Expectations. We all have them. We can be happy if things go well or be disappointed if they don’t work out as we hoped. It happens to all of us, including customers.
Each of them expects to fulfill them by contacting a company’s products or services. To get closer to your desires, to satisfy them.
Times have changed. With the latest advancements in technology, consumers became more and more demanding. The wait for answers is immediate and attention times have been reduced.
Many companies focus on increasing sales. But there is another way to go.
There is a key aspect: knowing how to anticipate the customer’s needs. Have the ability to know their expectations and desires.
When a company focuses on meeting its needs, it stops thinking about how to sell better and starts thinking about how to solve a problem efficiently. Or, better yet, how to prevent it from happening.
What do you need to keep in mind?
Have accurate and quality information.
Know how to listen to what the customer thinks and feels.
Let’s see how to change the modus operandi.
3 Reasons to Know How to Satisfy Your Customers
It’s about changing the strategy: being on the side of those who consume the product or service, in order to increase retention rates and profitability.
To do this, you have to learn from consumers.
Why?
- Satisfied customers remain loyal in times of crisis
Anticipating involves having action plans when things don’t go as planned. If a company has a crisis, what communication can it engage with its customers? Which shade to use?
Knowing how to respond to customer needs brings great rewards. A recent study by Sprout Social found that 9 out of 10 people would support a company in times of crisis, if its track record is transparent.
(Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/social-media-transparency/ )
- Satisfied customers spend more
A good relationship with the customer pays off. The quality of the service is fundamental and depends a lot on concrete information about preferences and trends in their behavior.
If the customer is happy with their in-store purchase operation, they are much more likely to be willing to request another product or service from the brand.
“A satisfied customer will buy again and this will result in improved profitability, as satisfied customers have greater price elasticity, are more resilient to competitive attacks and allow the company to reduce the costs of service failures and improve its reputation.”
(Anderson et al., 2004, https://bit.ly/3pkMJ8e )
- Satisfied customers cost less
Acquiring a new customer can cost, depending on the industry, up to 7 times more than retaining current consumers.
Anticipating customer needs allows each company to save money and invest it in our strategies.
How to anticipate customer needs?
Here are some methods to learn more about consumers’ wants and expectations and how to stay in line with them.
- Conduct satisfaction surveys
Satisfaction surveys are a great way to learn about customer preferences and opinions.
Each company can know the general opinion of its customers about its products or services, through the CSAT indicator. This is obtained after the customer’s interaction with the product is complete.
NPS is the net promoter index, which reflects customers’ perception of the brand and shows how likely they are to become promoters or detractors. One of the most important metrics is to increase the total lifetime value of customers. If each company focuses on improving its NPS, it will increase that number as well, thus generating more revenue over time.
- Listen to the customer
Dialogue with the customer is a constant. It is important to maintain the focus of communication with consumers. Work in addition to surveys, social media, brand reviews, live chats, video calls and other means of more personalized contact.
It’s a good idea to follow up on conversations about the brand on social media (social listening).
Listening is an essential tool to strengthen the bond with the consumer and build loyalty.
- Identify data-driven trends
You need to be able to collect concrete data to identify consumption habits, behavioral patterns, and trends. To do this, acquire tools that store and process this information in a unified way.
It is essential to collect information directly from the source. Receive complaints, suggestions, and congratulations to know where each company stands. A functionality capable of absorbing information and transforming it into useful knowledge, such as CRM software.
- Sales techniques for a more personalized service
While digital transformation means that many customer interactions take place in-store, it’s good to encourage personal treatment in certain cases.
Through cross-selling, the seller informs the consumer of possible complementary items or services. Personalized advice can improve the shopping experience and get closer to the customer’s needs.
Improve customer relations and satisfaction
Giving importance to the opinion and voice of the customer is essential. This will make them feel comfortable and eager to continue with the brand.
The more promoters a company has on its side, the more its business will grow.
“93% of people agree that they would rather ask a friend or acquaintance for information about a brand than look elsewhere.”
(Source: https://bit.ly/3sw4Jyu)
Discovering your customers’ needs will grow your business
Focusing on the customer is a wise strategy. It is key to learn to know their expectations and needs in order to meet them. Being satisfied will make them feel comfortable and loyal to the brand.
The more loyal customers a company has, the more likely it is to grow.
To get to know the customer in depth, it is essential to be able to access quality information and know what they really think and feel.
Conducting surveys and their respective metrics, encouraging customer-company communication, using the latest technology and relying on accurate data are some of the fundamental tools.
Global Metrics delivers real-time solutions to measure customer satisfaction at different points in the sales or service process. To do this, it has world-class technology and a panel of experts that will give each company the necessary information to detect opportunities for improvement.
