The Comforts of Home Also Apply to Customer Service

Customers are typically bombarded with “satisfaction” surveys these days. Rarely can one make a purchase, especially online, without being asked to rate the product or service, the business they are purchasing from and the overall customer service experience. A good customer service survey does not guarantee a customer will return for more business, however.

Nextiva, a company specializing in virtual PBX and cloud business communication technologies, recently published a blog about this interesting phenomenon. The company cited research, including the work that provides the conceptual basis for the Net Promoter Score methodology, finding a weak link between supposedly satisfied customers and repeat purchases with a company. So companies are tasked with getting customers to return based on more than their level of satisfaction with their customer experience.

According to Nextiva, customers need a pretty strong reason to return. In a handful of instances that reason may be built-in convenience due to proximity (the local grocery store or pub) or market dominance like Apple and Google currently enjoy. A vast majority of businesses don’t have this advantage, however, and need to work on their “homebuilding” skills, giving customers a warm, fuzzy, nesting feeling that will prompt them to keep returning.

Nextiva breaks the process down into three components. The first part is letting your customers know you appreciate them and that their pleasure and happiness is your most important concern. This is a sentiment that needs to be expressed immediately when a customer enters your premises, or engages in a phone call, email or online chat with your business.

The next component is to make the customer realize that your product or service is special and tailored to their particular needs and interests. This should be conveyed automatically so that customers will feel satisfied and fulfilled without needing to question their experience or interaction or fishing for additional service. And the third component is ensuring your customers know their business matters to you once the interaction is concluded, so that they can feel confident they will be appreciated when they return.

While these practices may seem small and basic in a broader scheme, they help to offset most customers’ default attitudes of not thinking twice when business goes smoothly. Just because you’ve delivered your product or service to your customer satisfactorily and thoroughly does not mean they will return, particularly if they think they can get the same product or service elsewhere in a better deal. But customer loyalty can be built by repeatedly showing customers you care and appreciate them and by going above and beyond just delivering your product or service.

Building customer loyalty takes time and effort, but it is well worth the return to bring in repeat customers. Providing a sense of satisfaction goes a long way toward achieving repeat business as well as spreading the word about your company and offerings.