The second biggest thing that impacts a business, after knowing your employees well, is knowing your customers well.
When PwC tells us that 49% of customers ditch a brand after a single bad experience (specifically with customer experience), the knowledge you have of your customers becomes vital.
Studies even show that if you manage to increase customer retention by only 5%, you can increase your profit by around 25-30%.
The problem is that to keep a customer loyal, you need to genuinely care for their needs and, in the first place, know what those needs are and know about their experience with your product - What do they like / dislike about your product? Where are they having difficulties? What is actually helping them?
And to get those insights, customers need to be willing to talk to you and you need to be willing to listen.
Most of the time, companies opt to send out standard feedback surveys to their customers in the hopes of collecting useful data. Nevertheless, these generally result in high withdrawal rates from the customers, meaning it is difficult for you to actually get to that valuable information.
Mogens Møller, founder and CEO of Sleeknote, realised this and decided to take ownership of the customer experience and be transparent to his customers. He sends out surveys (Customer Pulses) with one question, explicitly from the CEO to the customer, asking “What would you, as a customer, change if you were CEO of Sleeknote?”. And this has been shown to make customers excited to answer and share their views.
Let’s further explore this approach.
Take ownership and connect with your customers
It is extremely easy for managers, and more so CEOs, to get overwhelmed or hyper-focused on their own tasks and projects, so much so that the customer becomes a distant priority.
Mogens Møller's Customer Pulse approach challenges just that. It is unique for its customer centricity and objectivity.
We know that the best way to receive valuable feedback is to ask open questions and make things personal. However, in most standard customer surveys, customers often get tired of answering the same set of questions every time and rarely feel they are talking to an actual person, let alone to the CEO of the company.
By personally addressing a question to his customers as considering as “What would you, as a customer, change if you were CEO of Sleeknote?” Møller shows his customers they are on top of his mind and that their answers are valued and are crucial to his company.
He sends out this question semi-annually to all customers and partners.
Connect with the people who did not become customers
Knowing why people are not choosing your brand or product, is something companies rarely and directly investigate. Seize this opportunity.
The insights you collect can help you analyse your product, set new goals, strategize an action plan, consider adding new features, revisit the website or marketing communication… whatever the issues your customers point out. Use it to improve your company and your brand.
Here are the two question Møller typically asks:
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“What was the reason why you did not choose to become a customer of Sleeknote?”
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“If there was one thing you could highlight, what would it be?”
Connect with new customers
For new customers, Møller sends an automatic Customer Pulse email asking:
- “Why have you become a customer?”
The advantage of this simple question is that the answers can then easily be used for website copy/testimonials and at all-hands meetings.
Make giving feedback an effortless moment
When you bring customers to the centre of the stage, you are looking to keep their needs in mind and smoothly resolve their issues with your product/customer experience.
If you make the process of giving you feedback too time consuming or non-intuitive, chances are you will have a hard time obtaining that information.
For Mogens Møller it is important to engage with your customer in every channel, but it is also crucial to know subtle ways of facilitating and asking for feedback. For instance, one of Møller's current strategies is adding a pop-up message on the pricing page on their website asking: “Do you have any questions about our prices?”.
Remember that the insights you might receive combined with the NPS, can be an effective tool to help you and your team redesign your strategy regarding the product and customer experience. Use the information you obtain wisely.
Reach out before your customer reach out to you
You can take Møller's customer centricity and make it a broad theme in your company. One way to do this is by making customer feedback a part of your workflow.
Customers usually only bother to write feedback in the case of a negative situation. If you anticipate the problem (e.g. a malfunctioning issue, a delay, etc.) and reach out, you avoid receiving tons of angry messages and your customers will have the perception that you are in the loop of things and acting to solve the issues.
Key takeaways
Møller’s customer-centric approach is one of the most smooth and effective ways of connecting to your customers and learning insights about your product or service – what is working great and what is not.
Here is what you should focus on to ensure customer satisfaction:
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Ask open questions:
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Ask them what they would do if they were the CEO
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Ask people why they did not become customers (when applicable)
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Ask new customers why they became customers (when applicable)
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Make giving feedback an effortless moment
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Reach out before you are reached for