15 Simple Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction in 2024

Looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction directly impacts the growth of your business. Lower customer satisfaction levels lead to lower retention rates, affecting your revenue.

Companies have a hard time satisfying their increasingly demanding customers. Most customers expect to be fully satisfied with their product or service.

Ensuring your customers are happy and satisfied has never been more critical. A delighted customer spends at least three times more money on a brand than a “somewhat” happy one.

While conducting customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys helps you spot issues and pain points, you can do more to improve your customer’s overall experience with your product and company.

Studies show that 91% of customers who had a bad experience won’t willingly do business with a company again.

In this article, we’ll look at 15 ways companies can improve customer satisfaction in today’s customer-centric landscape.

Psst…if you’re here looking for tools, jump to:

• Which Customer Satisfaction Tool Should I Choose?

Why Should We Improve Customer Satisfaction

Before implementing those strategies, let’s see why improving customer satisfaction is important.

1. Customer Loyalty and Retention: Satisfied customers are likelier to stay with your brand. It reduced the chances of them switching to competitors.

 2. Positive Word of Mouth: Happy customers share positive experiences. This creates valuable word-of-mouth marketing that attracts new customers.

3. Increased Revenue: Satisfied customers are inclined to make repeat purchases and explore additional offerings, contributing to higher overall revenue for your business.

4. Differentiation in a Competitive Market: Exceptional customer satisfaction sets your business apart in a crowded market, providing a distinct advantage over competitors.

5. Cost Savings: By preventing issues and minimizing support needs, satisfied customers contribute to operational efficiency and cost savings in customer service.

Calculating CSAT Score

CSAT, or Customer Satisfaction Score, is like a report card for customers’ happiness with a product or service. It’s calculated from a survey where customers rate their satisfaction, often on a scale.

The survey often includes a simple question asking customers to rate their satisfaction with a product, service, or interaction on a scale, commonly ranging from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.

The specific question could be, “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with [product/service/interaction]?”

To calculate the CSAT score:

• Designate Score Values: Decide on the scale you use (e.g., 1 to 5 or 1 to 10), with a higher number indicating higher satisfaction.
• Collect Responses: Collect survey responses from customers.
• Calculate Average: Sum up all the individual scores and divide by the total number of responses.
• Convert to Percentage: If using a scale of 1 to 5, you may need to convert the average to a percentage by multiplying it by 20. If using a scale of 1 to 10, the average is already a percentage.

Example:

If you have responses of 4, 5, 3, and 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5), the average is (4 + 5 + 3 + 4) / 4 = 4.
(4 * 20) = 80%. Therefore, your CSAT score is 80%.

15 Ways To Improve Customer Satisfaction

Satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal. But how do we make them stay?

#1 Offer Personalized Customer Service

73% of consumers prefer to do business with brands that use their personal information to make their experiences more relevant to them.

Surveys are a great way to collect customer feedback and their personal information. Once you have their information, put it to use! Use your customer’s name and refer to their personal information whenever possible.

Be sure to tailor your services and messages to your customer’s unique needs and preferences.

Create customer feedback surveys and gather customer insights for a better customer experience. Remember, making your customers feel seen and heard is the key to success.

#2 Provide Self-Help Options

Most customers prefer resolving their issues themselves rather than talking to a customer support agent.

According to a study of 7,000 respondents, around 53% of people thought it was essential to be able to resolve their problems by themselves.

You can offer your customers an in-depth, self-serve knowledge base (or help docs). You can also use FAQ sections to help them find answers to some frequently asked questions.

#3 Set Clear Expectations

Are you in a position where you can really offer stellar customer service? If you can’t, you shouldn’t make that claim.

When you tell your visitors you provide great customer service, you’ve probably set the expectation too high. Your customers will now expect a service that’s nothing less than perfect.

The solution is to tweak your website copy so customers know what to expect.

#4 Provide Omnichannel Support

Are you reachable on multiple channels? Customers typically tend to use numerous channels.

And 64% of consumers expect you to offer them access to real-time support no matter what channel they use, according to research.

When you provide omnichannel support, you give your customers the ability to contact you on any channel that they are active on.

#5 Act On Complaints

Complaints are a great way to know your customers’ needs and serve them better.

You need to treat your customers’ complaints as an opportunity. Complaints can help you formulate new ideas and action steps to improve your product or service.

Listen to your customers’ complaints and fix their issues to build closer relationships with them.

#6 Ask Your Customers for Feedback

You shouldn’t wait for your customers to leave you unsolicited feedback. Instead, you need to seek out their feedback proactively.

There’s a good chance most of your customers haven’t given you valuable insights that you could use to improve their experience.

Collect feedback across all touchpoints so you can improve the entire customer journey.

#7 Offer Loyalty Programs

Know the one thing that keeps customers coming back? Loyalty incentives!

In fact, 81% of consumers are likelier to do business with a brand that offers a loyalty program.

Loyalty programs are a great way to show your customers that you value their commitment to your product or service.

#8 Eliminate Wait Times

If customers have to wait a long time to hear back from you, they won’t hesitate to find someone who can provide them with what they need in a much shorter time.

When you have long wait times, you make it hard for your customers to do business with you.

Your business needs to manage customer wait times effectively and possibly eliminate them.

#9 Respond on Social Media

Customers tend to seek help from a business on their social media channels. Probably because it’s pretty convenient and easy for them to contact you this way.

But it’s also because they expect a faster response from you, not just that it’s more convenient and easy. According to a study by Hubspot, 72% of customers who complain on Twitter want a response from the company within an hour.

They might complain to their friends and followers when you fail to respond quickly.

You can get someone on your team to focus on issues posted on different social media channels.

#10 Offer a Straightforward Refund Policy

Do you know the one thing that makes a customer trust you more? A money-back guarantee!

Having one in place helps make your customer’s buying experience seem more risk-free.

But having a refund policy ain’t enough. You need to ensure that it’s easy for your customers to understand. Use simple words to describe your policy and avoid jargon at all costs.

#11 Provide a Free Trial

A free trial allows potential customers to try out your product and see if it fits their unique needs.

It also helps eliminate the risk of buying a product before knowing whether it can help them solve their problem.

When you offer a free trial, please don’t ask for their credit card details. Give them the ability to sign up using their social media accounts, and give them access to as many features as you can.

Check how SurveySparrow does it!

#12 Offer Free Return Shipping

Are you an online retailer who doesn’t offer customers free returns because you think it might get in the way of building a profitable business?

You need to rethink that decision! Offering free returns not only helps improve your customers’ satisfaction but it also helps you sell more!

88% of consumers say free return shipping has a big influence on their buying decisions. And 67% of survey respondents say free returns encourage them to buy more online.

When you provide free return shipping, clearly convey the eligibility criteria to your customers.

#13 Experiment with Discounts and Giveaways

Offering discounts and giveaways are another excellent way to improve customer satisfaction and get your customers to buy more often from you.

Merchants that offer an active discount code are eight times more likely to make a sale, according to research by Shopify.

Make it easy for first-time customers to find discount codes on your website. If you offer a subscription-based service, you can experiment with giveaways and let customers win a free extra month of service.

#14 Share Feedback Across All Departments

Feedback is only valid when the right people get to act on it.

You must have a system that makes it simple for the right team to find and analyze your customer’s feedback.

Did a customer report a bug or make a feature request? Your product team best addresses that kind of feedback.

You can also ask your teams to block time each week or month to analyze and address customer feedback.

Surveys are always an excellent tool for collecting feedback efficiently. Use conversational surveys to get feedback from your customers. Speaking of conversational surveys, SurveySparrow is an excellent platform for checking out surveys with a more than 40% response rate.

#15 Reply to All Feedback

There are advantages to replying to all feedback, both positive and negative.

If the feedback is positive, you can capitalize on your customer’s positive experience and get a review, case study, or testimonial.

Is the feedback negative? Then, it’s a chance to improve your product and build stronger customer relationships.

Get one of the higher-ups to respond to your customers’ negative feedback. Apparently, 78% of consumers say they feel a brand cares more about them if the brand’s management team responds to their reviews.

Which Customer Satisfaction Tool Should I Choose?

A customer satisfaction tool is like an expert that looks directly into the customers’ minds. They are specialized tools that give you insights into the section of your customer base that is happy or dissatisfied. This tool typically employs various methods such as surveys, feedback forms, and data analytics to gather and analyze customer opinions and sentiments systematically.

Here are the top three tools you can try using to improve customer satisfaction:

1. SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow is like a friendly bird helping businesses understand what customers think. It lets businesses ask questions and get to know their customers better. According to a customer review on G2, SurveySparrow is “One of the best Survey Software, period!!”

Unique Features:

• Conversational Surveys: It let businesses ask questions like having a chat.
• Happy or Not: Customers can express their feelings with smileys.
• Mobile Friendly: Customers can answer questions on their phones quickly.
• Smart Analytics: It helps businesses understand the answers with intelligent tools.
• AI Surveys: Create surveys with the help of artificial intelligence. Moreover, with SurveySparrow’s ChatGPT plugin, form creation is as easy as pie!
• Templates: 1000+ pre-designed templates ready for you.

Pricing:

• Paid plans start from $19 a month, billed annually.

2. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is like a wizard. The platform helps them cast spells to understand and improve customer experiences. It’s a tool for creating surveys and magic moments with customers.

Unique Features:

• Wizard Surveys: Businesses can create surveys like magic spells.
• Powerful Analytics: It helps turn survey answers into powerful insights.
• Multi-Channel Magic: Reach customers through various channels like email and social media.
• Customer Journey Mapping: Understand every step of a customer’s experience.
• Automated Spells: Save time with automated actions based on customer feedback.

Pricing:

• Qualtrics typically offers customized pricing based on business needs.
• Pricing details are available upon request.

3. Medallia

Medallia helps businesses see through their customers’ eyes. It’s a tool that listens to what customers say and turns that into superpowers for improving the business.

Unique Features:

• Listening Powers: Medallia hears what customers are saying about the business.
• Actionable Insights: It turns customer feedback into clear actions for improvement.
• Experience Management: Helps businesses manage and enhance every part of the customer journey.
• Real-time Feedback: Businesses get feedback as things happen, not later.
• Customized Solutions: Tailored features to fit different business needs.

Pricing:

• Medallia typically provides custom pricing based on the specific requirements of each business.

Final Thoughts

Customer satisfaction is crucial for the growth of your business. Put the above tips to use and the results will soon follow.

Here are some articles to help you learn more about customer satisfaction:

How To Create Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions In 2021

21 Effective Customer Satisfaction Questions to Ask Your Customers

Customer Satisfaction Guarantee: The Dos & Don’ts With Examples

8 Customer Satisfaction Metrics For 2021

6 Ways to Measure Customer Satisfaction Like a Pro!

Do you have any questions about improving your customers’ satisfaction? Are there any exciting tips or techniques used for improving customer satisfaction? Let us know about them in the comment section below.

Are you looking to create customer satisfaction surveys that reveal what your customers honestly think about your product? Feel free to check out SurveySparrow.

Pragadeesh

I'm a developer turned marketer, working as a Product Marketer at SurveySparrow — A survey tool that lets anyone create beautiful, conversational surveys people love to answer.

pragadeesh