy way to see what your customers are saying about your business.
You can use a business account on social media platforms to access the analytics dashboard. Or, hire a CX team to observe your customers, gather data, and create strategies to improve customer satisfaction and social media engagement levels.
Tracking social media engagement is one of the fastest ways to gain valuable customer information.
6. Web Analytics
You can use web analytics to gather data without any direct involvement from your customers. Web analytics track your website traffic, read the sales funnel, understand customer behavior, and predict future conversions.
Attribution models offer insights into touchpoints, most frequently asked questions, and much more. Then, you can compile and use the results to create a customer service strategy that will stand out from other businesses.
Done correctly, you can create a unique and positive experience for your customers, making you an industry leader.
Re-Think Customer Satisfaction
Measuring customer satisfaction doesn’t need to be complicated. But, if you’re going to use surveys and scores to measure customer happiness, it’s best to use many metrics rather than only one. Alone, they don’t provide a comprehensive answer. Yet together, they offer valuable insights into your customers’ thoughts.
For more business and customer satisfaction tips, make sure to check out the rest of the blog.
