Being Honest with Yourself about Customer Satisfaction

According to Jay Baer’s “Hug Your Haters” presentation in the 2017 Brand ManageCamp marketing conference, 80% of companies say they provide superior customer service. Eight percent of customers agree.

Let’s let that sink in.

We know that customer satisfaction is crucial to earning your customers’ trust and loyalty. We also know loyalty builds brand equity. So, why do we assume we’re great at it, when oftentimes we’re not? I think the answer is: it’s a combination of our pride, the lack of meaningful feedback and the lack of a means to affect operational changes. Let’s explore each of these.

In my personal and professional experience, I have found that, as human beings, we let our pride/ego get in the way of our success sometimes. To be a great marketer and achieve excellent customer satisfaction, you must put your pride aside to recognize your weaknesses. This may be difficult, especially when working with a client who is particularly passionate, but it’s vital that we identify these opportunities for growth and improvement. Which leads me to the next component…

You can’t identify these opportunities for growth and improvement without a way to capture meaningful customer feedback. There are various types of surveys and many ways to send them to customers. For example, you may set up an automated text to customers 2 hours after their service asking them to rate their experience from 0 to 5. If less than 4 or 5, a customer service representative could reach out to them asking what could be done to improve their experience.

Lastly, there needs to be a channel directing that feedback to operational executives, who can implement the changes needed to actually improve customer satisfaction. Many times, marketers have limited influence at the decision-making table in larger organizations, which inhibits their ability to communicate operational opportunities for growth. If marketers and operations executives can work together to address customer feedback, customer satisfaction will increase, therefore, improving their brand equity and customer lifetime value.