January 5, 2022

by Matias De Zan, Senior Team Management at Xtendo Global

Are you measuring your customers’ satisfaction? If the answer is no, let me tell you that you are missing out on valuable opportunities within the company, and the strategies developed to drive growth are not being properly analyzed.

In times when a company’s digital presence is always being evaluated, customer satisfaction is one of the basic pillars of any brand, and it is precisely customer service that will allow you to know if the team’s work is 100% efficient.

The customer is the driver and engine of businesses, so it is important to take care of them to ensure the company moves forward and achieves the desired positioning. For that, it is necessary to have a clear concept: Customer Experience (CX).

What is Customer Experience (CX)?
According to market research company Forrester Research, it is defined as the way customers perceive their interactions with a company. The more physical, intellectual, and emotional interaction a customer has with the brand, the more they create an image of how the organization operates, its priorities, what its products are like, and most importantly, how they treat the user.

It is important to create a perception that aligns with the company’s values because this can affect customer behavior, either driving or hindering brand loyalty. In other words, the better the experience, the higher the level of commitment and loyalty the customer will have. If you’re interested in learning more about CX and its benefits, click on this link[1].

Why is CX important?
Because it is the key to the growth and sustainability of the company. The goal is for the customer not to make a single purchase but to return for more and, additionally, recommend the positive experience they had with others. To achieve this, there are some guidelines that can be developed to transform organizational culture and always center the customer in every decision made. Don’t forget, gaining their loyalty and recommendation will be our mission.

These three guidelines that will allow you to achieve your goals are: define the purpose, measure perception, and understand the customer. We explain each of them below:

Define the Purpose
One thing companies must be clear about is that “you need customers more than they need you,” as explained in the book The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business by author Harley Manning. The evaluation, therefore, should start from the outside in to design strategies for the consumer.

Leadership expert Simon Sinek explained this a few years ago in his 2009 book Start with Why, where he created the Golden Circle. His idea was based on explaining that the most successful organizations and people in history achieved their goals not only based on factors such as company capital, the market, and media support but on the meaning and belief of inspiring people.

Furthermore, it is of vital importance to have the company’s ethical principles structured; for example, vision (where the goals are defined), mission (which outlines the company’s activity in the market), and values definition. This helps to establish the company’s values.

Dimension: Measure Perception
This is where all metrics that analyze the customer experience come into play. The company’s workflows must be connected to understand and assess the ongoing process and make any necessary adjustments and changes.

Understand the Customer
For this, it is crucial to observe the perspective using tools such as focus groups, surveys, call listening, social media, interviews, and other alternatives that help understand what the consumer is thinking. Remember, what isn’t measured doesn’t exist. Regardless of the results and the type of metric used, it is important to know where you stand.

It is essential to measure to know where we stand. Some metrics to evaluate customer experience are CES, WOM, CHURN, SOW, LTV, NPS, and CSAT. We will discuss the last two below:

What is CSAT?
CSAT is a metric that aims to measure customer satisfaction with a product or service. This acronym stands for Customer Satisfaction Score, and it’s also known as the Customer Satisfaction Index.

It can also analyze the relationship with the company and the image users have of the brand. The primary goal is to improve the stages of the purchase process for a customer.

Why is it important to conduct CSAT in a company?
There are several positive reasons why this metric should always be part of a company’s analysis strategies:

• They are cost-effective and easy to implement because satisfaction surveys can be used for measurement.
• They allow companies to monitor the consumer’s satisfaction level at various stages of the purchasing cycle.
• They strengthen and create close bonds between the customer and the brand.
• They provide the necessary insights for the positive functioning of the company, helping improve all processes. To implement this metric, simply identify the objective, define the process you want, and understand the reasons for doing it.

What is NPS?
The Net Promoter Score measures customer satisfaction through a single question. It is an indicator that offers growth potential to the company or product. NPS evaluates the degree of commitment a person has to recommend a brand, product, or service to family and friends.

This metric was created in 1993 by Fred Reichheld, but it was Bain & Company and Satmetrix that popularized it as a way to forecast user behavior.

The key characteristics of this metric are:

• It can determine if the customer truly appreciates the brand—not just whether they are satisfied but whether they talk about it.
• It measures the relevance and quality of the relationship between a customer and the brand.
• It is easy to use because it compares a company’s results with others in the same industry. So, NPS is an important piece of data for executing strategy objectives. The secret to the growth of many companies lies in the constant analysis of their metrics throughout the sales cycles. In conclusion, measuring contributes to productivity and business intelligence for the efficiency of strategies and decision-making, which help and consolidate success.