Customer satisfaction surveys are essential for companies to understand public perceptions of their company and to develop strategies for improvements and adjustments based on customer feedback.
Even though employees and entrepreneurs are always aware of their problems and know what needs to be improved, there is no one better to point out mistakes and successes than consumers , right?
The opinion of those on the other side of the table makes all the difference and should be considered by companies, after all, it is very valuable and generates great directions.
Have you been conducting customer satisfaction surveys correctly in your company ? Have you adopted a strategy and truly utilized the results? Check out our post and learn what you need to know to do it right!
What is customer satisfaction research?
Satisfaction surveys are essential for helping companies understand what customers think of their brand, product, or service . Typically, they consist of 5 to 10 questions.
Customer satisfaction surveys are a strategy whose main function is to gather customer feedback . This feedback translates into improvements and opportunities for the business.
Collecting customer feedback helps the company understand its customers more deeply , understanding their pain points, perceptions, and expectations of the brand and what it delivers. It allows the company to learn more about the customer and their perceptions, expectations, and achievements regarding what the company delivers to them .
There are several types of research that can be applied , but they all have an objective, hypotheses and need a minimally relevant sample to evaluate the results.
The objective is the first step in carrying out the research , after all, without knowing what you want to find, it is difficult to draw up questions and choose the data collection channels, isn't it?
Next, you need to define your hypotheses . These relate to the impressions and results you expect to find at the end of the research. They will help you with your analysis and even define your questions.
Finally, after knowing the objective of what you are looking for, you need to define who the research will be aimed at and calculate representative samples.
What are the benefits of satisfaction surveys for your business?
Customer satisfaction surveys can be conducted with both external audiences (customers) and internal audiences (employees), as both are very valuable to organizations.
Regardless of which audience you choose, customer satisfaction surveys offer several benefits. We've listed some below! Check them out!
Helps you learn more about your customers
Working with journey and experience is the current strategy, so it's essential to continually learn more about your audience. More often than not, a satisfaction survey offers insights that allow your team to focus on meeting (and possibly exceeding) customer expectations.
Additionally, you can direct questions and learn even more details about your personas . There are countless possibilities for discovery, and each piece of information is certainly valuable for future action.
Understanding what your customers value in your company is key to defining and prioritizing the next steps for your product or service.
Highlights opportunities and areas for improvement
Gaining insights directly from customers is a major competitive advantage for businesses. After all, with this data, managers can base their decisions on creating truly worthwhile investment strategies.
More than that, it is possible to verify and understand what needs to be attacked more quickly, what opportunities need to be seized and what improvements need to be made to the business .
We can also mention competitive analysis, which must be done to measure the weaknesses and strengths of competitors.
Having data allows companies to put “guesswork” aside and make strategic decisions with more confidence .
Greater customer retention
There's nothing worse than an unhappy customer , who can become a detractor of your brand. However, unfortunately or fortunately, they are also very useful in highlighting potential issues that could affect the future of your company and even other customers.
If you have a defined plan to measure customer satisfaction regularly, you will likely identify these changes and indications of problems much earlier than you would if you weren't using these metrics.
A large portion of your unhappy customers won't complain about what's bothering them unless they're asked to.
In Philip Kotler's book Administration and Marketing, he shows that 95% of dissatisfied customers do not complain, they simply change suppliers (and never come back!).
In other words, if a customer complains, it's because they care about remaining your customer. And this should be taken into account.
Showing your customers that you're aware of their issues and are already working on them will significantly improve customer retention . Furthermore, having (and keeping) satisfied customers increases the likelihood of repeat purchases and increases overall customer lifetime value .
Therefore, the sooner a company starts listening to its customers, the greater the chance of discovering its flaws, winning back old customers and seeking to win new ones .
How to apply a satisfaction survey from scratch?
There are many different ways and applications for customer satisfaction surveys. You don't need to choose just one strategy; it's best to combine multiple channels and reach customers in different ways, depending on the context and questions that make sense for your business.
The first step in conducting a customer satisfaction survey is to consider when you want to collect feedback . The important thing at this stage is to consider your customer's journey and the steps they need to take to complete a cycle—this will be the best time to conduct the survey.
Check out some common application moments:
- After-sales (knowing what the experience was like and through which channel they reached your brand)
- Post installation/maintenance;
- After receiving the product/service;
- After a period of time when interacting with your product/service (it is recommended to use NPS )
- After-sales service;
Once you've decided when to conduct the survey, the next step is to choose the approach or indicator to best collect feedback from your customer.
Check out the most effective surveys you can use to understand your customers.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
NPS , or Net Promoter Score, is a metric developed to measure and understand customer loyalty levels . Its goal is to determine a consistent and easily interpretable score that can be compared over time or across industries.
The idea is simple: if you enjoy using a product or doing business with a particular company, you want to share that experience with others, right?
NPS software tool like Harmo can help you learn more about your customers' needs.
CES (Customer Effort Score)
The Customer Effort Score is a metric used to measure the level of effort a customer made to resolve a specific issue with your company.
In other words, the more effort a customer has to make when interacting with your company, the worse their experience will be and, consequently, you will be dealing with a future ex-customer.
The Customer Effort Score question is on a scale of 1 to 7, which asks:
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
The Satisfaction Score is a metric that directly measures customer satisfaction levels in specific interactions , and is measured through a numerical scale that asks:
Customized templates for satisfaction surveys:
Templates for general customer satisfaction:
- How satisfied are you with our company? (Very satisfied/Satisfied/Neutral/Dissatisfied/Very Dissatisfied)
- On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend? (NPS)
- Did the company make it easy to resolve my issue? (CES)
- What are your company's expected results this year, and how would you like us to help you achieve your goals?
- How important is our solution for your company? (1 – 5)
Customer service templates:
- From 0 to 10, how would you rate our product/service?
- Did you feel well treated and welcomed by our customer service team? (Yes / No)
- How effective was our support team in resolving your issue? (1 to 5)
- Was our team able to understand and resolve your issue satisfactorily? (Yes / No)
- Regarding the time it took you to be served, our service was: (Long / Moderate / Fast)
Templates for features:
- From 0 to 10, how do you rate your experience with our product/service? (CSAT)
- What aspects of our product/service are essential to your daily operations? (Multiple choice or descriptive)
- Is there a specific feature of our product that you have difficulty understanding? Which one? (descriptive)
Conclusion
Regardless of which strategy your company chooses for customer satisfaction research, it's important to remember that more than just collecting data, it needs to actually be used to improve and benefit customers .
Collect data, analyze and extract information, understand your customers' profiles, and develop plans that enhance the customer experience , whether in contact channels, Marketing, Sales, Logistics, or any other area of the company.
Customer satisfaction surveys can provide diverse insights and many solutions in the short, medium, and long term. How have you addressed this issue within your company? How important is customer feedback to you? I hope this content has helped you with this.
Now that you know a little more about customer satisfaction surveys, get started and learn more about customer relationships and their importance . See you next time!
Check out our webinar: The 4 Key Metrics and Which One to Use at Each Stage of the Customer Journey
