Levels of Customer Satisfaction to Build Customer Loyalty
Levels of Customer Satisfaction to Build Customer Loyalty
The ability to satisfy your customers to gain customer loyalty is the critical determinant of your success in driving sales and growing your business.
There are four levels of customer satisfaction, all based on the degree to which you meet customer expectations. The higher the level you achieve, the more you will build customer loyalty and the greater your success.
Level One: Meet Customer Expectations
The minimum requirement to simply stay in business—to survive—is to meet the expectations of your customers.
At this level, your customers have no complaints. They are satisfied for the moment, but at this point, customer loyalty doesn’t exist.
If a competitor demonstrates that it can and will do more than merely meet their expectations, your customer will very quickly become an ex-customer.
Moreover, if you fail to meet their expectations, they will leave and give their customer loyalty to someone who can.
It can be helpful to observe your local merchants, the true entrepreneurs.
Level Two: Exceed Customer Expectations
This higher level of customer satisfaction is reached by surprising your customers. You must go beyond what they expect.
Fast, friendly, and good customer service, followed up by a phone call to ensure customer satisfaction, might put you into this category.
The second level of customer satisfaction moves you beyond mere survival. Exceeding expectations builds a measure of customer loyalty and gives you an edge over your competitors.
It can also increase your profitability.
Customers who experience the kind of service that exceeds their expectations are often willing to pay for it. This enables the supplier to raise prices and thus improve profit margins.
Level Three: Delight Your Customer
Have you ever experienced a level of good customer service that not only exceeded your expectations but actually brought a smile to your face?
A customer served at this level is truly delighted. Not only have the customer’s basic needs been met or exceeded, but they have been touched emotionally.
Once customers have enjoyed this experience, you will gain customer loyalty. It will be very difficult for a competitor to pry them away.
When you delight your customers, you are on the way to creating an exceptional and highly profitable business.
There are countless cost-effective ways to delight your customers and build your customer loyalty. It can be as simple as a follow-up phone call.
To delight your customer is to show that you care about them. No wonder it brings a smile to their face!
The greater your success in delighting your customers and providing good customer service, the greater success you will enjoy in your business.
Level Four: Amaze Your Customer
This fourth level of customer satisfaction is what will propel your business above and beyond.
It requires you to not only to meet and exceed your customer’s expectations but delight and amaze them.
When you are able to amaze your customers regularly, you will be in a position to dominate the marketplace.
You will achieve remarkable rates of revenue growth and profitability.
Examine Your Own Business
Examine your own business. How might you amaze your customers? What things could you improve? If you’re having trouble acquiring customers, download my free sales prospecting checklist. There are some good tips in it to help you with new customers and retain ones that you already have.
