The Return on High Customer Satisfaction Is Huge

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Top Takeaways:

• ACSI, or the American Customer Satisfaction Index, researches and tracks more than 400 of the largest corporations in the U.S. marketplace on their customer satisfaction scores.
• There’s a correlation between top-performing companies in the ACSI and companies who do well in the stock market. The 35 top-performing companies, according to the ACSI, have had a return of… (Dr. Fornell suggests sitting down as you read this number) 1788% in the last 15 years.
• Customer retention provides exponentially increasing returns for your business. However, some companies can have high retention but low satisfaction. Your customers may come back because your products are affordable until another company that offers lower prices comes along. Make sure that your customers come back for the right reasons.
• There are obvious issues that companies need to fix to solve customer dissatisfaction: wait time, ease of use, and segmentation.
  • Wait time – If the search, shopping, and buying experience take longer than expected, it creates a problem for the customers.
  • Ease of use – If it’s complicated and the customer often needs help, it affects their experience.
  • Segmentation – Don’t just segment on age, gender, or location. Segment your customers according to categories that affect the customer’s sensitivity to higher quality. Know what customers are looking for in your products and design customer experiences that deliver them.

Quotes:

“Buying loyalty is keeping the price low. Earning loyalty is keeping your customers satisfied.”

“Firms with loyal and satisfied customers do better even when the stock market is volatile.”

About:

Dr. Claes Fornell is the founder of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a monthly economic indicator of the quality of economic output, and the Distinguished Donald C. Cook Emeritus Professor of Business at the University of Michigan. Dr. Fornell is the author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

1. What is customer satisfaction?
2. What is the American Customer Satisfaction Index?
3. How is US customer satisfaction Index calculated?
4. What are the benefits of customer satisfaction?
5. How do you measure ROI for customer satisfaction?