For a business, nothing is more important than ensuring customer satisfaction. In the book “Winning on Purpose,” authors Fred Reichheld, Maureen Burns, and Darci Darnell argue that businesses that prioritize customers and create experiences they love will be more successful in the long run. They provide evidence that companies with high net promoter scores consistently outperform their competitors and the market index. Successful businesses prioritize customer satisfaction over acquisition and profit, as higher satisfaction rates lead to better retention, renewals, and ultimately, profit. According to research by Bain & Company, companies with a net promoter score of 80 or above grow their revenue 2.5 times faster than their competitors (Harvard Business Review).
At WEVO, we understand the importance of customer delight and make it the core of our mission. This focus has allowed us to achieve an NPS of 88, the highest in our industry, resulting in a net retention rate of over 125%. We’ve seen how delighted customers lead to organic referrals and accelerated revenue. In this article, we want to share our approach to customer delight, discuss the obstacles to adoption, and inspire others to prioritize customer satisfaction. Our goal is to help businesses thrive during both economic uncertainty and boom times.
In this article, you will learn:
– How to maintain a stable net promoter score (NPS) during uncertain economic times
– WEVO’s approach to increasing customer satisfaction and delight
– Building an effective customer success framework through user research
– Best practices for customer retention and satisfaction
Maintaining a high net promoter score (NPS) in uncertain economic times is crucial for business performance. Focusing on customer satisfaction throughout the organization is key to increasing NPS, regardless of economic conditions. This directly supports lower customer churn rates and higher customer lifetime values. In the current uncertain economy (early 2023), we at WEVO have doubled down on delighting our customers. Despite cost-cutting pressures, we have deliberately expanded our investment to ensure our customers’ success. Customer experience is always important, but even more so in an uncertain economy where acquiring new customers is more expensive. Retaining and growing existing customers is not only the right thing to do for the customer but also for the bottom line.
Key levers to lower customer churn and increase satisfaction include establishing the value provided to customers at both the corporate and champion levels, expanding relationships at multiple levels within the organization, analyzing customer feedback with involvement from the product team, helping drive organizational transformation to integrate the product into customers’ workflows, and establishing a trustworthy and experienced customer success team.
At WEVO, our approach to customer satisfaction has allowed us to exceed our goals. We believe in aligning the values of shareholders and customers rather than seeing them as competitors. Our best practices for delighting customers include:
1. Defining our purpose: We prioritize being “better together” and “customer first” to create a customer-centric culture.
2. Starting from the top: The entire executive team is committed to delighting customers, as it sets the tone for the entire organization. Even if you’re not the CEO, you can share resources like “Winning on Purpose” to advocate for customer delight.
3. Knowing our customers: Understanding our core segment and their evolving needs allows us to continuously meet and exceed their expectations. We regularly collect and analyze customer feedback to improve our offerings.
4. Building a customer success framework: We empower our team and encourage collaboration to generate and test ideas that will delight customers. Our customer success team works closely with the product team, allowing us to quickly deliver product enhancements outside of our planned roadmap.
5. Empowering customer-facing staff: Our associates have the authority to go above and beyond the contract to resolve issues and ensure customer satisfaction. They have the power to refund customers without hesitation, contributing to a positive customer experience.
By implementing these best practices, businesses can prioritize customer satisfaction and thrive in any economic climate.
