Without your clients, your business would not succeed—which is why it is essential to determine how they perceive you. One of the most common mistakes that business owners make, is to assume that they know whether or not their clients are truly happy. Or they assume that their clients would tell them when they see an area of opportunity.
The Art of Engagement
Much of your success in business hinges on your ability to engage with your customers. Successful engagement goes beyond building relationships, but to ensuring that your clients know that their business, thoughts, and opinions are valuable to you. As your business continues to grow, this can sometimes become a bit more challenging—because you may not know as many of your customers on an individual level. Even so, approximately 70% of all CEOs invest time and resources exploring the customer experience.
Above and beyond the customer experience, your customer feedback can help to improve your product or service. This will vary greatly dependent upon your industry. For example, long wait times in a restaurant may encourage you to increase staffing—or offer online ordering. However, long wait times for custom jewelry design may simply be what they are—and hopefully worth the wait.
Request Feedback With an Online Survey
Any easy place to start, is by requesting feedback. A common mistake, is to ask a general question—but you need to get really specific. Customers may not have time to answer detailed questions in person, so you will need to get creative.
One of the fastest and easiest ways to request feedback, is to create an online survey. The survey can be short, or long—just make sure that the questions are detailed, and are designed to gain a better understanding of your customers. Also make sure that you leave space at the end for written feedback.
If you want, your survey can be anonymous, or to encourage more feedback you could enter all participants in a drawing for a free product, service, or a general gift card.
Don’t Forget The New Customers
Retention is essential for success, but so is generating new business. This is why you must make an effort to determine what first-time or new customers have to say about your business. Your new customers are often the ones who are most apprised of your competition’s offerings, because they have been shopping around. Their feedback may also serve as great inspiration for expanding your offerings, or to how you can better serve one of your secondary niches.
Applying Your Findings
If you are going to invest the time in creating a customer satisfaction survey, and engaging with your clients to better understand their needs—the next stop is to apply your findings. Look for patterns and trends in both superior and less than desirable service, and use all negative feedback to serve as a source of innovation—opposed to a source of stress or disappointment. You can also use your findings to better refine and define what makes your business unique.
If you are in need of a customer satisfaction survey, we are happy to design a detailed online survey designed to help you improve your customer experience.
