For every business, doesn’t matter if its focus is online or offline, customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal. If a business cares about the satisfaction of its customers they’ll care about its products/services and vice versa.
We know that you already understand the importance of customer satisfaction. We mean, why would you be even here if you had no care about it?
However, you may be doing just fine at gaining customer satisfaction, but there are certain things you should avoid if you want to bring out your A game. Here’s a list of 5 most common clichés about customer satisfaction that you need to avoid.
Cliché #1: A satisfied customer is always loyal
Many companies think that if they somehow manage to satisfy their customers the first time, they’ll gain their loyalty. However, the phenomenon of customer satisfaction is a bit more complex than that. A customer may get satisfied at his/her first experience, but assuming that he/she will stay loyal to you would be over-expecting.
The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is defined by the customer service you provide. Let’s suppose, a customer faces an issue at his purchase and brings it to your knowledge. You do your best to provide him with a prompt remedy and he goes back satisfied with your services. But, that customer might be upset still, because he had to face that issue in the first place. He may have received the value for his money but he had to do some extra struggle for that.
So, his satisfaction was merely a one-time response and chances are, he may not be coming back to you again.
Cliché #2: Wait until they complain
It is a common misconception among most businesses that customer service is only necessary when there are complaints or problems. They don’t really bother to work towards any improvements in their system and are satisfied with their mediocre products or services.
For a business, having a proactive approach is very important. Every decision you make must have a plan to back it up. As a businessperson, you must actively analyze your operations to make continuous process improvements. This will not only help you in providing customer delight on the front end but also in getting fewer complaint calls.
Cliché #3: Take as long as it takes to solve their problem
Some businesses have established this mindset that spending extra time on a customer’s problem may get them an increased satisfaction. They think that by doing so, they may gain some extra empathy points from their customers. But that is not always the case. Businesses must understand that the time spent on solving a problem must be as short as possible.
“Customer is king” and you should not make the king wait for long. You must train your customer support team to work more efficiently. Because a delayed solution can also create a very negative impact on your customers’ satisfaction.
Cliché #4: Automation can handle it
Although automated customer response systems are very helpful for businesses but using them too much can also be fatal. Automated responses may allow you to give prompt replies to your customers but they lack the touch of personalization. You must allow your customers to have a direct contact with you through a variety of communication modes.
As the corporate world is evolving, the concept of personalized customer experience is booming to a great extent. We are not saying that you should stop using automation. In fact, you should maintain an appropriate balance between automation and human customer support.
Cliché #5: An agent with good soft skills can lead to increased customer satisfaction
This cliche, however, is true but it’s not the complete truth. A good customer support agent needs more than just some nice soft skills. He/she must also have an adequate knowledge of the processes and the products. As the interpersonal skills of the agent will only be beneficial if he/she knows what exactly they are dealing with. So, businesses must avoid placing too much reliance on their agent’s soft skills without any focus on the knowledge about the operations, and the confidence that comes along with it.
These cliches are just some traps that most businesses, despite their best of aims, fall into without realizing the cost. Although each of the above-mentioned approaches is viable at some point in time but only when they are being rightly applied. A good mixture of techniques is what a business requires to gain the highest level of customer satisfaction. Increasing connection with the customers is the key here. The closer you’ll get to your customers, the better will be your customer satisfaction levels.
Hey, you should also read our previous blog to learn about the 5 things everyone hates about customer satisfaction.