8 customer satisfaction KPIs you should track

 Before listing the customer satisfaction KPIs you should track, let’s talk about customer satisfaction in general. I’m sure you have experienced buying a product and something in the process didn’t go as expected. It can be that you had a faulty product or that the buying procedure was not easy to complete. After experiencing this, you probably decided that you would not make a purchase at that store again.Often whether a customer will return to a store again or not is just a matter of how the service has been. The way you treat your customers and their experience have a big potential to affect future sales. Particularly when you take into consideration the word of mouth effect. Usually, consumers trust the recommendations from friends and family the most.You need to consider that you are never going to get as good of a recommendation as the one you would get from a loyal customer. In this article, we will go through 8 customer satisfaction KPIs that are good to measure. By tracking them, you can succeed in increasing your customer satisfaction.

 

1.   Net promoter score (NPS)

One of the most important customer satisfaction KPIs to measure is tne NPIS. The NPs measures how likely it is that your current customers will recommend your company’s services or products to someone else. The more people recommend you, the better. Having customers as promoters who will recommend you to their network is the kind of marketing that you will never be able to buy. If the number of people who recommend you is bigger than the ones who does not, you will receive a positive score. If you don’t receive the score you expected, you should focus your efforts on increasing customer satisfaction and then the NPS will increase too.

On a scale from 0 to 10, the promoters would be customers answering a  survey with a 9 or 10. Customers answering with either 6, 7 or 8 are neutral and are not likely to recommend your company. Grades lower than 6, we find the customer categorized as detractors. These customers will not only not buy from you again but will also discourage others to buy from you.

2.   Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

This customer satisfaction KPI reflects on how your customers feel about the experience they had with your brand. Here, you need to develop a customer satisfaction strategy. CSAT is being driven by what your company does in regard to increasing customer satisfaction. With effort you can improve your CSAT and ensure a steady overall satisfaction. A good tip for CSAT would be to never settle for acceptable as there is always room for improvement.

CSAT and NPS can seem similar, but they measure two different things. CSAT measures customer satisfaction with a product and NPS loyalty to the organization.

3.   Customer Effort Score (CES)

With this customer satisfaction KPI, you measure the customer’s experience with a product or service (and not with the brand (CSAT)). They rank the experience from very difficult to very easy on a 7-point scale. This defines how much effort they needed to put in to the use the product or service, and if they will buy it again.When you ease the use of a product, you offer a better experience, and therefore you gain customer loyalty. In other words, CES is a solid forecaster on the customer’s buying behavior and whether they will buy again in the future or even increase their spending.

4.   Customer retention

The next customer satisfaction KPI is customer retention. Customer retention increase when customers re-purchase. It indicates that your company is offering quality services and/or products. Thus, having a high-quality performance. 

You need to keep in mind that nowadays we live in a globalized world which has lots of offerings. Customers have a lot of different options to choose from. This means that it is easy to move to another competitor. You therefore need to put more effort into your customer’s satisfaction.When looking into customer retention and aiming to increase it, it is a good idea to look for patterns. Especially for patterns of customers who are not satisfied and want to change to a competitor. This way you can see what your company is doing wrong and what you should change next time to avoid this.

5.   Brand attributes

When it comes to expectations, you need to make sure that both you and your customers are both on the same page. If you are not on the same page, you need to find a way to close that gap. Only then, will you provide what they expect. One way to achieve this is by sending a survey on the brand attributes. This way you can get the point of view customers have of your company. With their answers, you will have a starting point to work on your company’s brand image.

When perspectives from both parties align, you increase your chances of making customers happy, and you also increase the chances that they will purchase from your company again. That’s why it is important to have customer satisfaction KPIs that measure brand attributes. 

6.   Industry benchmarks

Analyzing the competitors’ strategy and services can get you crucial information. This information can be of high importance to your company’s success in terms of customer satisfaction.

By looking at why different customers are buying from your competitor, you can realize where you are standing compared to them. Maybe they provide them with a better customer experience? Or maybe is it a matter of product quality? When you have gathered this data, you will be able to adapt to you target group so that you will serve them better. You might even get some new customers too. If you start getting new customers, this means that the changes are successful.

7.   Complaint handling

Although handling complaints is very important, often firms underestimate it. Not handling complaints properly can lead to dissatisfaction. Not only can this dissatisfaction make you lose a customer but also many other potential customers. On the other hand, if you handle it properly, 55% to 70% of the customers will do business with you again.

8.   Service time

It’s nice to not find any problems at all but when you do, there is nothing better than getting it solved straight away. Keep track of how often your customer service department provides an excellent service. Then, set SMART goals for your team. Solving problems with no more delays than necessary will increase customer satisfaction.