How do you stay ahead of that risk of negative feedback? Customer reports.
The digital era has put poor customer service at the forefront of online scrutiny. Whether it be a lack of attention given to a customer awaiting a reply to an inquiry or simply a customer not receiving the refund which they feel they deserve, consumer feedback about your business runs the risk of being immediate, negative, and amplified via social media. How do you stay ahead of that risk of negative feedback? Customer reports. Formerly a report of great importance for businesses of all sizes, the concept of allowing customers to report directly to you their thoughts about the care they received helps you understand which internal processes need to be improved while providing consumers with an outlet for their potential frustrations.
There are plenty of ways to report the customer experience; among the most common are:
Customer wait time
– Taking note of how long consumers wait for answers to their questions is a great way to track the quality of their overall experience. Typically, as customers wait longer for replies, their feelings about their treatment decrease. While each industry’s acceptable wait time varies, decreasing customer wait time is a healthy goal for which to strive.
First reply time
– Similar to general wait time between inquiry and response, the initial haste with which a customer receives attention to their issue directly correlates to their satisfaction with your business. Track this wait time and do your best to ensure that speed is a priority.
Number of incoming tickets
– Keeping your number of incoming tickets low helps assure that your business is operating not only responsibly, but efficiently. If you see an increase in the number of tickets needing attention, chances are good that there is an error in your product or service offerings. Tracking your incoming tickets provides insight to more than just the efficiency of your customer service, but the efficiency of your business as a whole.
Interactions per ticket
– No one likes to have to follow up multiple times on an issue they’ve experienced. While keeping reply times short is important, perhaps more important is tracking how many “back and forths” a customer has to have with your business in order to achieve a resolution. Sometimes businesses will frame this qualifier as time to full resolution. Keep the resolution process simple and fast to ensure customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores
– There is no better way to guarantee that customers are satisfied with your service than asking them directly. While CSAT information requires asking consumers to perform a degree of work for you, if the service which they received is of high quality, many customers will be willing to report on their experiences.
Many metrics which make up a customer report can be collected without a consumer ever knowing that their experience is being monitored. Tracking your team’s efficiency, the satisfaction of customers with your products or services, and identifying the needs which need to be met in order to help your business operate more successfully via customer reports only stands to improve your operations over time.
Interested in setting up a customer reporting system but don’t know where to start? Consider the experts at M1-Data and Analytics today. Our suite of data-based products and services are designed to help you not only gather, but understand consumer information as it relates to your business. To learn more about M1 and our services, contact us today.
