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Great customer service is no longer just a nice-to-have ideal for companies. Instead, exceptional service is a must for every and can be the differentiating factor that determines success or failure. Just consider these statistics:
- 84% of companies that focus on customer experience (CX) report increased revenues (Dimension Data)
- Customer experience drives two-thirds of customer loyalty. (Gartner)
- 73% of customers stated that the customer experience drove their buying decisions. (PricewaterhouseCoopers)
- 86% of customers said they would pay more if it meant a better customer experience. (PricewaterhouseCoopers)
However, there is a well-known disconnect between how leaders perceive the experiences their companies deliver and customer perceptions. Over a decade ago, researchers found that 80% of executives believed their companies offered superior experiences, but just 8% of customers agreed. Some brands have made strides to close this CX gap, but there's still a long way to go.
That brings up an important question: How can you ensure that your company delivers a superior experience?
Customer surveys can provide a vital snapshot of how your buyers feel about your company and brand. And overall customer satisfaction (CSAT) is an essential metric to evaluate. It is also one of the most relied-upon metrics to gauge the effectiveness of CX initiatives.
Before you send out your next survey, get to know the purpose of CSAT, how to calculate it, and ways to improve your CSAT score to deliver a better customer experience.
How Can You Measure Your Customer Satisfaction?
Organizations use a standard survey question to assess CSAT. Typically, this involves asking customers how they rate their overall satisfaction with their goods or services on a scale of one to five, with one being very dissatisfied and five very satisfied. If preferred, you can also use descriptions—very unsatisfied, somewhat unsatisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, somewhat satisfied, and very satisfied—instead of numbers in your CSAT survey.
You can add CSAT to a longer survey or use it as a stand-alone question. Whichever path you choose, you should include an open-ended question so that customers can express their feelings and opinions in their own words.
CSAT can help companies in many ways, such as:
- Measure how well their customer service is performing
- Generate feedback on new products
- Enabling marketing to measure the effectiveness of new campaigns
- Giving sales teams feedback on their processes post-purchase
How to Calculate Your CSAT
When calculating your CSAT, you'll be looking at the percentage of people who were satisfied vs. the total number of responses. The formula to use CSAT is:
(number of customers who respond 4 and 5 / total survey responses) x 100= % of satisfied customers
The higher your percentage, the better your CSAT score.
What is a Good CSAT Score?
Once you have your score calculated, how do you know if it is any good? How do you compare with your competitors?
No one CSAT benchmark can work for every company and industry. However, the American Customer Service Index, or ACSI, can help provide insight for specific industries.
Here are some representative industry satisfaction scores from ASCI:
- Online Retail: 78%
- Airlines: 76%
- Credit Unions: 77%
- Restaurants: 80%
- Health Insurance: 72%
- Hospitals: 69%
- Cell Phones: 79%
- Apparel: 79%
- Internet Service Providers: 65%
While ACSI is critical to see where your business fits in your industry, measuring your own business over time is also essential. It can let you know how any changes you make to products or policies affect customers. Even your CSAT score is above the industry average, a downward trend is a cause for concern. An upward trend is a good sign that you're doing something right. Closely following the trend can hint you whether your restaurant management is effective, your online business's path is well-shaped, your services are satisfactory or not.
Measuring your CSAT score consistently can help you keep on top of customer perceptions. You'll know if customers are happy with your products and what they think about the service you deliver. That vital insight can help you take action to improve customer satisfaction.
CSAT vs. Net Promoter Score vs. Customer Effort Score: Which is Right for Your Company?
Your CSAT score is not the only way to measure how your customers view your brand and their overall experiences. Two other common scores are Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES). While they all depend on customer surveys to gather information, their goals are different: NPS seeks to measure customer loyalty, while CES measures how easy it is for the customer to complete their steps with you.
Each metric plays a critical role in business and measures a different aspect of your customer base and customer experience. What you want to measure will affect which metrics you choose.
CSAT gives you insight into customers' most recent interactions with your company but offers less perspective on long-term customer relationships. NPS and CES help to add extra dimensions to your understanding.
How to Increase Your Customer Satisfaction Scores
If you calculate your CSAT and want to improve your results, there are proven ways to help raise your score. The first thing to consider is how easy it is for customers to contact you. If they run into an issue or have a question, their ability to reach a representative will impact their overall impression of your brand.
Customers have come to expect more than one channel when they want to contact customer service. In fact, 67% of customers expect to use a messaging app to speak to a business, 80% use social media to engage with brands, and 54% used email to contact customer service last year.
Your customers are using nearly every medium to contact you. Whether or not you are listening will impact how impressed they are with your brand. This all translates into buyer loyalty: Research shows that companies with omnichannel customer engagement retain 89% of their customer base.
The takeaway is clear: If you want to boost your CSAT score, you need to meet customers where they are by offering omnichannel customer service.
Measure Your Customer Satisfaction for a Better Business
Companies that focus on customer satisfaction will have the edge over their competition, no matter their industry. By incorporating CSAT into your customer surveys, you can measure customer happiness and perceptions of your brand. Additionally, you can benchmark where you stand against competitors and know how your scores measure up. Equipped with this insight, you can make necessary changes to deliver higher-quality customer experiences.
One of the best ways that you can boost your CSAT score is by providing omnichannel customer service. Want to learn more about how you can deliver the omnichannel service your customers expect? We can help. Contact one of our experts at Helpware today.
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