So you have a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) benchmark. How do you figure out if the benchmark you’re using is realistic? Benchmarking can be a very helpful exercise but, if done wrong, can hinder team performance by setting unrealistic goals or expectations.
According to KPMG, 58% of consumers say being able to shop 24/7 is the number one reason they shop online. Companies have international customer bases who are online round-the-clock, and that means a decent chunk of customers will be disappointed if they can’t receive help during off-hours. The Geckoboard Customer Support Experience Report 2021 found that 50% of customer support teams are only available during business hours Monday to Friday, and only 28% are available 24/7.
In 2020, Customer Support teams worked harder than ever before. Not only did most have to adapt to new ways of working but for many the pandemic lead to an increase in support requests. Geckoboard customer Ember described a situation where people were more readily available to contact Support but also expected agents to respond faster than usual. So how is the industry faring in 2021?
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is one of the most widely used customer service metrics. Companies send short CSAT surveys after a support interaction—but these are tied to your customers’ most recent interaction with your company and can be skewed if they had an issue or poor experience. And because CSAT surveys are kept short to make it easy for customers to respond, they don’t tell you why customers feel the way they do.
It is no news that team culture can impact staff retention, happiness and productivity. Gallup found that engaged employees were 59% less likely to search for a new job in the next 12 months. This is especially true for Customer Support teams who are on the front-line, dealing with customer issues, complaints and queries each day. Without a solid team culture around them to help them through the challenges, many will opt to move on.
The main point of identifying and tracking specific metrics is to measure your progress toward specific goals. But not all metrics can give you the information you need right away. Lagging indicators take a long time to change, and show the later-stage results of your efforts. Leading indicators, on the other hand, measure the activities you think will help you reach your goal, and can be tracked on a more ongoing basis. Because of the different time frames required by leading vs.
Customer support KPIs (key performance indicators) allow you to understand what level of service you’re providing for your customers, including how long they have to wait and if they’re happy with the outcome of the interaction. KPIs also help you communicate your support team’s contributions to the rest of the business. But there are many ways to measure the performance of your customer support team: response times, number of interactions, time to resolution, and much more.
If you’re an eCommerce marketer, by now, you’ve read countless articles and studies about how eCommerce sales are skyrocketing, and nearly every person is now a potential customer. You’re either looking to take advantage of that new potential or trying to ensure you hang on to (and grow) your piece of this bigger pie. Marketing is the answer to both because it helps you reach new eyeballs while also re-engaging with loyal customers ready to buy again.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is the oldest and most widely used customer satisfaction KPIs. It’s also one of the most popular north-star metrics amongst support teams. As with all metrics, it’s not without its complications. One is how to put the score into perspective. Is a CSAT of 80% good or bad? Zendesk and ACSI have great benchmarking reports that can help with this. But, there’s a complication that’s often overlooked.
