Measure customer satisfaction continuously with little effort

Satisfied customers are the goal of every company and a prerequisite for successful business development. Because without customers, there is no revenue. But what exactly is meant by customer satisfaction?

In particular, it means that a customer evaluates purchased products or services after purchase on the basis of his or her experience of use. Customer satisfaction therefore exists when there is a match between the customer’s expectation and the experience gained during use.

If expectations are not met, the customer is dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction can ultimately lead to the loss of the customer.

Aiming for high customer satisfaction makes sense for companies for various reasons. One of the main arguments is that a satisfied customer becomes a repeat buyer and, at best, a regular customer. This creates a strong bond between the customer and the company.

On the other hand, satisfied customers also recommend certain products or the company to friends and acquaintances, so you can expand your customer base. And more customers in this case mean more sales for your company.

A satisfied customer is also generally prepared to pay a higher price for the product. Price policy adjustments are therefore more likely to be accepted and in turn lead to an increase in your sales.

In addition, the satisfaction of your customers and positive word-of-mouth recommendations ensure that you stand out from your competitors and position yourself accordingly well on the market.

Conversely, if your customers are dissatisfied, you run the risk of losing customers to the competition if the competitor’s product meets the customer’s expectations more.

With dissatisfied customers, negative word-of-mouth or negative reviews are also a possible reaction that can be detrimental to your business.

Measuring customer satisfaction is therefore important in order to capture the current state in relation to the satisfaction of your customers. Because only if you know that your customers are not satisfied with your product or service, you have the opportunity to change something about it. Negative feedback can therefore help to improve your products in the long term and promote positive company development.

Customer satisfaction is not only influenced by the product, but by many other factors along the customer journey.

It should be clear from the moment you enter the store what you offer. If the assortment is presented in an appealing way and is broad enough, these are plus points for your customer. The same applies to online shopping.

A user-friendly website with good filter options that allow the customer to quickly find the desired product also contribute to customer satisfaction.

In online shopping, there are also other influencing factors such as the payment procedure or the delivery and returns processing. If, for example, payment by invoice is not possible or shipping takes longer than expected, this has a negative impact on customer satisfaction. If, on the other hand, various payment systems are offered and shipping is smooth and fast, these are plus points.

Another aspect that plays a major role both online and offline is service and customer support. Eternally long waiting loops or unfriendly staff will tend to discourage customers from buying from you again. However, if the customer is personally looked after and given good advice, or if he or she is helped quickly and without problems in the event of questions, then you can certainly hope for another purchase from the customer.

The best and easiest way to measure customer satisfaction is with a survey.

Using a questionnaire tailored to your company, you have the opportunity to ask your customers questions about the products, the website, customer support or other important areas.

The following methodological approaches can help you to calculate key figures:

Net Promoter Score (NPS).
The NPS is an indicator of customer loyalty. Customers are asked to rate on a scale whether they would recommend the company or product to others. A distinction is made here between the so-called promoters, who would recommend the product, and the detractors, who would not.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
The Customer Satisfaction Score is a key figure designed to measure current customer satisfaction. Customers are asked to rate their satisfaction with a product on a scale of 1 to 7, for example. The average is then calculated from all the results.

Customer Effort Score (CES)
The Customer Effort Score determines how much effort a customer has to expend to clarify a matter with the company. This is why it is also known as the customer effort index.

But in addition to the key figures, you also have the opportunity to obtain further important information from a customer survey. Negative feedback in particular gives you a good overview of what you can still improve.

Via easyfeedback, you can easily create a customer satisfaction survey yourself using the NPS method or you can use our sample template for measuring customer satisfaction.

A customer satisfaction analysis is used to determine how satisfied customers are with products or services. A regular survey is useful to collect comparative values and to keep an eye on the satisfaction of your customers.

We have summarized below how you can best go about analyzing customer satisfaction:

Before you start analyzing your customer satisfaction, it is important to define a target group. Who are your customers? Are they male or female? What is their age? Furthermore, it is important that you consider how many customers you want to survey and how long the survey should last.

Once you have defined your target group, you can start creating the questionnaire. For inspiration, feel free to check out our template on customer satisfaction.

Before you send out the questionnaire, we recommend testing it several times and getting feedback, for example from a colleague not involved in the creation. This will help you avoid ambiguities and get the results you want.

As soon as you have the data from the survey, it is time for the evaluation. Depending on the method used, mean values or frequencies are evaluated. A differentiated analysis of specific subgroups is also possible.

After analyzing the results, you draw a summary. What does the result mean for your company? Are your customers satisfied? Pay particular attention to the negative voices. These will give you a good idea of where there is still room for improvement within your company.

There are many different ways to increase customer satisfaction. Below we have compiled a few helpful tips for you:

You can only increase customer satisfaction if you know what your customers want. Therefore, get regular feedback from your customers and determine what they want. This will give you a good indication of how you can increase customer satisfaction.

Focus on your product first. If your product does not satisfy the customer, it will be difficult to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, no matter how good the service. Check the quality of your product. Is this already convincing or can you still adjust something here? Are there opportunities to even exceed your customers’ expectations?

Present your products honestly and transparently in advertising so that the customer knows what he is buying. A product that is particularly touted in a TV commercial and then fails to meet the customer’s self-created high expectations is not very effective.

Online shopping in particular is all about speed: everything is just a click away. Make it as easy as possible for your customer to find and buy your products. If the customer has to search for a long time, he will probably quickly turn to a competitor. But quick responses to customer inquiries and good accessibility of your company also contribute to high customer satisfaction. Try to reduce your waiting times as much as possible.

Good service will be remembered by your customers. Surprise your customers, for example, with a free gift or with compensation if not everything went smoothly. In this way, you strengthen your customers’ loyalty to your company and contribute to increasing the company’s success in the long term.

Ask your customers what they think of your products and the company. Depending on the target group, different question approaches are possible here. We have listed some suggested questions below:

• How satisfied are you with the quality of our products?
• How satisfied are you with our service?
• How satisfied are you with our customer support?
• What is particularly important to you in terms of customer support?
• Would you recommend our products/services to others?
• How do you rate the availability by telephone?
• Do you have any suggestions/criticisms?

For further suggestions, please take a look at our customer satisfaction survey template or simply create a survey yourself using the easyfeedback tool.