Nautilus
Traditional Surveys slack
Let’s face it, there’s no better measure for a business’ success than customer satisfaction surveys. And it has held that distinction since time immemorial! Did you know that the earliest customer survey was sent out in1750 BC? This clay tablet can be found in the British Museum and highlights a complaint from a customer about the wrong grade of copper being delivered.
Not much has changed throughout the years: customer feedback is just as important today as it was over 3 millennia ago. What has changed, however, is the ease and immediacy of which customer surveys can potentially be gathered today.
Traditional surveys often arrive too late, and agents end up missing this crucial window to capture how a customer really feels about their interaction. Oftentimes, you’re left guessing and risking dissatisfied customers sharing their frustration publicly before you even know something went wrong.
Missed Opportunities for Action
A delay in feedback means your business missed an opportunity to improve itself and the customer experience. Every day you’re not collecting real-time insights is a day you’re potentially losing your customers. And in an age where customer loyalty and customer retention are closely tied, this is alarming.
Unaddressed issues: Problems that customers experience may go unnoticed, leading to recurring complaints and continued dissatisfaction. This can damage a brand’s reputation if issues aren’t solved promptly.
Lost opportunities for improvement: Feedback provides valuable insights into what is working and what needs improvement. Ineffective practices can lead to unnecessary loss in resources and potential sales opportunities.
Decreased Customer Loyalty: There’s nothing more important for the overall health of a business than customer loyalty, for without a solid customer base there is no business in the long run. When customers feel unheard, the potential of them switching to the competition increases.
Negative Word of Mouth: The dissatisfaction a customer experiences is likely to be passed on to their closest immediate circle. The wider this circle of dissatisfaction grows, the more damage it can lead to your business.
For a business to succeed and continue to grow and improve their services, having an efficient way to collect and act on customer feedback is imperative. This is how they maintain a competitive edge in a market that’s constantly growing.
Customer Service = Customer Loyalty
In a call center environment, there’s no bigger driving force than customer service. It’s about providing great experiences for the consumer. But more importantly, it’s about offering a service that allows for those consumers to be heard. If something’s not working, a business has in its best interest to know about it.
In a 2023 survey conducted by Forbes Advisor, they found that customer service is the leading factor for customer loyalty. This was followed shortly by a business' rewards programs and discount programs.
This is why having an easy and immediate way to gather customer feedback is important, as customer feedback is the overall measure for the quality of your customer service.
Enter, after-call CSAT surveys.
What is an after-call CSAT survey?
After call CSAT surveys are short surveys conducted immediately after a customer interacts with a call center agent or support team over the phone. Its primary purpose is to provide customers a way to assess their experience without losing context.
Most call centers today have some version of this. The most common ones include sending an SMS with a link to the survey, an email survey, or post call surveys. This isn’t a new phenomenon, but how does a business go about improving on this?
1. Make it instant
Timing is everything when it comes to collecting accurate feedback. By sending CSAT surveys immediately after each call, the interaction is fresh in the customer’s mind. This leads to more honest and precise responses. Instant surveys ensure that any negative or positive feelings from the experience are captured in real time. This provides timely insights a business can act on.
2. Personalise your Customer Experiences
Personalization makes the customer feel valued, and can positively influence how a customer responds to a survey. Advise agents to do little things like addressing a customer by name, referencing specific issues discussed in the call– these little things make a more engaging and memorable interaction.
3. Keep it short, sweet, and easy to do
The thing is, customers are busy. Finding the time to do a survey is a big ask for some of them. So keeping your surveys short and easy to do shows how much you value their time while encouraging them to finish them. Avoid lengthy or complex surveys. Some businesses even find success with simpler surveys that only ask “good" or “bad”!
Nautilus Implementation: After call CSAT IVR
At Nautilus, we have extensive experience working with brands’ contact center operations. From their interactions with customers, we have found that offering a way to gather customer feedback immediately after a call is the best way to not only improve customer satisfaction, but also to find out the best ways to improve their business.
What we’ve done is integrated our after-call CSATs into our interactive voice response attendant. Whenever a call is ended, the customer is then presented the option to leave feedback via their phone. This level of immediacy captures customer sentiment via the press of a button!
And as a company that values customer satisfaction and advocates for better call center experiences, we've made sure that this data is easily accessible to our users via our own Reporting Portal.
The simpler the better
Customers are more likely to complete surveys that are quick and easy to navigate. Limiting your surveys to a few questions that focus on the most critical aspects of their experience increases the chances of survey completion!
If you need help on improving your contact center operations, shoot us a message! We’re excited to help you grow your business the right way.