It’s easy to think that a customer chooses a product or service based on a flashy ad campaign or word-of-mouth. Yet customers also pick products from companies who take them seriously.

Customer satisfaction is a game-changer for defining your place in the market. 84 percent of businesses that improve the customer experience see a revenue increase.

Wondering how to achieve high customer satisfaction? Read on for our top 7 ways to do so.

1. Use Multiple Channels for Support

In the old days, companies might provide support by phone. Next came email. Yet now, customers may also want to seek support via social media, mobile apps, or web chats.

Giving support on the customer’s choice of platform helps to provide satisfaction. You’re meeting them in a time and place that suits their preferences and lifestyle. Handling support in a way that suits the customer helps them feel listened to.

Make sure you offer a seamless approach. If a customer logs a problem on Twitter and then calls your call center? They shouldn’t need to provide the information again.

Depending on your product, consider adding a support forum. Customers can post their problems, along with any screenshots. It also gives other customers the chance to weigh in with their own tips and advice.

2. Pre-Empt What Customers Want

A great way to provide customer satisfaction is to give them what they want. How about giving them more than that? Companies need to keep adding to their offer and developing new products. This keeps their offer from feeling stale or outdated.  Figure out what customers want to see in your product or service. Then deliver it to them.

Customer surveys are one way to figure out what customers actually want. Check the reviews they leave about your products or services. They may state what they wish it also offered.

See what they say about you on social media. Check what they say about your competitors too—this can also give you great ideas for new features.

Adding features customers ask for is also a great way to help customers feel valued.

3. Use Feedback to Improve Customer Satisfaction

We’ve talked about using customer input to create new offerings or improve existing ones. You can also use feedback to fix issues or address criticisms. Showing you’ll tackle problems can improve a customer’s experience with your product.

Find what you need to resolve through customer data. Check complaints, negative reviews, and even support requests. If the same problems occur again and again, then fixing them will help boost satisfaction.

If you send a customer survey, don’t just use number ratings. Add response boxes where customers can tell you what they’re thinking. Ask them what they think you should improve for the best insights.

One area that might need help is your website. A complicated website can put off visitors before they ever become customers.

Using a session replay by Decibel lets you see how your users experience your website. Its powerful AI tracks user interactions so you can look through your users’ eyes. You can fix the problems they find and improve the experience for everyone.

4. Be Proactive

Don’t feel like you can only provide customer service when the customer contacts you. You can also proactively contact them. Another thing you can do to be proactive is start by measuring your net promoter score. This helps you measure customer loyalty, if they aren’t loyal they aren’t overly satisfied.

This can include running loyalty schemes based on their buying behavior. Or you might make recommendations based on how they run their account.

You might also track their account for fraud. Or reach out to them when you have promotions that fit their purchasing profile.

Even making timely calls to check everything is working well can be a good option. It shows the customer you can solve problems before they happen. This reduces their need to contact your support department.

5. Use Bots to Cut Wait Time

AI could handle many of the calls to your support department. Use chatbots on your website to deal with these queries. This frees up support staff to handle more challenging problems.

Doing this means those who need simple answers get them faster. Everyone else gets support more easily, improving the support experience for them.

It’s a simple way to cut wait time and divert customers to the best source of support for them. Customers also expect to encounter chatbots now. 37 percent of people will use bots to get answers in a hurry.

6. Provide Training for Customers

A great way to improve customer satisfaction is to ensure they can get the most out of your product or service.

Provide free training to help get them up and running, and teach them what they need to know to get started. You can deliver this as walkthrough video tutorials or a series of emails.

Create a knowledge base of further tutorials on your website. Divide it into sections so that customers can always find what they need. Once they’ve finished the basics, they can tailor their training for what’s helpful for them.

7. Share Customer Feedback Between Teams

When you want to increase customer satisfaction, you need your whole company to be on the same page.

Certain feedback needs to go to certain teams. For example, bug reports should go to your developers. Complaints about customer service should go to that department.

Yet it’s also useful for the whole company to understand what customers take issue with. Someone in another department might have a great solution to a problem elsewhere.

Customer-facing staff can also refer to these issues while speaking to customers. It shows that the company is aware of problems. This gives customers confidence that their complaints are being heard.

Which Customer Satisfaction Tips Will You Try First?

These seven tips will help you increase customer satisfaction for your business. Try putting one into action every month and raise satisfaction levels in a strategic way.

Revisit them regularly to make sure you’re staying on top of feedback. Both compliments and complaints can help you to push your business to higher levels. Meanwhile, solving problems and keeping customers happy will also keep them coming back to you.

Keen to improve your business and win over new customers? Check out our business articles for more critical tips and advice.

Jane