Any business — no matter what its size, its industry, or its focus — needs to remain on the right side of its customers if it wants to stand any chance of not only turning a profit in the near future, but remaining viable over the mid to long term.
Of course, this is so self-evident that to even say it seems trite. And yet even major companies will, from time to time, end up dire straits precisely because they have opted to ignore client feedback, reject warning signs of mounting dissatisfaction, and push ahead with unpopular initiatives or moves all the same
Knowing how to reduce product returns or successfully convert long-term leads are essential skills — but they come under the broader heading of “ensuring and maintaining customer satisfaction.”
Keeping that in mind, here are a few guiding principles to ensure customer satisfaction.
Every business does, of course, need to be pragmatic to a considerable degree and in a broad range of ways, if it’s to remain solvent. But, at the same time, every business will be faced with opportunities to make “pragmatic” short term decisions that detract from a long-term emphasis on quality.
Where pragmatism and quality are at odds, always emphasise quality and make the decisions that lead to the highest quality products, services, and outcomes.
This will often involve slower growth, or even operating at a loss in the short term — but you will simultaneously be planting seeds which will grow into customer trust, loyalty, and satisfaction as time goes on.
As the old saying goes, “the customer is always right.” And while this sentiment may not be exactly right in a general sense, it’s certainly the case that any business that wants to survive, nevermind thrive, needs to be highly attuned to customer sensitivities.
In order to ensure customer satisfaction, it’s very important that you develop systems for collecting customer feedback, filtering through it, and acting on it appropriately.
This could involve anything from surveys and follow-up calls after a purchase, to focus groups and regular team meetings to address pertinent points.
If you’re not gathering or acting on any feedback, though, that’s a very bad sign.
Customer dissatisfaction — and especially returns of goods, refund requests — will generally happen following a purchase, as a result of the customer feeling that the thing they purchased didn’t live up to the “hype” in one sense or another.
Often, this happens in large part because businesses fail to be sufficiently upfront and transparent when advertising and describing their services in marketing materials, on their website, and so on.
Always strive to be clear, detailed and accurate in how you describe your goods and services to your clients. Leave as little room for misunderstanding or ambiguity as possible.
