Happy Customer Guidelines

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We can all agree that customer satisfaction is essential to every successful business. In this article, we will be focusing on ways to make and keep your customers happy. Starting from the basics, setting up goals, and providing general customer guidelines, we’ll slowly go through the whole customer conversion process.

First off the list is the understanding of the potentials that customer retention offers. If you’re in the process of growing your business, it’s always a great idea to revise your budget to provide better customer care to existent users. Customer retention is where marketing money should go. It is a much better and cheaper way of customer acquisition.

 🚀Read Customer Service: A Guide for Successful Business Growth  🚀

Acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing one. It is never too late to start nurturing your customer base better. After all, a happy customer is a more powerful tool than any marketing advertisement.

Who’s a Happy Customer?

According to the standard definition, it’s someone that had a great experience with your company and wishes to repeat it. That person tends to relate to the company and keep using their services because he has found the pleasure he wanted. In truth, it’s much more!

When it comes to dealing with customers, a happy one can be a great asset to your business. This means more than providing a great one-time experience, it means you actually have to put in the effort afterward.

The secret to keeping your customers happy, therefore, is simple: remain caring and supportive towards their needs and emotions in every step of their journey.

Being there exactly when your customers need you, goes a long way in achieving just that! After all, a happy customer means a happy business.

Why Do You Need Happy Customers?

It’s a question of mutual satisfaction. You offer premium service and exquisite customer support, and you’re repaid in kindness. A truly practical business model.

Let’s explore the main benefits of happy customer conversions.

Returning Customer Potential

A loyal customer takes part in the constant consuming process, contributing to the community and becoming a part of it. The number one benefit of a loyal customer is that at a certain point they develop a level of immunity to the pricing, so you can set higher standards and still have the same conversion rate.

The Apple pricing strategy is a great example of this phenomenon. Even though their computers and mobile devices continuously increase in prices, their customer base not only continued to stay loyal to them. This is due to the fact that the perceived value of the product is higher, which causes them to become even more passionate about the brand.

You Can Be “the Better Option”

A whopping 84% of customers say that their expectations were not met during their recent interaction with a business. That is a lot of space for improvement. The best way to stand out from your competition is to stand out because of excellent customer service, great products and an impeccable customer journey. In this way there will have no reason to look for a different, better solution to their problems.

A Satisfied Customer is a Walking Commercial

It is said that a happy customer is a brand’s greatest contributor.

No form of advertisement is more valuable than a direct referral. When a friend recommends you a product, you’re more likely to consider buying it. Why? Because of the level of motivation involved. Simply put, the spoken word is stronger than any paid channel out there.

There’s also a very high chance that a customer who comes through a referral will also turn into a loyal customer. This can trigger the pass-along effect, which means that a good word about your brand and service will keep spreading, ultimately allowing you to reduce your marketing costs. According to Forbes, just one happy customer will spread a positive word to at least 10 people. Imagine the valuable prospects created

They Provide Valid Feedback

Happy customers understand the process of your services, which means they provide a valid and beneficial suggestion for the improvement of the service.

If you find searching for new customer opportunities, there is no better way than to observe returning customer behavior patterns. They are already loyal and they have what is required to bring in more customers. This includes insights into your sales process, bugs and general improvement suggestions you might not be aware of just yet. Every single of these things can bring an additional layer of value to your overall performance and sales, making it a worthwhile effort. Invite users to interact with your brand, share your values and don’t forget to be friendly.

Loyal Customers Stick With You

Putting users in the absolute center of your brand pays off in kind. A loyal customer will not only promote your brand, but he will also be there when times are hard to provide support.

Even if something goes wrong, loyal customers will stay true to your business. Sometimes a product or service can hit troubled times when it’s prospect towards acquiring new users can be severely limited. In such a scenario, one can never underestimate a happy customer. Willing to go the extra mile, such an individual has the potential to relate to your problems and lend a helping hand in order to solve it. This is the absolute level of excellence when it comes to customer service, offering the long-term potential to those who achieve it.

Related: 10 Rules How to Improve Customer Service

Picture 1. Loyal customer stay true to your business

How to Make a Customer Happy?

It is simple, through exceptional service.

A service that has put a customer’s satisfaction first is precisely the kind you’ll want to aim towards. When that is the case, there’s very little chance that the customer will become unhappy with the service. All we need to do is to take the right steps in providing the best customer service. That means, realizing the customer’s point of view and through that realization, establish a relationship with him.

Getting started, one should recognize the importance of customer service and input maximum effort to utilize it to fulfill your customer wishes.

5 Easy Steps to Create a Happy Customer

 1. Know Your Customer

The more you know about your customer, the happier he will be with your brand. Find out birthday information and send them a special offer or free samples. This approach can help you to get a stronger connection with your customer and develop brand loyalty.

2. Keep in Touch with Your Customers

Different yourself from the competition and send your customers newsletter, personal offers, or any repeated contact by email, calls, or  SMS marketing so they can hardly forget about your brand.

3. Go the Extra Mile for Your Happy Customer

Loyal customers like to know are you willing to go for the extra mile. When you solve customer pain points, give the customer something extra to let them know they are important to you.

4. Know What You’re Selling

It is extremely important that everybody in your company know everything there is to know about their share of the job, but also about the product or service you’re selling. Customers feel happier if they work with knowledgeable emplyees.

Metrics You Should Be Tracking to Increase Customer Retention

Customer retention rate is an excellent indicator of how happy your customers are and usually how likely they are to stick around with your brand.

“According to Bain and Co., a 5% increase in customer retention can boost a company’s profitability by 75%.

C_E = number of customers at the end of the period
C_N = number of new customers acquired during the period
C_S = number of customers at the start of the period

Customer retention is the multiplier that exponentially increases customer lifetime value (CLV) and deserves the attention of every business.

CLV = (Average sale per customer)(Average number of times a customer buys per year)(Average retention time in months or years for a typical customer)

Obviously, you can track your retention rate and customer lifetime value, but we’re going to look at the key performance indicators (KPIs) that influence that retention rate, and are usually overlooked.

It is excellent to measure your customer satisfaction whenever you can, but you don’t want to bombard your customers with surveys and feedback forms either.

A better idea is to monitor the following KPIs to get an impression of how satisfied your customers are without having to ask them.

1. Average Response Time

Response times can play a significant role in customer fulfillment and their experience, and this is arguably the most important contributor to customer retention.

We are continually suggesting that after making the final sale or closing the deal, you need to be readily available to your prospects and follow up, but that effort should continue even after they sign on and provide them excellent customer support.

If your customer satisfaction rates are low, take a look at your average response times. If ART is high, then this is a fast and simple place for you to start making something to improve customer satisfaction. 

If you are ready to make your customer happy, you need to have in mind some of the most popular channels such as phone, email, and live chat.

2. Customer Referrals

This metric is something that you should implement in your parameters if you didn’t know by now.

Your happy customers are also your best salespeople and walking commercials. When they are happy, they will provide testimonials, leave positive reviews, and most importantly, refer their friends, family, and coworkers to your brand. Having a big amount of customer referrals indicates that customer satisfaction is very high.

If your customers aren’t telling their friends and coworkers about your brand, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t happy with your product or service. It just means there might be room for improvement.

Picture 2. Customer Referrals

3. Repeat Purchases

For some business, such as a SaaS, customer retention is measured by how long someone stays subscribed to your service. People are your customer, or they are not.

Businesses that sell products, however, have a harder time measuring customer retention. So, how can you know is someone still your customer and that they didn’t move to your competitor?

The answer to that question is to repeat purchases.

If you are an online shop, eCommerce platforms will allow you to track this KPI easily, so there’s not anything technical required of you, but improving this metric is up to you, and it starts with excellent customer service.

Related: Outcomes of Bad Customer Service

4. Post-Conversion Activities

Most business teams are focused too much on generating new business and end up missing the development of brand loyalty. 

Your customer’s behavior tells you a lot about their experience and whether or not they will remain a customer.

Here are some of the essential KPIs that you should track:

• Pages viewed
• Average time on a website
• Email open rate
• Email click-through rate
• Items added to Favorites
• Items added to cart

Read How To Make the Most of Customer Journey Analytics

Importance of Good Customer Service

No matter the size of your business, excellent customer service should be your number one priority. Providing excellent customer service to all types of customers, new and existing alike, is the essence of running a good business.

Although it can take extra resources, time and money, customer service that leads to customer satisfaction is a must if you wish to attract and retain your customers successfully. The best way to do it is by establishing friendly and reachable customer support. Considering it’s the frontline for your customer interactions, it should also be the most active part of your business model. Essential to building relationships, the conversation should be led in a productive and friendly environment with the goal-oriented focus.

Picture 3. Happy customers – happy business

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about the benefits of a happy customer and how to make customer service that converts into actionable insights that benefit your business. The thing gathered is that by putting the customer first, you spread brighter interactions that result in users identifying and connecting with your brand on a global scale.

We are not the first to realize it, M.C. Donald’s founder said:

“If you work for money, you will never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc, Founder, MCDonald’s

Remember to stay positive and enjoy your relationships with the customer.