11 Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction and Retention

Have you ever felt like your business could be doing more to increase customer satisfaction and retention? We all know that it costs less to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one, but we don’t all know where we’re going wrong.

Well in this article, we’ve identified 11 ways to improve customer satisfaction and retention. From following the tech trends to benchmarking progress, this list has it all. How many of these points can you honestly say you’re on top of?

1. Focus on employee satisfaction

If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. Get your team together using video conferencing software and find out how they’re feeling. Never miss an opportunity to praise and reward a job well done.

2. Understand your customer

Your audience is at the center of your business. You probably have a good idea of who they are, but do you know what they want? And when it comes to marketing, do you know where to find them?

If you’re nodding, take a look at this statistic. YouTube, the platform famous for attracting a young audience, has seen a huge increase in Baby Boomers and Gen X users over the last year. You never know what your customers are up to until you’ve looked at the data, so make sure you study it.

3. Ask for feedback

Simply asking your customers to review your business will point you in the right direction. Consider all of the feedback you receive and make changes accordingly. Maybe you’re doing everything perfectly already - either way, asking for feedback shows you care about your customers’ opinions. 

The digital experience definition is an interaction between a user (your customer) and a brand that is only possible through online communication. If there are any faults with your digital experience, you’ll struggle to increase customer satisfaction. Feedback will help you improve the overall experience that every customer has with your brand.

4. Product bundles‍

Product bundling is a great way of giving your customers more value by highlighting more items they might be interested in. This can be really effective as your customer will save time clicking through all of the products on your site.

You can even increase sales by offering product bundles at a discounted rate - great for you and your customer! Get this right, and you’ll see customer satisfaction go through the roof.

5. Provide outstanding customer support

The world has moved on from postal complaints and long telephone queues. Everyone expects fast communication when it comes to dealing with a company. Think about the kind of customer support you offer. Are you doing enough to improve customer satisfaction and retention?

If you can’t do this in-house, think about outsourcing the task and look for call center solutions.

6. Personalize the experience‍

Personalization makes the customer feel more connected to your business. It’s fairly simple to put in place if you’re collecting the right data. Refer to them by name, remember their birthday, and show them products based on their purchase history. When 78% of consumers are more likely to become repeat customers, it’s hard to find an excuse not to personalize your marketing.

If you aren’t doing so already, use your business intelligence to personalize the customer journey.

7. Provide multi-channel support

Do you have a live chat option on your website? A phone number? An email address? Social media channels? Multi-channel support means your customers get to choose how they want to communicate with you.

It’s good to have a mix of channels available for your customers to engage with you on. The average time it takes to respond to an email is much longer than a live chat or social media message. Most people don’t enjoy being stuck in a phone queue either, even if we would prefer to talk to a human. Multi-channel support will reduce waiting times, increasing customer satisfaction.

8. Optimize your software

Everyone has had a bad experience with a broken piece of software. If something you’re offering to your customers isn’t fully-functioning, who do you think they’ll  blame? Everything your business uses must be responsive. Customers will not accept buggy apps and websites anymore.

With over half of your audience less likely to engage with a company that doesn’t offer a good mobile experience, you can’t afford to take any chances.

Luckily, these are easy fixes. Unite your IT department with your software development team to create DevOps - the easiest way to improve customer satisfaction.

9. Get to grips with social media

Social media is a great place to show off what you do, and a lot of brands are good at that. However, more importantly, it’s where your customers spend a lot of their time. Don’t just shout about your products; engage with your audience and provide a seamless brand experience. 

You can also use social media as a customer service channel. Make sure someone is monitoring the messages and replies as quickly as possible.

10. Offer free training and support

Don’t wave goodbye to your customer once the deal is done. Your next action is what causes a customer to refer you to a friend, leave a good review, and come back to your business for more. 

Go above and beyond when it comes to post-purchase customer support by offering free product training. Make sure every customer knows how to get hold of you if they need support. You can do this automatically if you have the right email software, so no need to invest more time or money.

11. Benchmark customer satisfaction

Everyone wants to improve customer satisfaction and retention, but not many people are monitoring these numbers. Make it a priority to measure satisfaction and keep tabs on loyal customers using customer service software. 

Let’s all improve customer satisfaction and retention

By working through this list, you’ve got a pretty solid idea of how your business can improve customer satisfaction and retention. You might have noticed that a lot of points revolve around your communication strategy. How easy is it for your customers to reach you?

If you’re not already offering multi-channel communication and outstanding customer support, you need to think about how you will implement it as quickly as possible. Your customers expect to be able to talk to you, and they want to have that conversation now.

Other than that, it’s down to you. Find one or two points that your business can work on and see if they increase your customer satisfaction and retention. Most importantly, good luck!