Customer Satisfaction should be a priority for any business regardless to which industry you belong. If you don’t care about your customers, don’t expect them to become loyal to your brand. Sad, but this is the truth. The faster you believe it, the better it would be for your business.

Customer Satisfaction can provide you with chief competitive benefits, which can directly result in increased growth. Let’s discuss those benefits in detail:

1. Greater Customer Loyalty

It’s obvious that satisfied customers will come back and likely to spend more money, which is good for business and will become loyal customers in the future.

Let’s try to understand this with the help of an example. Consider a business as a bucket. Consumers flow in and fill the bucket up. A successful business will have a full bucket of customers (and profits). If there is a hole in the bucket, consumers who flowed into will start coming out from the hole.

Losing customers is known as 'Customer Churn', and it can have a huge impact on business growth. It’s a lot more expensive to get new consumers than continue to sell to the existing ones.

Loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones through repeat purchases, larger cart sizes, and frequent upsells.

Eventually, loyal customers make it easier for any business to grow. They are the ones who will recommend the business to friends and family.

2. Support During Corporate Crisis

The second major benefit of Customer Satisfaction, which is connected to revenues, is in the area of corporate crisis. Satisfied consumers want the company to survive at the time of crisis, and also they will support till the end. Customer Satisfaction is most likely the best source of insulation against the corporate crisis.

According to Sprout Social, when brands are transparent with their customers, nearly 9 in 10 people are more likely to give them second chances after bad experiences and 85% are likely to stick with them during crises. 

For example, it was rumored that McDonald’s products contained spider webs. But their loyal consumers ignored all the rumors and continued to patronize their products despite attempts to boycott them.

3. Growth in Sales Revenue

Companies that make Customer Satisfaction a priority will result in increased sales revenue. There is a direct connection between customer satisfaction and increased revenue.

Satisfied consumers will not look at your competitor’s offers – they would interact with your brand, make a purchase, and recommend the products and services to friends and family.

According to experts at Forrester Research, a 10% improvement in company's Customer Experience score can increase revenue in some industries by as much as $1 billion annually.

The key factor is to determine which elements are essential for client satisfaction, quantifying that data, and incorporating them into your business strategies.

4. Stand Out From the Competition

Kate Zabriskie, a renowned author, once said that “Although your consumers won’t love you if you give bad services, your competitors will.” and we couldn’t agree more.

Bain & Company found that businesses providing excellent customer experience generate 4% to 8% more revenue than their direct competitors.

Competition exists in every market. Your competitors wait for one wrong move. Smarter companies always plan and keep a strategy to stay ahead in the business. Some of the pointers that you can include in your strategy are identify and try to resolve the pain points of your customers, create a perfect pricing strategy for your products and services, and provide exceptional customer support by hiring a team of professionals.

5. Increases Brand Popularity

The importance of Customer Satisfaction should never be ignored. Plan your marketing strategies and campaigns which can capture the level of customer satisfaction. The probability is high that satisfied consumers are more likely to share your content across numerous social media channels.

Research shows that 71% of consumers who've had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.

They will not only interact with your posts but also leave some wonderful and admirable comments. Later this data can be used as a source for success stories and case studies.

Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction

No matter how hard you try, your business comes across unsatisfied, upset, and challenging customers. How you’re going to handle them will determine your overall success. You can’t make every person happy all the time. When a difficult consumer crosses your threshold-- digital or otherwise-- follow the below-mentioned practices.

• Listen

  Listen to your consumers without interrupting them. Let them vent it all out. They want to be heard.

• Empathize

  Apologize to your customers with empathy, if you have committed a mistake. Let them know you understand their issues and appreciate how frustrating it must be.

• Ask Questions

  Ask questions for clarification when required. Explicitly ask what they should do, which can enhance your products and services.

• Offer Solutions

  Make sure to offer solutions, not excuses. If you can’t give them exactly what they want, offer them alternative solutions. Make use of positive language: instead of saying, “We can’t do that,” try leading with “Here’s what we can offer.”

• Stay Calm

  Try to remain calm and keep your emotions in check. Some consumers are unreasonable and try to aggravate the issue.

• Follow-up

  Do follow-up to ensure that the issue has been resolved and customers are fully satisfied.

Last but not least, make a routine to measure Customer Satisfaction with CSAT Surveys – not just do it at frequent intervals or when you face crisis management. If you want to know how to do it right, you can have a look at ways to measure Customer Satisfaction to make things easier. Providing great consumer service will please both you and your targets. They get the right service, you get targeted revenue, and everyone is happy.

Learn more about the Customer Satisfaction

• 5 Reasons why Customer Satisfaction is Important
• 5 Actionable Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction
• What is Customer Satisfaction?
• How to Close Feedback Loop to Improve Customer Satisfaction?
• 7 Reasons Why Customer Satisfaction Drives Better Results
• Customer Satisfaction vs Customer Delight - what is the difference?