CSAT scores are used to measure how good or bad customers’ perception is about the company and its product and services. In most of the case this perception is shaped not by the product alone but also by the employees who work at the company. These employees are the ones who have a direct customer interface – the sales team and the post -sales support and service team. These teams generally are the driving force at a company and this is why their interaction with the customer is very important. And in the same extension it is this interaction that can be improved using the CSAT scores. This article explains how this works.
Understanding how the Customer Thinks
Most customers buy a product based on the recommendations of their friends and relatives. Relatively few buy it after reading online reviews. This means that the best way to impress a customer is only after the product has been bought (during the service or customer support) or during the time the product is being bought. This is the time when the customer is in the best position to assess the company through his or her interaction with the company’s employee.
Asking about the Product
Asking about the product from the customer at this point of time is important since this will help the customer in assessing the company. Based on this assessment and to a great degree based on this assessment alone, the customer will give the product an overall satisfaction score.
Linking this Score to the Product Quality and Employee Performance
For an employee who is directly interacting with the customer one can directly ask questions about satisfaction from the customer service. This is where the customer can assign a score and it can be directly used to judge the employee performance. In the case of product, the CSAT score can be used to judge not only the quality of work of the sales and support team but also the product design people. A high CSAT score is always a good indicator of how and when the customer is taking the product.
Linking CSAT Score and Employee Appraisal
Employees can be set targets in terms of CSAT scores that they are able to achieve. In this methodology these employees can be set benchmarks that they have to meet in terms of customer service and product quality. This goal can be set in terms of quantitative numbers using the CSAT score. Some companies have also tried to use this as POS compliance measure. In fact one can also use this score to set benchmarks for product design.
Flaws in the Methodology
The only flaw in this methodology is that this number can always be fudged. Also a customer’s perception is highly subjective depending on how has the company treated him or her recently and based on that the customer’s feedback might not reflect the true worth of the product. Therefore it is always a good idea to take this CSAT score with a pinch of salt while evaluating employees.