The success of your company is directly proportional to how thoroughly your customers are satisfied with you. The satisfaction score of a customer is a critical determinant that portrays how far-fetched their loyalty will go on. While it is said that sales is the engine that is the driver of your business, customer satisfaction is the one that acts as fuel. Only a fully satisfied customer will revert to you and will do more business. On that note, there are said to be four levels of customer satisfaction that stand as a testament to glorying customer success. What are they and why are they so important, the blog here awaits the answers.

• Level One: Meeting Customer Expectations 
• Level Two: Surpassing Customer Expectations
• Level Three: Delighting your Customers 
• Level Four: Amazing your Customers 

Level One: Meeting Customer Expectations 

Well, let’s face it – the entirety of your business depends on the customers. The minimum, basic requirement that is asked from you to sustain the market is the ability to meet the expectations of a customer. This is the only level where you know that your customers are happy, fulfilled, and will not carry any severe grudge against you. And on similar tracks, they won’t have loyalty for you too.

But do not assume that since you are on the first level, you are entitled with no efforts at all. If in the meanwhile, a competition of yours does something greater than just meeting their expectations, you lose the chance to retain them. Not just that, your customers will now give away their customer loyalty Brownie points to someone whom they really want to. Surviving the first step, you will have to learn the skill of packing the punch in the first go.

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Level Two: Surpassing Customer Expectations

Now, it is time to go beyond mere expectations. So how do you redeem yourself in this category? A friendly customer service that provides impromptu solutions, followed by regular feedback sessions might put you at this level. As you have promoted to the second level, you must know that satisfaction for a customer means more than just subscribing to your product.

You will have to come up with a multitude of additional causes that can give you an edge over your competitions. Exceeding their basic expectations here will build a treasure trove of customer retention and will eventually augment your profitability bar too. Once a user sees that you are ready to surpass their expectations, they will most likely be eager to pay more and stick around for a longer time.

Level Three: Delighting your Customers 

It is human tendency to fall for things that give them pamper and attention. The same principle goes for the customers too. Once they come and see your abode of love, respect, and dedication, you are assured to put a smile on their face. On the third level, a customer served here is indeed delighted.

Not only they saw that their basic expectations have been met and surpassed, but you as a company have connected with them on an emotional note too. This accounts to be the beginning of wreathing their loyalty towards you. This is also the stage where luring a loyal customer of yours away from the clutches of a vying competitor is difficult and impossible for some.

While you make sure that you are delighting your customers, you are in a way paving the route to building a well-profitable business with an enriching revenue bar. It is not always expensive, trophy gifts that retain a customer. You can delight them in myriad cost-effective ways too. All they need from you at the end of the day is empathy and devotion above the rest.

Level Four: Amazing your Customers 

As you walk into the final level, you are looking at propelling your business in financial ways. At this top level of customer satisfaction, you will have to bring you’re a game and amaze your customers more than ever. Some of the simple yet significant tactics include launching a revamped version of a product update that goes way beyond what they had expected. Freebies too are a great way to keep them amazed.

A customer by default has a thing towards getting discounts, special promo codes, and loyalty programs. These methods will almost simmer down on the bulging churn rates. On top of that, adding a personalized note that goes along with these freebies is like icing on a cake. Receiving regular customer feedback too is a good way to show them that you are listening and that their suggestions are truly welcome. This will aid in moving your business higher in the customer satisfaction hierarchy and strive to get more brand loyalty.

That’s a Wrap 

The basis of the customer success niche is the happiness of the customer. The levels of customer satisfaction discussed above show that it is the customer on whom the whole business relies on. A happy and satisfied customer has the power to promote your brand and see the radical shift from a mere company to an industry expert. And a dissatisfied one can pull down your business. A report by Microsoft backs that up – 56% of people around the world have stopped doing business with a company because of a poor customer service experience.

And you do not have to think of any ‘out of the box’ ideas to fuel this change. Listen to their queries intently. Take up their suggestions and in due course of time, implement them in your system. This will stand as proof to your customers that their recommendations are being valued. Further, try to woo and bring back the ones who did not have a great time with you.

Would you just let a customer churn away permanently due to some misunderstandings? Reach out to the agitated customer and figure out what went wrong. Not just that, ensure how can you mend your ways and affix their issue. Who knows, your simple act of generosity could convert a nearly churned away customer into being a loyal, satisfied, and happy customer who is here to stay with you.

WRITTEN BYShivani Chaturvedi

Shivani is a talented CS manager with the skillsets to elicit, scope and manage end-to-end B2B SaaS project delivery. She has a keen interest in depicting her learnings in customer success by writing resourceful blogs and articles.

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