In my last Insight, I talked about how measuring customer service can help grow a business, but it actually does more than that. Measuring customer service can turn a merely satisfied customer into a loyal customer.
The Difference Between Loyal and Satisfied
There is a big difference between a customer who is just satisfied and a customer who is loyal.
A customer who is satisfied is only shopping. They’re looking for a better deal or they’re looking for more convenience. There’s no tie between a merely satisfied customer and the organization they’re buying from.
Through consistent good service and/or through providing the customer something extra—something they didn’t expect, something that adds value—you can convert a satisfied customer into a loyal customer.
Loyal customers bring much more value to the organization by spreading word of mouth on how much they are delighted with your service or product. These types of customers give you a break if there’s a mistake because they have that loyalty and they also offer the information that you need to provide even better service in the future.
Customer loyalty is measurable in terms of profit and the feeling of loyalty created through providing satisfying, personal and practical needs by giving customers something extra and by doing it consistently over time.
Example
Here is an example from my work experiences to help illustrate how measuring customer service can help you convert satisfied customers into loyal customers.
In my work experience, I once had a very difficult challenge to satisfy one of my customers because it seemed that nothing my company did worked. This customer was continually making complaints about things, some of which were valid complaints and some that weren’t. Ultimately, I think the problem was the customer’s expectations were so high that perhaps no one could meet them.
The customer ended up defecting to another service provider that they felt would satisfy their needs. They ended up coming back months later with a clear message that we were head-and-shoulders above our competitors, but I guess the customer had to find that out for themselves.
Sometimes you can take good service for granted. Perfect service is never possible because we’re human and we’re fallible, but we made a good attempt to satisfy and to do our service recovery and to continue to meet the customer’s needs even in the face of exceeding very high expectations—which is something that is rare in the marketplace. I think it just took experience with another service provider for them to realize how good our service was.
From this experience, we converted them from a satisfied customer to a loyal customer.
I hear the same thing mentioned over and over again from customers. Perhaps they take good-quality customer service for granted and sometimes it takes an experience with a service provider who isn’t very good for them to finally see what good customer service is.
In my next Insight, I’ll tell you three important things customer service can offer.