When conducting business, it is important to gauge customer satisfaction levels in order to determine whether you are meeting their needs. There are many free ways to conduct these customer satisfaction surveys in order to foster a relationship of trust and transparency with your customers.
The line between being too pushy and asking for feedback is a thin one, but the following methods are all low-risk ways to solicit customer feedback without being overbearing or breaking the bank.
Let’s take a look at ways to gauge your customers’ satisfaction!
1. Give Surveys to Customers Who Have Just Completed a Transaction
Feedback can be done in person, over the phone, or through email. Customers are typically more likely to provide good feedback right after interacting with your company, as the experience is still fresh in their minds – every hour afterwards, the likelihood of receiving accurate information goes down.
The feedback you collect through instant customer surveys can help you measure satisfaction with specific aspects of the customer’s experience, such as the quality of the product or the speed of service.
2. Using Social Media Platforms Such as Twitter or Facebook
Thanks to social media, customers can post comments about their experiences directly on your company’s page, & you can respond to them in near real-time. Open communication shows that you’re paying attention to what your customers are saying and that you care about their satisfaction.
Online reputation management is critical, however too often, companies only focus on the negative comments and ignore the positive ones in order to save face. Responding to all comments, both good and bad, shows that you’re truly interested in what your customers think and are dedicated to ultimately improving the customer experience.
This can be particularly overwhelming for small businesses, depending on the volume of comments across platforms and the available time allotted. That’s where Retention360 comes in, being able to organize customer survey responses via social media has never been easier with services like our advanced social media response tool.
3. Ask Customers to Leave Reviews on Websites like Yelp or Facebook
A steady stream of reviews puts your finger on the pulse of how your customers feel about their experience with your company. Public reviews can be helpful in terms of improving your business, while also providing potential leads with insight on what to expect if they decide to do business with you.
Unfortunately, not all customers will take the time to leave a review, but those that do are typically more inclined to be vocal about their experience. While there will always be a minority of unhappy customers that leave negative reviews, a high ratio of positive to negative reviews is generally a good indicator of customer satisfaction. Make sure to ask your customers to leave reviews as often as possible.
4. Sending out Customer Satisfaction Surveys Via Email or Text Message
Sending out surveys to customers shortly after they have interacted with your company is a great way to gauge their satisfaction. Customers are more likely to respond to surveys that are sent via text or email, as they are convenient and typically take less time to complete than paper surveys. The survey you send to your customer should always be clear & concise, which is why learning different ways to improve the surveys you send is very important.
Being able to gauge the customer’s tone in their response is another valuable piece of feedback that you can use to improve your customer service. This can be more of a challenge over digital platforms, however, as you can’t read the person’s non-verbal cues.
To help solve this, Retention360 offers advanced virtual AI text analysis services that can detect the customer’s tone in their surveys, allowing you to more accurately gauge how they feel about your product or service.
5. Encourage Customer Referrals
Another way to measure customer satisfaction is by asking customers to refer their friends and family members. This can be done in a number of ways, such as providing a referral code or link that the customer can share with others, or simply asking them to spread the word about your company.
Not only does this help to gauge customer satisfaction, but it can also help to increase word-of-mouth marketing for your business.
Incentives for referrals can also be a great way to encourage customers to refer others. Customers that give a rating of “good” or better are 38% more likely to recommend that company to their friends and family, and that means more business.
In Summary
The best way to solicit customer feedback is to be personal and interactive with your customers. Show them that you care about their satisfaction and are willing to listen to their feedback. This will encourage customers to be more vocal with their thoughts and help your business improve in the long run.
Don’t be afraid to ask your customers directly what they think about your products or services, after all it’s about improving their experience! Request a demo from Retention360 today and see how we can help you gather customer feedback, improve your customer retention strategies , and increase loyalty to your brand based on each customer’s unique experience.
