As an organizational goal, “customer satisfaction” is obsolete. Customers expect satisfaction, and many businesses deliver it. Satisfying customers is not enough to ensure you get their praise and future business. Taking steps to improve customer loyalty, however, can prove much more beneficial to a company.
Motorola is one of the original benchmark companies for “Total Customer Satisfaction” (TCS). Their persistent pursuit of TCS is legendary, with Six Sigma quality programs and 10X campaigns for cycle time reduction.
Motorola now uses a new metric to track “customer loyalty,” and not just “customer satisfaction.” They ask for a rating of “Overall Satisfaction,” and ask if the customer intends to purchase again from Motorola. And they ask if the customer will willingly recommend Motorola to others. This company wants to know what it needs to do to improve customer loyalty.
Motorola’s target is genuine customer loyalty, which includes high satisfaction, a commitment to future business, and sharing positive word-of-mouth. Motorola won’t be satisfied until customers check the “top box” in all three areas.
Key Learning Point To Improve Customer Loyalty
Customer satisfaction only measures customer opinion for a fleeting moment in time. But good customer relationships are not fleeting. They are continuous. They have history, and present moments, and rich, fulfilling futures. Paying attention to steps to improve customer loyalty can prove even more important to businesses today.
Action Steps To Improve Customer Loyalty
How can you apply these lessons to improve customer loyalty? When you survey customers, don’t just ask “Are you not satisfied, somewhat satisfied, very satisfied.” Take the initiative to find out whether your customer is planning to buy from you again in the future. If so, how soon? If not, why not? Then ask if your customer will “refer you enthusiastically to others?” If so, why are they enthusiastic? If not, what needs to change for customers to become advocates for your products and your service?
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Copyright, Ron Kaufman. Used with permission. Ron Kaufman is the world’s leading educator and motivator for upgrading customer service and uplifting service culture. He is author of the bestselling “Uplifting Service” book and founder of Uplifting Service. To enjoy more customer service training and service culture articles, visit www.RonKaufman.com.
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