Today, being proficient in sales demands to deploy all accessible tools within a customized sales strategy. In addition to the up-to-date technological advances, salespeople opt for a CRM software to win success in their activities. The said tool is designed to manage and monitor company’s interactions with leads and current clients.
As a rule, a CRM tool is used as tracking means. Based on data received by virtue of such tool, a sales manager can build a proper array of activities to attract and satisfy clients. The outcome of such strategy is sales uplift. However, it is essential to monitor customer service satisfaction to understand that a client relations strategy is proper and successful. So, let’s discover whether a CRM can offer such possibility.
1. What Can You Measure with CRM?
Traditional operational metrics include sales (number of leads/customers, close rate, duration of sales cycle etc.), marketing (number of campaigns, revenue rate, time per website visit, up-sell ratio etc.), and service (average time to resolution, number of cases handled etc.) categories. Yet, there is a more sophisticated classification of indicators to monitor. According to Mycustomer, it comprises three pillars such as business performance, user adoption, and a clientage comprehension. The latter one includes metrics for customer satisfaction and consumer experience that are essential to get a complete picture of sales strategy.
Any CRM solution aims at the optimization of operational activity. On this account, metrics should be considered from both sides namely internal and external ones. A sophisticated approach to understanding core values lies in measuring each factor that influences the overall business activity. Still, the present article focuses on methods to monitor customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is essential to define the meaning of this term.
2. A Happy Client Equals a Contented Client
Before measuring anything, one needs to understand the essence of metrics. A client can be deemed satisfied if his or her expectations are met or even exceeded within the activity of a certain business. In other words, the quality or performance of services/products makes the clientage contended.
The concept of measuring customer satisfaction is not new. Still, some businesses begin to discover it recently because of the global economic trends resulting in an increased business struggle, market overstocking and other factors. Anyhow, the said metrics come to the forefront and becomes a key to maintain existing clients and attract new ones. We can state that it acts as a critical strategic weapon to win success in increasing sales and conquering the market.
At the same time, businesses that do not understand what and how to measure tend to fail in versatile aspects of performance. Hence, a clear and accurate notion of data to collect, analyze, and utilize is a key to drive the commercial activity and achieve efficiency. It is a common error to reckon on outdated and unreliable metrics associated with clientage including sales volume, number/frequency of complaints etc. Naturally, the said indicators are vain unless used within a sophisticated approach or a well-designed examination program.
3. Ways of Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Monitoring of your customer service is not an easy challenge. As a rule, people are unwilling to express their opinion in case of satisfaction. On the contrary, those who have complaints strive to show their resentment. This trend can be characterized as follows: no complaints – everything goes well and there is no need to interfere with a stable work. However, clients neglect the perspective to optimize the current state of affairs by means of feedback.
Anyhow, it is not a client’s fault. In fact, businesses or sellers stand in need of the mentioned metric. For this reason, they should monitor customer satisfaction and conduct their activity in accordance with the obtained outcome. The answer to the question “How to do this?” is disclosed by the following points introduced by Insights From Analytics.
Survey Customers
If your client keeps silence and is not going to leave comments and suggestions, asking him or her is the only way to know the opinion. The phone survey is a relic of the past. Today, CRM tools provide an opportunity to interact with your clientage without additional troubles via email. Thus, an automated online survey will be a perfect solution to obtain the required information without damaging the schedule of each consumer. Versatile options of automated online opinion polls are presented by SurveyAnyplace.
For example, you can build a customer survey using a popular tool like Typeform which are very easy to create and your client can complete them even from a mobile device. Once you have prepared a survey, you can send it to all of your clients (or a certain segment, say, new client during the past three months) using mass mail in NetHunt CRM.
Keep in mind that the survey should not be packed with complex and too detailed questions such as “Did you like our service van color?” or “Was the haircut of our receptionist acceptable?” Make sure to provide a weighted scale for answers. Naturally, it is better to foresee an additional question for the low-grade answers. If a client gives grade “3” or “10”, you definitely need to know the reason.
Over time, the survey is better to repeat in order to see whether the trend is positive.
Understand Expectations
When someone purchases a watch, he or she expects to get certain functionality from the device. Obviously, everyone would like to get a super quality even for a $20 deal. Unfortunately, the reality is a bit different. Still, you realize the idea. If you turn the table around, you will be in your client’s shoes. Try to imagine the demands and expectations of your target group. Such approach is not unbiased since every person has own opinion and attitude to a particular thing. Nevertheless, 70-80% of the population will be of one mind.
Find Out Where You Are Failing
Another way to succeed in measuring contentment of your clients without asking them is to analyze the internal side of the activity. It refers to employees. If your business is associated with selling goods, find out whether your sellers do not make overstated promises. If your area is rendering services, it is recommended to check qualification and test skills of your employees.
This way does not require special tools to monitor customer satisfaction. A deep analysis of your front office is all you need.
Pinpoint Specifics
Comprehensive information associated with the client including products/services ordered, preferences, feedbacks, suggestions, expectations and other data is your key to a successful assessment of the situation. Perhaps, such blend of data will assist you to understand whether a client is happy or not.
Assess the Competition
Various prominent brands use a practice of comparison of their products with the closest rivals in their sales guides for distributors. It means that they rely on advantages and disadvantages of the top competitors and build their sales strategy correspondingly. If you experience an outflow of clients, there is a probability that your major competitor found the way to satisfy them to the larger extent than you do.
In this case, you have to not only satisfy your clientage but also do it better than your rivals. The market is not a paradise, so be prepared to fight for each customer.
Try To Measure the Emotional Aspect
In fact, all we do in the life is associated with emotions. When you buy a new product, you do it to become happier. Hence, the emotional aspect is the driving force of a successful relationship with customers. On this account, a positive customer experience is equal to positive emotions related to purchasing a certain product or getting certain services.
As a rule, positive emotions come together with price, quality and reliability satisfaction. Obviously, if the level of mentioned characteristics is low, do not expect for a decent contentment of clientage.
Loyalty Measurement
When someone purchases a product of a certain brand even if this product lags behind its competitors according to all features, this customer is the dream of any company. It is the best denotation of loyalty. Will you agree that a dissatisfied client will not carry himself in such way? Moreover, loyalty means not only repurchasing but also recommending and suggesting to other people (friends, colleagues, teammates etc.). If the number of your loyal clients goes up, your sales strategy is successful.
A Series of Attributes Satisfaction Measurement
Meet another way of monitoring based on emotions. In this case, cognitive and affective behavior are considered. Cognitive behavior deals with the judgment on usefulness or uselessness of a product. It means that a client assesses whether it corresponds to its intended use and applicability.
Affective behavior aims at the emotional resonance made by versatile product’s properties including visual and practical aspects. As an example, let’s take the automotive industry. Even an ultra-performant vehicle cannot become a bestseller without decent visual characteristics.
Advertisement plays a significant role in the said way of perception since it influences people’s affective behavior but the clear mind.
Nobody says that satisfaction of customers is a simple task. A variety of preferences and opinions makes it almost impossible to win the favor of each client. Nevertheless, sellers that strive to this unreal goal are usually successful in their endeavors.
