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Customer retention can be a big challenge no matter what size your business is. If your customers are satisfied they are more likely to purchase more from you, more often, and even recommend you to their friends. We have created a list of the top ways to improve customer satisfaction.

1. Support

If customers experience issues with your product or service and require help then it is important to have a support system in place to ensure satisfied customers. Hire staff for your support team who prioritises customer satisfaction. Multi channel support should be available as it stops customers from having to repeat information that they may have already provided to a different call centre agent which can affect their satisfaction. At Big Red Cloud we provide full telephone, email and live chat support.

2. Resources

Often if customers have queries or issues they will want these resolved with as little intervention from your team of employees as possible. By having multiple resources available on your website people can use it to see what they’re signing up for with your company, learn how to use your product or service, and find solutions to issues they’re having. Big Red Cloud has a knowledge centre which includes how to videos, FAQs, and guides. Most recently we have launched a free video training series which is a 5 part training series that covers the essentials of accounting. These all contribute to satisfying our customers by making it easier for them to locate or obtain the information they need thus answering their questions in a timely manner.

3. Customer feedback

Whether customers are giving you positive or negative feedback, both need to be listened to. Receiving positive feedback is always a plus but be sure to praise employees that are the reason for this feedback. It may be employees handling customer service well or your website developer for making the website user friendly. This will boost their morale and often result in better performance when dealing with future customer related issues as happy staff equals happy customers.

Negative feedback should be reviewed so that the business can identify what it needs to improve. If many customers have the same issue then prioritise finding a solution to this even if it may have a longer-term solution. For more on this topic we wrote a post on the strategies in handling customer complaints.

4. Social media

Social media is a great listening tool to see what is being said about your brand. As mentioned in a previous post, if people are responding negatively to your business and you reply to them quickly you may be able to change this view to a positive one by resolving the issue they’re having. Social media is also becoming a more popular channel to share reviews of companies so faster responses will improve customer satisfaction.

While there are many ways to improve customer satisfaction it is important to listen to your customers as it will influence your company decisions and direction. For further advice on customer service take a look at our guide.

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)