Survey Tips

Why You Should Care About Your Customer Effort Score

Why You Should Care About Your Customer Effort Score

Survey Tips

Do you know your customer effort score? Do you have a grasp of what it is?

Your customer effort score (CES) measures what your customers think about how easy or difficult your business makes it for them to complete an action.

The CES measures how many hoops your customers have to jump through to get what they need. For example, are they looking for info on your website and can’t find it? Or, are they getting a busy signal each time they call customer service?

One study says it is 25% more predictive of customer loyalty than the next best metric. Combined with the Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction Score, you should have a working knowledge of how your customers feel about you.

Because it’s so important, in this article, we look at why you should care about your customer effort score.

The Customer Effort Survey

First, let’s look at how you get this information.

The CES survey involves a single question that is scored on a scale from one to seven.

The question might look like this:  X (your name) made it easy for me to get what I needed (or find an answer, or some variable of this).

The answer options are: strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, neutral, somewhat disagree, disagree, strongly disagree.

If you get a negative score, you can use your survey to send them to another question that is empathetic and looks something like this: “It looks like we could have done a better job helping you. Please let us know more about your experience.

You would then list seven options underneath for them to click on. For example, answers might be: I was on hold too long, your website was confusing, no one answered my question, etc.

Now let’s look at why it matters.

You Can Improve Your Service

Using your CES data can help you improve your customer satisfaction. It can help you get your customer service right the first time, so you don’t have unsatisfied customers.

If your score is low, you want to train your staff to not only respond quickly but to respond with empathy and knowledge. If they aren’t trained correctly, they will fall short.

The CES helps you learn where your staff and your company fall short and where you can improve.

You Can Improve Your Speed

Customers waiting too long on hold? Or, are they spending a lot of time on your website and not finding answers?

Speed is so important in the 21st century. In a world of immediacy, people are not willing to wait.

So, surprise them and speed things up.

If your CES shows that customers are waiting too long, you can add staff and improve your processes.

You Can Improve Your Options

Oftentimes, people are happy to solve their problems on their own, but they need the right information to do so.

You can help your customer service process by exploring your self service tools.

Your most modern customers will be glad to look for some answers on their own. Make these easy to find, and always offer the option of talking to a person, too.

Final Thoughts

If your customers have to expend too much effort to get what they want and need from you, they aren’t going to return.

Effort is a good predictor of how loyal your customers are and will be in the future.

Your customer effort score can help you understand where your company, products/services, and staff fall short so you can improve. (tweet this)

Today’s marketplace is all about providing the best possible customer service, and that includes how much effort your customers have to spend to get what they want.

When you reduce their effort, you increase their loyalty.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

Image: Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

The Ultimate Survey CTA When a Survey Is Completed

The Ultimate Survey CTA When A Survey Is Completed

Survey Tips

Words are great, and while it’s always a best practice to thank your survey respondents when they’ve completed your survey, there are some actions you can take to really drive your thank you home.

You want to use an action to show your respondents your gratitude, and this is where the call to action (CTA) comes in.

Your best call to action is to take action first by creating a CTA that shows your survey respondents you know they just did you a favor, and now you are going to do them one. (tweet this)                         

In this article, we look at the ultimate survey CTA when a survey is completed. We’ll look at how this can further solidify their loyalty to your business.

A Good CTA

When your survey is completed, a good CTA you can provide is either the incentive you promised or one you are surprising your respondents with.

For example, you may have promised them a coupon for free shipping, a percentage off coupon, a free download, or something free from your store.

Whether you told them this up front or are providing it as a surprise, it is the ultimate CTA when a survey is completed because your customers are getting what they wanted.

But, if you really want to wow your customer with the ultimate call to action, give them the one that meets your respondents where they are.

The Ultimate CTA

There is one more thing you can do with your after-survey CTA that propels your CTA to the ultimate stage and beyond.

You can further increase your results by creating a CTA based on survey responses.

This means providing a call to action that meets your customers’ needs, wants and desires.

Your survey helps you determine what your customers think about either your products, services, or your business. Because you know this, you can provide them with a proper call to action.

For example, perhaps you created a survey that asked your respondents if they want coupons, free shipping, eBooks, webinars, whitepapers, or free services.

Based on their responses, you can provide a CTA at the end of the survey based on their answers. For example, for the ones that want free shipping, give them a coupon. For those who want eBooks, give them a link to a new one.

Not only can you provide an appropriate CTA, but you learn more about your customers so you can provide them with the right content, products, and services.

You can also reach out with a CTA to customers who may or may not be happy with your company. Let’s say you conducted a Net Promoter Score survey. You could provide a different call to action for several groups:

  • If your respondents’ NPS survey response score is less than six, you can create a call to action that appeals to your detractors.
  • If you have responses in the range of seven-eight, you can also create a CTA for this more neutral, passive group.
  • For NPS survey responses that are greater than or equal to nine, you can create a promoter CTA that appeals to your biggest fans.

Each of these CTAs can be different. To create the CTA, research your audience, know what makes them happy and what doesn’t. Then, you can fine tune your CTA at the end of your surveys to appeal to each of those audiences.

Final Thoughts

Sending surveys helps you learn valuable information about your customers. It helps you fine tune your marketing and provide the right things at the right time.

So, why waste one minute of that time. Give them a CTA when the survey is completed that matches their survey responses.

In doing this, you not only express your overwhelming gratitude, but you tell your customers immediately that you are listening to them.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

Images: Brett Jordan on Unsplash