Your clients are expecting to be fully satisfied by the products or services you sell them, as well as by the support you provide them.

How satisfied your clients are has a direct impact on your ability to keep your existing clients, and get them to spend more money.

Satisfied clients become great ambassadors for your company, give you repeat business, and truly want you to succeed in the market. When your clients are not fully satisfied – they will switch to your competitors or the next best option when they get the chance.

Here are 10 ideas how you can increase customer satisfaction:

1. Create a Remarkable Experience

Your goal should be to make every experience a client (or prospect) has with your business – a remarkable one. From your marketing, to initial contact, to sales, to delivery, to the product or service itself, to the customer support… Always look for ways to make a unique and valuable contribution.

2. Set Clear Expectations and Exceed Them

Your clients only expect what you promise them. Let your clients know up front what your standards and practices are. What results should they expect from using your product or service? What does the process of working with you look like? How long will they wait for a response to a question? And then… no matter what you promised – over-deliver on that (if you promised to deliver in 7 days… deliver in 5 days. If you promised to give X, give X + Y…)

3. Personalize

In everything you do, make sure your client feels he or she is the only one that matters. Use their name, refer to personal information and congratulate a client on his or her birthday. Make them feel special.

4. Ask for Feedback

Sometimes, it can be difficult to find ways to improve client satisfaction. But there are always more clients who have valuable insights that they haven’t given to you. It’s your job to go fishing, not for compliments, but for criticisms. Then ask: “What could we have done differently to improve your experience?”

5. Respond Quick (and Smart) 

By answering your clients as quickly as possible, you’re reducing their stress and the chances they will look for what a competitor has to offer. But it’s not just about speed. You want to make sure you give the best response possible. So if you need some time to do some digging, let the client know you have received their request and are looking into possible solutions.

6. Turn Feedback into Action

Once you know what your clients want, it’s time to act on their feedback. Look for ways to use their feedback to improve every area of your business. And when you did – contact the client who gave that specific feedback and let them know how you used it to improve.

7. Improve Your Product or Service
Your main action from your clients feedback should be to improve your product or service. For instance, if clients request new features – find a way to add them. If they look for a better user manual or onboarding process – improve those. If they want a new product/service – consider those seriously. And always, always keep them updated on what you chose to implement, and what you skip for now.

8. Treat Them Like You Would Want to Be Treated
Put yourself in the shoes of your clients and go through the whole customer journey as if for the first time. Make every part of the process as smooth as possible. And when contacting your clients – treat them with respect, your utmost attention, and commitment. And make sure your team does the same.

9. Reward Loyal Customers
Give repeat clients special discounts, send them gifts and freebies, celebrate them with recognition and “Thank You” notes, invite them to test new products and services, offer them a special treatment…

10. Build a Community

Setting up a community is a great way to handle customer service, promotional and marketing activities, address any client concerns and give them a place to hang out with like-minded people – supporting and encouraging each other, asking and answering questions… 

Now It’s YOUR Turn

For five minutes… come up with as many ideas as you can… what could YOU do to increase your clients’ satisfaction?