When you hear the words “customer experience,” what comes to mind? Is it a friendly customer service rep? Is it an easy-to-navigate website? What about free shipping or returns?
The most dominant force for a business used to be providing the customer exactly what they needed. It was all about finding a pain point and creating the right solution. That was enough to grow a business. People would forgive a subpar experience as long as the end result was what they wanted. Because no one else was selling that product or service, knowing how to keep your customers happy was less important.
The ways you keep your customers happy have changed in the last 20 years: As technology kept improving, markets grew increasingly saturated. There were tons of businesses doing the same thing. Online retail shopping blew up. Online grocers were putting a strain on brick-and-mortar markets. Hundreds of companies even started delivering meal kits right to your doorstep.
It was no longer enough to have the right solution, or even the right solution with the right interface. The businesses that succeeded were the ones that understood how to keep customers satisfied in this new environment.
So how did certain companies stand out? Why did some businesses rise to the top while others folded and crumbled? Two words: customer experience.
Keeping your clients happy should be a top priority for any business. Satisfied clients are more likely to stay loyal, provide referrals and give positive reviews. Unhappy clients can damage your reputation and cost you business. Below are 10 simple yet effective tactics for keeping clients happy.
1. Create Customer Experience Goals
The first step is setting concrete goals for the customer experience you want to provide. These could include:
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Response time – Answer emails within 24 hours and phone calls within 3 rings
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Resolution rate – Solve 90% of issues on the first contact.
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Satisfaction score – Achieve a minimum 95% satisfaction rate on surveys.
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Loyalty rate – Retain 85% of clients year-over-year.
Tracking metrics like these ensures you stay focused on customer happiness. And communicating the goals to your team motivates them to achieve excellence.
2. Go the Extra Mile with Customer Support
Stellar customer service is essential for happy clients. When issues arise, resolve them as quickly and effectively as possible. But also look for ways to go above and beyond basic expectations:
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Follow up after resolving an issue to make sure the client is satisfied. Asking “Is there anything else I can help with?” shows you care.
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Offer empathy when clients are frustrated. Saying “I understand this is upsetting” demonstrates that you are listening.
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Take ownership of problems, even if caused by third parties. Taking responsibility shows commitment to the client.
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Apologize sincerely when appropriate. Admitting fault when warranted earns respect.
3. Treat Each Customer as an Individual
Get to know your clients as people with unique needs and preferences, and personalize your service accordingly. Steps to take include:
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Learn names and use them in interactions. Being on a first-name basis builds rapport.
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Note communication channel preferences, whether phone, email, text or social media. Use their desired contact method.
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Record past issues and resolutions in your CRM. Reference them to show familiarity with the client.
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Ask how they prefer to be served and adapt to meet those needs. Customizing your approach makes clients feel valued.
4. Provide Multiple Touchpoints
Give clients options for reaching you and providing feedback. The more channels you provide, the easier it will be for them to communicate with you. Touchpoints to offer include:
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Phone support with live agents during business hours for urgent needs
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Email addresses for convenience and documentation
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Web chat for quick, online resolutions
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Feedback forms on your website to suggest improvements
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Social media accounts to read updates and provide comments
5. Invest in Voice of the Customer Research
Actively collecting customer feedback provides insights into their needs and priorities. Useful tactics include:
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Surveys to measure satisfaction and identify weak points
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Focus groups to get detailed opinions from current clients
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Interviews with lost clients to understand why they left
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Monitoring social media for complaints and praise
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Review sites to see your ratings and determine areas for improvement
Make sure to act on this feedback so clients know you are listening. Closing the loop is essential.
6. Use Your CRM to Measure Satisfaction and Retention
A good customer relationship management (CRM) system allows you to track metrics related to customer happiness over time. Features like:
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Support ticket classification to tag issues by topic
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Satisfaction score tracking for quantifiable ratings
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Churn rate reporting to monitor client retention
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** Loyalty program integration** to reward longevity
Help you identify problems before they escalate and clients leave. Trend analysis also reveals which initiatives have the biggest impact on happiness.
7. Leverage Automation
Automating repetitive tasks improves consistency and frees up staff for higher-value work. Automation options like:
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Email nurturing campaigns to educate new clients
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Appointment scheduling to simplify booking
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Billing reminders to prevent late payments
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Satisfaction surveys to collect feedback
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Social media marketing to provide updates
Let you deliver better experiences efficiently. Just be sure to monitor automation results and tweak as needed.
8. Hire for Customer Service Skills
Make sure your team has the right skills for keeping clients satisfied, including:
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Communication abilities like active listening, clear writing and speaking with empathy
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Technical know-how to effectively troubleshoot and resolve most common issues
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Organizational skills to follow through on requests and track progress
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Problem-solving mindset to take ownership of issues and find solutions
Look for these traits when hiring new staff. And train existing employees on customer service best practices. Friendly, capable staff are critical.
9. Set Clear Expectations
Client frustration often stems from misaligned expectations about products, services, policies and more. Prevent problems by setting clear expectations upfront:
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Document your offerings in service agreements, product guides and other collateral.
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Explain policies and commitments like service levels, support hours and response times.
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Set realistic timelines and deliver within promised schedules.
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Outline roles and responsibilities so clients know what you will handle versus what they must do.
10. Make It Easy to Get Help
Don’t make clients jump through hoops to get assistance. Be readily available through their preferred channels. Specific tips include:
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Offer phone support during extended business hours on weekdays plus limited hours on weekends.
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Respond to emails fast – ideally within 24 hours.
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Monitor live chat consistently during business hours.
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Set up an online knowledge base with FAQs and tutorials.
The easier you make it for clients to connect, the happier they will be.
Keeping clients satisfied takes continuous effort across your entire organization. But following these 10 tips will help you provide the high-quality experiences that build loyalty and generate referrals from happy customers. Monitor customer feedback and metrics to ensure your efforts are paying off. When clients are happy, your business thrives.
How to know if the customer is satisfied
Think you’re doing everything right to keep your customers happy? How can you know for sure? There are a few tell-tale signs of happy customers.
- Low churn rate. Your churn rate indicates how loyal your customers are. Do they keep coming back or do they ditch you for a competitor as soon as they see a lower price or free shipping? A good churn rate depends on your industry and your target audience, but you always want it to be as low as possible.
- Active social media following. Social media often gets a bad rap. It’s labeled as “vanity metrics” and is notoriously hard to connect to revenue. But there is one area where it’s useful: how to know if the customer is satisfied. High engagement and positive interactions indicate an audience who wants to connect with you and your product – and that indicates happy customers.
- Referrals. Referrals are the lifeblood of many businesses, especially professional services and B2B industry. They can bring you large accounts, upsells and cross-sells. And they can bring you individual customers that add up to the thousands. Taken together, loyal customers who recommend your business or product are one of the easiest ways to grow your business.
- Positive reviews. In the digital age, people trust reviews almost as much as they trust referrals from people they know. Negative reviews can destroy a business, while positive reviews can take it to the next level. Always offer unhappy customers compensation for their bad experience. Don’t forget happy customers, either. Rewards programs and thank-you gifts can go a long way.
If you don’t see these four signs in your business, you may need to work on how to keep your customers happy. Remember the overarching principle: Make them feel special.
Commit to innovation
Too many companies are complacent and do not put a lot of thought into keeping customers happy. They think, well, we provide a solution to the customer, so that is good enough. But sooner or later someone else is going to come in and capitalize on the areas where you fall short. They will create the superior customer experience that you don’t have. The result? They capture your market share, and, eventually, that will put you out of business.
To be the disruptor instead of the disrupted, you need to constantly innovate. So where do you start as a business owner? Take a comprehensive review or audit of your current customer experience. Ask yourself: Is my software easy to use? Is my product or service easy to order? What makes it hard for my customer? How can I not only make it easier, but how can I go above and beyond? Remember, it’s not about meeting your client’s expectations – it’s exceeding them.
20 Ways to Get Customers for Your Small Business
How do you keep customers happy?
When you focus on keeping customers happy, you’re setting your business up for sustained growth and long-term success. Listen to their pain points. Meet customers where they are. Build meaningful relationships. Personalize the customer experience. Maintain customer service standards. Offer incentives and rewards. Collect feedback and act on it.
How can a business make customers happier?
Making your customers happier is different than creating truly happy customers. Happy customers are people who value your brand beyond the initial purchase. They trust that your company is aligned with their needs and is committed to helping them achieve their long-term goals. Any business can make its customers happier.
How do you keep clients happy?
Be communicative and open Communication can be crucial to retaining a strong, honest relationship with a client and keeping them happy. To keep clients happy, be communicative and open about the business arrangement you share, any concerns you might have and any other pertinent information.
How can you create happy customers and increase loyalty?
Discover how you can create happy customers and increase loyalty by supporting your employees and setting strategic customer experience goals. It’s difficult to create a standard set of business objectives for everyone because each company is unique. But some goals are universal, such as creating happy customers.
