Use Data to Measure Customer Happiness, Says CEO Brandon Frere

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Jul 31, 2018, 08:00 ET

PETALUMA, Calif., July 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Learning how to determine customer happiness is crucial to the success of any business. In the United States, companies pay a steep price for poor customer service — $62 billion dollars annually. The rise of online business rating services makes customer satisfaction more important than ever, as unsatisfied customers can create a domino effect of complaints and loss of revenue. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises, stresses that paying attention to customer happiness is one of the best investments of time a company can make.

"Listening to your customers goes a long way," states Frere. "It can help you keep customers and acquire new ones. Various ways to track customer satisfaction should be a part of every business' toolbox."

Happy customers may recommend a company to their circle of friends, but they're less likely to talk about the company online. Using a customer satisfaction score (CSAT) can help a business understand which percentage of responding customers are satisfied and which aren't. A CSAT is a self-reported survey asking the customer to describe their satisfaction level. These can be employed on a website, social media direct messaging or email and take very little time for the customer to complete. The best time to use a CSAT is after a significant event with the customer, such as the end of on-boarding. At this point, they've most likely made up their mind about how they feel about the service they were offered. Due to the nature of the survey, CSAT is most meaningful to measure a particular customer service experience, rather than that customer's overall perception of the brand or company.

"In every company, there's always room for improvement," says Frere. "The beauty of CSAT survey is that it only takes a second or two for the customer, but can provide the business with important feedback about aspects of its service."

Net promoter scores (NPS) are used to determine how likely a customer is to refer a company to a friend. These are often feedback bars or pop-ups on websites that ask how likely the customer is to refer the company to others on a scale of one to 10. This type of survey is an excellent way to measure brand loyalty in addition to a customer's overall satisfaction with the company. Customers who give the company high scores, called "promoters," have been shown to be nearly six times more likely to forgive a poor service incident, five times more likely to return to the company for services and are twice as likely to refer than a detractor (a low-scoring customer).

"A goal of all companies is to have customers singing your praises to their friends," notes Frere. "You want them to bring others into the fold. NPS scores are great indicators of the likelihood of that happening."

Customer Effort Scores (CES) are another type of survey that can provide a snapshot of customer satisfaction in relation to a single event. These surveys ask the customer to rate the ease of their experience, from very difficult to very easy. One study suggests that customer loyalty is mainly obtained by reducing the effort consumers have to go through to get a problem solved. Customers who give high CES scores also tend to give high NPS scores, but it's worthwhile to measure both.

"For consumers, it's not enough to have a catchy slogan or a slick marketing campaign," Frere says. "It's about providing timely, effortless service and inspiring customer confidence. Making changes based on what you learn from customer metrics can mean the difference between a struggling company and a successful one."

About Frere Enterprises

Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide.

As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs.

FrereEnterprises.com

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