Improving customer satisfaction
It’s simple really, your customers want to feel satisfied with their shopping experience. You can satisfy them by listening to their feedback and then improving the customer experience (CX) by implementing the feedback where possible. It’s a key point in good customer service and a strategy that helps to retain loyal customers.
Through the process of openly seeking customer feedback (and showing that you are actually listening by acting on suggested customer improvements), you will increase your customer loyalty, drive word of mouth referrals, and elevate your brand awareness – all of which will contribute either directly or indirectly to your sales and revenue.
The more your customers speak positively about your brand, the more others will be compelled to try it (and be impressed by the amazing customer service you have to offer).
The retail sector must continually strive to use customer feedback to improve the experience of their customers, and it’s this trend that has left some customer experience experts fearful that the sector is saturated with feedback surveys resulting in low response and completion rates. Ultimately though, customer feedback surveying in retail is not going away anytime soon.
Customer satisfaction survey results
In a recent survey of almost 2,000 people worldwide, 62% said they are more likely to purchase from a business that has asked their opinion and 56% claim to be super loyal to a brand that has asked for their feedback. On top of this, 8 out of 10 people believe that brands listen to customers more than they did 10 years ago.
Which leads me nicely onto the subject of what are the key questions that any retail business should ask their customers in order to improve their business operations and remain competitive in an ever-changing economic climate.
We find that the most important questions to ask can vary and depend on who you ask and in what business sector they operate. However, there are some consistent questions that most retail experts agree are extremely necessary for the retail sector that will help identify specific customer pain points.
The Top 10 Customer Survey Questions
- How would you rate our service overall today?
- Do you think that our staff was friendly, helpful and knowledgeable?
- Do you think your transactions were completed quickly and accurately?
- Did we have all of the items advertised on the shelving in stock?
- Could you easily find what you needed?
- How easily did you find parking?
- How likely are you to recommend this store to others?
- Why do you shop at this store?
- What do you like most about the store?
- What would you like to change about the shopping experience we offer?
The answers to these questions are what can be used to help the shape the retail customer experience that you provide. But you should also leave yourself open to customer comments as this is where you can gather really rich information. Areas which are not covered in the 10 questions yet are uniquely related to your business nuances. You might even identify critical issues or bottlenecks that you may not have even thought about previously.
Inbound Customer Feedback
With the rise of the smartphone to astronomical levels of ubiquity and the development of digital survey technology, it’s now easier than ever before to gather feedback from your customers.
The days of sending too few surveys and missing out on valuable feedback are long over. By the same token, the days of alienating customers by sending too many surveys to their inbox is also a thing of the past. Retail businesses are now adopting a more inbound approach as it’s more much more economical, it’s automated and offers greater efficiency.
By providing customers with an ‘always on’ feedback channel that’s easily accessible on mobile, businesses are now tapped into a steady flow of feedback relating to their business be it good or bad information.
Customers can easily leave direct feedback from their smartphone when and where it suits them and in a way that fits into their schedule which they like.
Through openly advertising and providing this feedback mechanism businesses are seeing the value of applying new and innovative survey strategies that are less intrusive because they require the customer wanting to leave the feedback and engaging with the process instead of it being forced upon them.
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
TellUsFirst™ is the instant feedback solution that provides your customers (be they happy or unhappy) with a feedback channel using their smartphone which means there are no extra in-store hardware costs necessary to use the system. It puts the power of leaving feedback into your customer’s hands and makes it possible for you to easily analyze the data and engage with your customers through responding to their feedback, which can increase customer loyalty.
If you can be the first to hear about your customer’s experience (good or bad) you can take that information and use it to make your business better. Here are just some examples of how current businesses are reaching out for feedback to their customers by using the different mechanisms that the system supports:
- Easily accessible on your customer’s mobile device using NFC (near field communication).
- Web links on receipts.
- Snapchat codes.
- QR codes on posters or receipts.
- Through text message.
- Through email.
- The system supports in-store devices like touch screens and tablets, but these are optional and not necessary.
The feedback information gathered through all of the above methods is synced to your companies personalised TellUsFirst™ account and the information is instantly visible in your user dashboard.It will allow you to reach out to unhappy customers in real-time or use the customer data on the system to run special offers, competitions and promotions.
