As a business owner, you’ve heard this advice too many times to count: improve your customer service.
Of course, everyone wants to improve their customer service. The real question is, what is your customer service’s current state, and how do you know when it’s getting better.
If you’re serious about creating a better client experience, you need to have actual numbers on how your team is doing and know when you’re improving. Learn the top 6 ways of measuring your customer service to make more informed decisions about your business.
1. CSAT Scores
A customer satisfaction score measures how happy they are immediately after an interaction. Sending out surveys after a client speaks with a representative is an easy way to gather feedback. Once you have that current baseline, you can start improving CSAT scores, creating a solid foundation of loyal customers who will share your business with their network.
2. Customer Retention Rates
Calculating your retention rate is simple math. You only need two data points: the number of current customers and new customers. Subtract your new customers from your existing customers, and you have your number of loyal customers.
While new customers are exciting, loyal customers are the lifeblood of your business. If your customer service is poor, you won’t be able to hold onto those new customers you’re getting. The higher your customer retention rate, the better your customer service likely is.
3. First Response Time
When clients have a problem, they want recognition of their situation and know someone will help. If they contact you and don’t hear back from a representative, they’ll feel ignored and go elsewhere. Ensure they’re in contact with someone quickly when they reach out. Make sure you teach your personnel how to improve customer communication or consult call center businesses that have a crew available 24 hours a day for your consumers.
4. Resolution Time and Rate
The end goal of any customer service interaction is to find a resolution — either an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. Resolution rates should be high, showing that customers who contact you get the results they need.
On the other hand, resolution time should be low to reflect quick results. 72% of customers blame bad experiences with businesses on having to explain their problem repeatedly, extending the time needed to find a resolution. If your resolution times are long and not shortening, it’s time for some changes.
5. Sentiment Analysis
When 95% of customers make subconscious decisions about their shopping, and their subconscious is very susceptible to emotions, how your customers feel may be more important than you recognize.
A customer may end a call with a representative with just a “Thanks for your help!”, but how they truly feel may be more complex. With natural language processing technology, the software can analyze human language beyond what representatives notice at the moment to arrive at a more accurate assessment of the customer’s feelings.
6. Abandonment Rates
There are many reasons a customer may abandon a call. Perhaps they called when they thought they’d have time to chat, but something came up that needed their attention. Maybe they found a solution and didn’t stick around to inform a representative of the fact. These reasons don’t necessarily reflect poorly on your
However, most calls are abandoned when a customer has gotten frustrated or impatient. If you’re not tracking how many calls are abandoned, it’s time to start.
Start Improving Your Customer Service
Now that you have ways to measure your current customer service quality and clear metrics to gauge progress, you can focus on your goals. Once you have evaluated where your numbers currently stand, set clear benchmarks you should be hitting and celebrate those milestones.
You can now see what efforts are working and what strategies can be improved. In no time, you’ll get your business back on track.
