Business Tips: Measuring Customer Satisfaction

For most businesses, retaining existing customers is 

cheaper than acquiring new customers. Customers become repeat purchasers usually because they believe that the products or services they buy are good value for money and the service they receive when contacting the firm is at the very least satisfactory.

So the question is: how do you measure if the service a customer receives is of an acceptable standard?

With a limited budget there are a number of actions that a company can take to obtain data about how satisfied their customers are with the company's products and services. These include:

•  Examining recent correspondence customers have sent to the company. What you are looking for here is the frequency with which certain topics are being raised and the language customers use in their correspondence:

Items relating to regulatory matters that are usually out of your control (but if they arise frequently it suggests there is a need to provide better communication on the subject and how limited one is to be able to influence it); items relating to policy decisions (which being under your control you may choose to change) or items relating to operating procedures (again which are under your control).

If they use a lot of emotive words then it reveals the depth of their concern with this matter.

If customers mention that they are writing/emailing because they have been unsuccessful in getting through to you on the telephone or in person, or that they have not yet had a reply to an earlier call or letter, then you can be fairly certain that these customers are not 'satisfied' with the service from your company.

•  If you have a call centre, or have outsourced customer service to another company, then you should ask for statistics about the number of calls received, the topics and the frequency with which each of the topics are being raised. It is also worth finding out the average amount of time a customer spends talking with an agent and if this varies by topic.

•  Contacting a random selection of customers and asking them what they think of the products and services they have bought, or to follow up on a recent call they may have had from a sales rep to find out how happy they were with the call and the matters discussed. If your business involves subscription purchases, then contacting a sample of customers who have not renewed their subscription to find out why may provide useful information.

•  The internet can also provide access to useful information about not only your customers but also about customer opinions about the industry or profession in which your firm operates. You must check that any data is relatively up to date. There are many different sources available, ranging from blogs by individuals about the service they have received (or from employees about their working conditions) through to reports and other materials provided by individual companies, trade associations, etc.

•  It is also possible to conduct your own surveys but it may be more cost efficient to outsource this to a market research agency. However, if you do decide to conduct your own survey then consider not only the content of the questionnaire but also its structure and design. In addition, do not underestimate how much time and effort will be involved not only in the pre-fieldwork stages but also afterwards when it comes to analysing and interpreting the date customers have provided.

I hope this helps your business be outstanding.

One more thing before you go...I would like you to do one important thing for me - spread the word about this article.

That is all - 

David

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5 Odd Ways Stress Affects Your Body

Did you know you lose 1 percent of your height — that is nearly two-thirds of an inch if you are  average-sized — between the time you get up in the morning and the time you go to bed?

That's strange enough. But thanks to job stress, that shrinkage is even greater on workdays, says Swiss research.

How come? When you’re upright, gravity and motion squeeze fluid from between the vertebrae of your spine. And stress creates muscle tension in your shoulders and back that forces out even more fluid than usual, making you shorter, the study authors explain.

But that's not the only weird way work stress messes with your body. 

It also makes you ears ring. In a Swedish study, men were 39 percent more likely to report hearing loss or ringing when faced with the stress of having to change jobs. The reason: Stress and anxiety hormones appear to cause harmful stimulation within your ear’s cochlear receptors, the study authors say.

And your skin itch. When your boss has you working like a dog, it can trigger unusual activity in the parts of your brain related to “central itch control”. That can lead to itchiness, rashes, or other skin conditions, finds a European review study.
It shrinks your brain, too. According to Yale University research, stress ups the presence of proteins that slow or shut down your brain’s ability to grow synapses, which are the junctions where neurons exchange messages. This leads to a loss of mass in your brain’s prefrontal cortex — the part of your noodle involved in decision making. This stress-induced brain shrinkage may even be related to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers say. 

And it gives you a stomach ache. Brain-gut interactions aren’t well understood. But stress hormones appear to over-stimulate the areas of the brain responsible for intestine regulation, which can lead to nausea and stomach irritation, shows research from UCLA. 
Master stress and stay taller. 
That is all - 
David

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The Simplest Weight Loss Trick

A recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that looking at endless pictures of

foods makes them less enjoyable to eat.

While a few photos might enhance desire and your appetite, people are actually put off the taste by looking at loads of pictures of food.

Professor Ryan Elder, who led the study, which is published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, said:

“In a way, you’re becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food. It’s sensory boredom — you’ve kind of moved on. You don’t want that taste experience any more.”

What’s happening is that each time you look at another photograph of some food, you get less pleasure from it.

Like the first taste of chocolate mousse giving you a frisson, the first photograph whets your appetite.

But each subsequent picture - like each subsequent mouthful of mousse - is less and less exciting, until you get sick of it.

The Instagram Diet

In the study itself, hundreds of people looked at and rated pictures of food (Larson et al., 2013).

The experiment had half the participants looking at pictures of salty foods like French fries and pretzels, while the other half looked at sweet foods like ice cream and chocolate.

Afterwards, they rated their pleasure from eating both salty and sweet foods.

People who’d been looking at salty foods gave lower pleasure ratings to the salty foods and people who’d been looking at sweet pictures gave lower ratings to the sweet foods.

The study found that the more pictures they looked at, the less pleasure people got from related foods.

Professor Elder explained:

“You do have to look at a decent number of pictures to get these effects. It’s not like if you look at something two or three times you’ll get that satiated effect. That’s good news for food-photo enthusiasts, because, let’s be honest, showing everyone the awesome food you’re eating really is cool.”

For those trying to enhance their pleasure, rather than reduce it, co-author, Jeff Larson, had this advice:

“If you want to enjoy your food consumption experience, avoid looking at too many pictures of food. Even I felt a little sick to my stomach during the study after looking at all the sweet pictures we had.”

I hope this helps you to be outstanding.

One more thing before you go......I would like you to do one important thing for me - spread the word about this article.

That is all - 

David

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Motivational Monday: The Lesson We Can Learn From Barbie Doll

When Ruth Handler, the creator of the Barbie Doll™, first introduced the Barbie idea to her husband Elliot, she got some resistance. Elliot did not approve of the idea of a doll with adult features being sold to children.

Little did Elliot know that Barbie would be Mattel’s largest selling brand with over a billion Barbie dolls sold world wide and 3 Barbie dolls being sold per second.
Every dream, every plan and every step that you take may face resistance. People will discourage you. People will disapprove of your plans.

YES, that is likely to happen.

The world around you has people who share different beliefs, views and backgrounds but always remember: you are part of this world, just like everybody else. And you have a unique role to play and a different mark to leave.

That's exactly what Ruth Handler did.

Negative people will make endless lists of the WHY's they think you can’t do it. They will even tell you stories of their friends and family who did something similar to your dream but failed.

Ignore such people!

If you believe it you can be it!!

Go out there and prove them wrong . . .

One more thing before you go......I would like you to do one important thing for me - spread the word about this article.

That is all - 

David

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