Start Measuring Customer Satisfaction
One of dozens of strategies listed and linked to here:
How to Make More Money
From Your Business
By Steve Gillman
The point of measuring customer satisfaction is not to reassure
yourself about what a great job you're doing. It is a way to
find improvements you can make and to spot developing problems.
You have probably seen many "How are we doing" cards
on restaurant tables and in other retail businesses. Of course
most customers will not take the time to fill them out, and those
who do are more likely to have bad things to say. But that's
what makes them so valuable to the business owner.
You want to know when customers are dissatisfied. If
you don't, well, good luck surviving in your industry. You not
only want to know when they are dissatisfied, but you want to
know why. If more than three people in a year tell a restaurant
owner that his bathrooms are dirty or his employees are rude,
he has a problem that needs to be corrected--now!
That is the obvious application of what you learn from measuring
customer satisfaction (or dissatisfaction). But you also want
to know what your customers like about your product or
service. If the most common comments you get from your hair salon
clients are about how affordable your service is, you might consider
ways to cut your costs or get new business to increase profits,
rather than raising prices. If they all rave about how clean
your hotel is, you might consider using that in your marketing,
to attract more people who use cleanliness as a primary measure
of value.
When I found that I was getting a lot of negative feedback
about downloading my e-books, I knew I had a problem. If they
can't get the book downloaded, a refund request is coming soon.
I did two things. I put simple yet more detailed instructions
on the download pages, and I prepared an email template for those
who had problems, with files ready to attach so they could get
their books as soon as I responded rather than try the download
page again. Refunds dropped.
When I get comments about the content of my eBooks-positive
or negative--I take them into account. When I got enough comments
from people who love the stories, I added more of them. If I
get a complaint about a serious mistake or even a typo, I make
a correction immediately. Fortunately, an eBook can be corrected
or added to and then republished in as matter of minutes.
Look for ways to start measuring customer satisfaction. The
use what you learn to make both existing and future customers
happier, which means you'll make more money in the long run.
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