“It is often easier to make more money from a repeat customer than from a new customer” could easily be the laziest marketer’s cliché to date. This may sound harsh but when you consider the unique nature of every business or brand, coupled with the disruptive dynamic world of this digital age and our often unpredictable, complex and irrational behaviors that make us so wonderfully human, its clear that taking repeat customers “for granted” is not only lazy but also a tad condescending.
Satisfied customers are to businesses what air is to lungs. They are the breath that sustains business. If satisfied customers are air then delighted customers should be the fuel that energizes all your operations. Like food needed for respiration to build a strong body, so delighted customers are drivers of strong, healthy brand growth.
But, how do you know if your customers are satisfied, and to what extent are they satisfied or dissatisfied? Is there any full measure way to track how customers perceive and experience your products or services? What are some of the things you can learn about your customers to make them happier?
Below are 3 commonly used market research approaches that can help transform your customer service into a delightful customer experience.
Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT)
CSAT is a common used metric to measure customer satisfaction. It acts as a guideline for performance indicator. It can also be used to measure product/service quality. CSAT is asked using a likert scale (e.g. 1 = Very unsatisfied, 2 =Unsatisfied, 3= Neutral, 4=Satisfied, 5=Very satisfied). The final score is then expressed in percentage.
Its then administered using a traditional questionnaire, an application, a form (i.e. Google form), a popup on the website etc. When a customer visits your website or physical store, once done, the survey can then be administered. It needs to be short and precise.
Customer Effort Score (CES)
When dealing with a business, sometimes a customer can run into an issue or challenge. CES measures how much effort a customer has to use to solve an issue or problem. For example, a CES can measure how much effort your customer used to purchase/return a product, get feedback on a query, have a request fulfilled, etc.
The typical question asked is like ‘on a scale of…’, how easy was it to shop at business X?’
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS is a metric used to measure long-term loyalty and is best for businesses with a long-term relationship with its customers. The metric is able to do this by examining the entire relationship between the business and customer. In the process, it also determines the customers that are brand ambassadors and those that can churn. NPS is a good indicator of the growth of a company. A higher NPS means a longer-term customer loyalty.
A business can use both NPS and CES to measure customer experience.