Customer satisfaction is on a downward spiral, according to data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
Forrest Morgeson, ACSI’s Director of Research shares reasons behind this concerning trend. The digital age has transformed how businesses interact with customers, but not always for the better. Customer satisfaction is declining, driven by factors like rising expectations and cost-cutting measures that impact service quality. Measuring customer satisfaction is another challenge. Traditional methods are unreliable, and businesses struggle to analyze “unstructured data” like social media comments.
Despite these challenges, strong customer service remains crucial. Companies must prioritize ease of doing business, offer seamless self-service options, and ensure human interaction for complex issues. Forrest highlights, “Our goal as businesses is not to overwhelm individual customers with amazing experiences but rather to provide the whole of our customer base slightly better than average experiences. Something that they’ll get that’s consistent every single time. And for that reason, it’s exceptional.”
The future of customer service involves advanced analytics. Predictive modeling, analysis of social media, and prioritizing qualitative data will provide deeper customer insights. The key is data, but not just any data. Traditional surveys are getting tiresome for customers and provide unreliable results. Morgeson suggests looking at social media comments, reviews, and other unstructured data to get a more holistic view.
By prioritizing consistent, positive experiences and effectively utilizing data, companies can rise above the competition, even in the face of hurdles in measuring customer satisfaction and keeping up with evolving expectations.
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Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist and the bestselling author of The Customer of the Future. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.