Checking In: Soliciting Customer Feedback

With the ever-growing trend of online purchasing, the ability to gauge your success and popularity becomes a critical venture. A vast sea of competition has always been one of your greatest challenges as an ecommerce vendor. Figuring out how to stand out among the rest, as much as possible, is a worthwhile goal to focus on in the short term.
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There are established strategies for measuring customer experience attitudes. These generally fall into four categories: Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Effort Score (CES), and Customer Churn Rate. We’ll briefly explain each, but note that your operation may be too small to take on a full-scale task at the moment. If so, see the last paragraph for welcoming news.

1. Customer Satisfaction Survey
   Avoid negative reviews! It can potentially damage your reputation as a seller, even though some clapback is standard. To jump ahead, contact customers before they have a chance to leave bad feedback, and settle any disputes in a manner that works for both parties.
   

2. Net Promoter Score
   There’s an influencer in almost every buyer, so tap that potential to your advantage. Existing and current customers frequently rely on input from both friends and strangers. Turning happy clients into brand ambassadors goes a long way toward glowing public relations and even advertising efforts. Design questionnaires that ask how likely a purchaser is to return, and choose the most enthusiastic responders to target for brand ambassadorships. Drift explains a simple way to get this done.
   

3. Customer Effort Score
   This marker assesses the level of effort customers put forth to perform a task, use a product, or take advantage of a service. User experience is a phenomenal indicator of how likely a buyer is to return, so figuring out in advance how much work they are willing to do could make a huge difference in your success. It’s this simple: make it simple for your clientele.
   

4. Customer Churn Rate
   Less physical than it sounds, the CCR measures the frequency of customers still in your loop at the end of the quarter or year. The ability to retain buyers says a mouthful about your products, service, and overall operation. Tracking that rate offers a peek into whether your customers are genuinely satisfied; whether they appreciate the level of client service they receive, and how they feel about returning to your site.

 
While these formal, data-driven methods offer an accurate measure of success, they may be more than you can handle right now. But your efforts need not be that official. Don’t forget the power of personal contact. Your customers may be eager for a vendor who wants to know them. They might respond positively to an organic outreach with tailored questions and solicitations of how you can do better even in small ways. Never forget that the epic divide between brick-and-mortar, conventional retail and digital shopping is rooted in the human touch.