Do you know what your customers’ perception is about your product and services?
Unless you are a charity or an NGO, you are in the business of making money for yourself and your stakeholders. That objective depends a lot on what perception your customers have about your products and services. When was the last time you checked what your customers think about your products and services, whether it’s through interviews, calls or surveys? Other than large businesses, very few SME businesses make a conscious effort to listen to their customers.
Irrespective of the importance ISO9001:2015 brought to customer focus, and whether your QMS is certified to this standard or not, customer satisfaction has always been important for business success. Now it has certainly become critical during these unprecedented times brought on by COVID-19. Customer needs and expectations are even more unpredictable, and dynamically changing. If you do not take the time to listen to your customers, it is highly likely that it will impact your revenue, profitability, and long-term survival. Many businesses are looking for the Improved CX (Customer Experience) to drive growth, but before you embark on that journey it’s highly advisable to take the first step of measuring customer satisfaction.
As one of my friends, Donavan Conway at Innover Digital likes to say, you need to learn to crawl before you can stand, walk, or run.
Having managed global CSAT/CNPS programs over the last two decades and having seen first-hand the exponential improvements we were able to drive across the business; I would strongly encourage businesses to make an effort to gauge CSAT and drive key improvements. If the top management has an open mind towards the critical feedback & is committed to improvement, there is a strong ROI to gain.
We recently managed CNPS surveys for local businesses here in Vancouver, for the first time in their decade old business, and the insights were very interesting and are helping drive improvements. There are many innovative and intelligent tools available to obtain customer feedback, requiring minimal effort, and NO they are not expensive!
Happy World Quality Month and wishing you continually improving CSAT/CNPS & Cx!