How to improve CSAT [15 tips & tricks for businesses]

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a CX metric that reflects customer experience. Improving your customer satisfaction score should be your priority because a high score strongly predicts customer retention, loyalty, and business success. 

This article will share 15 actionable tips for improving your CSAT score.

These 15 ways to improve CSAT are all tried and true methods for improving overall customer satisfaction. Browse this list to find a solution that works for your team. 

The first tactic is to invest in regular customer service training.

Conduct quarterly training to ensure customer service representatives have the knowledge they need to succeed. Regular sessions also give opportunities for representatives to realign with company goals.

When conducting training sessions, gathering feedback on the perceived value of the sessions is essential. A training survey lets you assess each trainee’s progress and satisfaction levels. You can also ask employees for their thoughts on the training structure and instructors.

This data can assess employee understanding of the material and guide improvements to your training program. And by soliciting feedback, you can continuously enhance your training initiatives to better support customer satisfaction.

Today, more than ever, customers are looking for personalized brand interactions. According to Forbes, 81% of customers prefer companies offering personalized experiences. To enhance customer satisfaction, your business should prioritize personalized experiences. 

Utilize a demographic survey to gather customer data. By gaining an understanding of your customers, you can create tailored experiences that consider their background, preferences, and purchase history.

Personalizations could include adding a “you may also like” feature to your website. In this section, you can recommend other products based on a customer’s browsing history. 

Proactively communicating with customers through emails, SMS, and even physical mailers can boost customer satisfaction.

Customers can plan their shopping for the best deals when informed of your latest offerings and sales. Proactive communication will encourage customers to make repeat purchases and participate in special savings events for your business.

It’s never a bad thing to overcommunicate. Share company updates and behind-the-scenes content via email to give loyal customers a peek behind the curtain. Your customers are sure to appreciate the transparency and clear communication. 

Reducing response times to customer inquiries or support tickets is a fail-safe way to improve CSAT.

Let’s face it, people don’t have the same patience as they did 30 years ago. Advanced technology has supported an instant gratification mindset. 

Customers aren’t going to be satisfied waiting 40 minutes on hold to speak to a customer service representative. Nor will they be happy waiting a week for an email response to a technical support ticket. Reducing response times can significantly impact customer satisfaction. 

Send feedback surveys and forms to measure customer satisfaction with response times. This gives you the insights you need to improve response times. This is a relatively simple method of enhancing customer satisfaction. 

Self-service options are something that every company should have, regardless of size or industry. If you want to improve the satisfaction of your customers, consider implementing self-service options, such as a frequently asked questions page or a troubleshooting guide.

Some customers prefer to solve issues independently and avoid interacting with customer service representatives via chat, email, or phone. This can be quicker and less of a hassle for both parties.

If you don’t have self-service options, it may be time to implement them. Providing customers with tools for self-service increases the likelihood of higher satisfaction ratings on CSAT and other customer service surveys.

Are you providing the highest quality products at affordable prices? You should regularly ask this question, as product quality directly impacts customer satisfaction. And improving your product can help maximize CSAT scores.

A Net Promoter Score (NPS®) survey is a CX metric that measures customer satisfaction. It can also help you identify customer hangups.

NPS surveys ask, “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?" A high percentage of Promoters, respondents answering 9-10, indicate high customer satisfaction. In other words, your product is so great that customers are willing to tell their friends about it. Detractors, respondents who respond 0-6, are unsatisfied with your product and won’t recommend it.

In addition to NPS surveys, product feedback surveys can help you identify areas of improvement. This feedback can be implemented to create better customer experiences with your products and, in turn, improve CSAT. 

Offering multiple support channels—such as virtual chat, phone, and email—ensures customers can access help in their preferred way.

Some customers have strong preferences on how they like to communicate with brands. By providing multiple support channel options, you can give customers the opportunity to tailor their experience. 

If you only offer one support channel currently, it’s time to rethink. Providing multiple support channels helps create positive customer experiences that make a lasting impression. This drives customer satisfaction and loyalty to your business. 

Setting clear expectations for customer support employees is essential to high performance. Without clear guidelines and expectations, employees may unintentionally deliver subpar customer experiences.

Clear, well-communicated expectations ensure employees understand their responsibilities and the consequences of not meeting standards. If expectations are unclear or haven't been properly communicated, it’s time to address this and implement them effectively. Provide concrete examples of ideal customer support interactions—ideally during regular training—to clarify employee expectations. 

Your support teams should feel empowered by management to thrive in their roles and provide top-notch customer service. How do you empower your teams? There are a multitude of ways to do this, but here are just a few recommendations. 

Every customer interaction is a chance to improve CSAT scores. Following up with customers after their service experience demonstrates that you value their feedback. Sending an automated customer service feedback survey allows customers to share both positive and negative aspects of their experience, providing valuable insights.

Customers appreciate feeling heard by their favorite brands. Follow-up surveys are an excellent way to gather feedback and reinforce their sense of value, making this a simple yet effective method for boosting customer satisfaction.   

Customers aren’t looking for cookie-cutter or “one size fits all” solutions. You're already one step ahead by offering personalized and innovative solutions to customers. Many companies prioritize the number of people helped rather than the quality of the customer service. 

Offering customized solutions and employees listening to customer concerns ensures they feel valued and special. Everyone likes to feel like more than just a number. By taking the time to personalize each customer service experience, you can significantly improve satisfaction across the board. 

Take the time to regularly analyze your company’s CSAT data to monitor trends and progress.

Analyzing this data helps ensure your initiatives to improve customer satisfaction are making a difference in your CSAT scores. Benchmark your CSAT against others in your industry to see where you stand among competitors.

To analyze CSAT data, measure if your score has stayed the same, decreased, or increased over the last year and make changes based on the results.  

Related reading: What is a good CSAT score?

User experience (UX), particularly website UX, plays a significant role in customer satisfaction. A website that is difficult to navigate, glitchy, or not mobile-friendly can cause stress and interrupt the customer journey.  Enhancing these aspects can create a ripple effect that elevates customer satisfaction.

Website usability is key, especially if your business is done through your website. For ecommerce businesses, you must provide a seamless user experience on your website. Our research determined that 88% of customers who have a poor experience with a company lose trust in that brand. This poor experience can easily be tied to a subpar website journey.  

Show your customers you are listening to them by acknowledging their pain points. Acknowledging customer pain points helps build trust and provides a better customer experience. This can be done in a few ways, including: 

Customer feedback is essential for sustaining high satisfaction and CSAT scores. Regularly review feedback from customer service surveys, analyzing it for trends and recurring issues. Identify common themes and develop an action plan to address and prevent these concerns.

Leverage customer feedback as a roadmap to improve CSAT scores—customers often highlight precisely what your team can do to enhance their satisfaction.

Eliminate bad customer service and improve CSAT by following the 15 tips above. From conducting regular staff training sessions to acting on customer feedback, there are plenty of different ways to improve customer satisfaction levels.

Improving CSAT isn’t just about a score. It’s about the impact satisfied customers have on your business. When customers are satisfied, they return to your brand, share your products with others, and remain loyal for years. 

SurveyMonkey provides customer satisfaction solutions for businesses interested in building a foundation of loyal and satisfied customers. Sign up for SurveyMonkey today to easily measure and improve customer satisfaction.