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There are many factors that lead to the success (or failure) of a business. And safe to say, customer satisfaction is one of the key drivers.
For every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy customers who have chosen to remain silent. But them choosing to say nothing isn’t a good thing, so don’t be too happy here.
91% of customers who choose not to complain will simply leave and never come back.
But it’s not just about losing customers. At the end of the day, customer satisfaction directly affects your brand image and reputation. If you’re not measuring (uh why?) it, then start now!
That’s why we’re writing this article so that you know which customer satisfaction metrics are important and how to measure them.
On that note, let’s start off with the basics, shall we? 👇
Contents
What is customer satisfaction?
Customer satisfaction is a metric used to determine how satisfied a customer is with a business’ product or service. It is one of the most important indicators of consumer purchase intentions and loyalty.
Businesses find out about customer satisfaction levels through surveys, polls, and ratings.
Gathering such information helps businesses better understand what their customers expect, which gives them the opportunity to improve their products or services.
What are some ways to keep customers satisfied?
There are many things businesses can do to ensure that their customers are happy. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the most important points for you to take note of:
- Create content that adds value
- Provide efficient and effective customer service
- Respond to customers’ inquiries quickly
- Make sure that your product or service is mature enough for your target audience
- Understand what your customers want and expect from you.
We actually wrote a full piece on how you can improve customer satisfaction. Check it out here!
Why is customer satisfaction so important?
It drives revenue
Without identifying customer satisfaction, you can’t determine who your happy and unhappy customers are. Keep in mind that not every customer is vocal about their views and feedback.
And prioritizing customers’ satisfaction is correlated to an increase in revenue.
84% of companies who work to improve customer satisfaction see an increase in revenue and those who deliver better customer experiences have a revenue of 4% to 8% above the rest of their market.
Knowing who’s happy and who isn’t gives you the opportunity to take the necessary actions to retain a customer or improve your products and services.
It helps businesses measure customer loyalty
Customer satisfaction is a good indicator of whether a customer will repurchase from you.
Customers who have a positive emotional experience with your business are 6 times more likely to purchase from you again, and 12 times more likely to recommend you to their friends.
Studies have also shown that repeat purchasers spend more and generate larger transactions.
That’s because if a customer has satisfactory experiences with your product or service, they will naturally be inclined to purchase. And the longer and more satisfied a customer is, the more often they’ll repurchase from you.
Acquiring new customers is much more costly
If you think about it, attracting the attention of new customers requires a lot of effort. Crafting inbound marketing and outbound outreach strategies, creating content, nurturing relationships, and so on.
It’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. Also, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.
That’s why businesses should invest in ensuring that existing customers are satisfied with their products and services. Follow-up with them and put in the effort to build lasting relationships with them.
You gain a competitive advantage
In the competitive business landscape, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiating factor that can make your business stand out among the rest.
Picture this: you’re considering between 2 businesses, but one provides better customer service than the other. Which would you choose?
I think there’s a unanimous decision here. 😉
As we mentioned above, happier customers will most likely repurchase and refer you to their network. That’s why businesses that manage to survive in competitive markets are the ones that prioritize customer satisfaction.
7 customer satisfaction metrics to measure
There are some commonly used customer satisfaction metrics that include NPS, CSAT, and CES. Fret not, we’ll also take a look at them! But there are also other metrics you can use to measure customer satisfaction.
Let’s dive right in!
1. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is probably one of the most well-known customer satisfaction metrics used to measure and track how businesses are perceived by their customers.
It helps you find out:
- How satisfied customers are with your business, product, or services
- How loyal they are to your company
- How likely they are to recommend you to others.
To gather such information, businesses can ask one simple question:
“On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product or service?”
From the results, you can categorize your customers into 3 groups:
- Detractors (0-6): These customers show little to no interest in your products or services. This means that it’s unlikely for them to be loyal customers or promoters. They could even leave negative reviews about your business.
- Passives (7-8): Customers in this group are willing to recommend your products and will not discourage others from purchasing from you. However, they wouldn’t hesitate to switch to your competitors.
- Promoters (9-10): These customers are the loyal supporters that often repurchase from you. They’ll also highly likely recommend your products or services to others.
To calculate NPS, you simply subtract the number of customers who are in the “detractors” category from customers who are in the “promoters” category.
So this means that the higher your NPS, the better.
However, while NPS tells you that you’re underperforming (or performing well), it doesn’t answer “why”. Thus, it’s important to follow up with questions such as:
“What can we do to improve?”
This will give you a better understanding of why they would or would not recommend you and how you can improve your products or services.
2. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a metric that directly measures customer satisfaction levels. It is the most straightforward way to determine whether customers are happy with you or not.
Businesses usually send CSAT surveys to find out how satisfied customers are with something they did, such as dining at a restaurant or getting a phone repaired.
Here’s an example of a CSAT question:
“How would you rate your experience with our product or service?”
These questions are usually rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best.
To get your CSAT score, simply take the percentage of satisfied customers out of all respondents. On a 5 point scale, satisfied customers are those who rated 4 and above.
This metric is a straightforward way to get direct feedback about your products or services. Again, the higher the number of satisfied customers, this means you’re doing a good job at keeping your customers happy. Good job! 👍
3. Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer Effort Score (CES) is a combination of NPS and CSAT. It measures the amount of effort a customer needs to put in to use a company’s products or services.
CES surveys are usually used right after a customer has interacted with the business, to determine customer loyalty, or measure the overall experience of a business’s products or services.
Here’s an example of a CES question:
“How easy was it to install the software?”
These questions usually have 5 values, beginning with “extremely easy” and ending with “extremely difficult”. Your CES score will be an average of all responses, and in this case, the lower the better.
If the score is lower, this means that customers do not have much difficulty using your product or service.
4. Customer Service Satisfaction (CSS)
As its name suggests, Customer Service Satisfaction (CSS – not to be confused with Cascading Style Sheets for all you coders out there 😉) is a metric to determine how satisfied customers are with your customer service.
Here’s an example of a CSS question:
“How do you rate your customer service experience?”
Similar to CES, they are rated based on values such as “Excellent”, “Neutral”, and “Poor”. This is a quick way to gather immediate feedback on the customer service provided and allows businesses to take actionable steps.
For example, if many customers are rating “Neutral” or “Poor”, you probably need to take a look at how your customer service staff are treating your customers.
5. Customer Health Score (CHS)
Customer Health Score (CHS) is a customer satisfaction metric that indicates how likely a customer will churn. If your overall CHS is deteriorating (see what we did there?), that means there’s a high chance that your customers will churn.
CHS scores are determined by analyzing customer behavior, rather than gathering data through surveys.
To observe customer behavior and determine churn:
- Check how long customers have been using your product
- Check how long past customers used your product before dropping off
- How often they interact with your business
Observing these metrics gives you a good indication of the health of where your customers stand – “Healthy”, “At-risk”, or “Poor”.
6. Customer Churn Rate (CCR)
Customer Churn Rate (CCR) refers to the percentage of customers you’ve lost. Customer churn is inevitable and every company goes through this, even the most successful ones!
To calculate the churn rate, subtract the number of customers at the end of the period from their number at the beginning of the period, then divide the result by the number of customers at the beginning.
The higher the CCR, the more customers are not doing business with you, and you should be alarmed.
As we mentioned above, acquiring new customers is much more expensive than retaining existing ones. According to Bain & Company, reducing churn by just 5% can boost profitability by 75%.
So start measuring your CCR and take actionable steps towards lowering your churn.
7. Online reviews
Have you ever scrolled through the comments section before making a purchase? Well, then that sets you apart from the 88% who trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
As more people take to the internet to share their opinions and feedback, it has become the go-to medium for many before deciding to check out a business or even purchase from them.
And this means that online reviews have become a determining factor of whether the business will succeed or fail.
But what makes online reviews so powerful?
According to a survey, consumer reviews are 12 times more trusted than company reviews. Due to false advertising, consumers have taken to reviews by real people like themselves to give honest feedback and opinions about a product or service.
This is why businesses that have a ton of positive reviews establish greater trust with potential customers. This, in turn, helps them drive sales.
So start keeping track of your online reviews and take note of what your customers are saying!
Conclusion
We hope that this article has given you a better understanding of customer satisfaction metrics that you should measure.
Customer expectations are rising every day, so it’s important to stay in tune with them to offer the best support and services. It is essential that we use indicators and metrics to assist us in doing so. Only by understanding where we’re lacking can we improve for our customers.
For more helpful sales-related tips, check out the content that we’ve prepared for you! Or, subscribe to our blog below 😉👇
Faye
Faye is a digital marketing executive at Novocall. When she’s not busy writing articles for Novocall’s blog, she spends her time baking and playing with her dogs.
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