Customer Perception: What It Is, Why It's Important, and How to Improve It

Thanks in large part to the internet, we've reached a turning point in human history.

The constant connectivity. The steadfast march of technology. The "know everything" environment. It's all changing the way you, me, and your customers perceive a company or brand. In some cases, our perception is influenced by word of mouth — recommendations from friends, online reviews, tweets, and Facebook rants. In other cases, it's our own experiences — both online and off — that shape the way we think about a brand.

If you're in a customer success role, you have a say in the conversation surrounding your product or service. You can shift these discussions and assessments to work for you, not against you. Because at the end of the day, positive customer perception — while highly subjective — is largely influenced by the quality of service you deliver.

Measuring customer perception requires you to gather a variety of qualitative and quantitative customer data. You'll need to look at resources like product usage reports, NPS® surveys, and customer interviews to get an accurate view of customer perception. If you don't have this data, consider adopting customer feedback tools to help you collect this information from your customer base.

Why Customer Perception Matters

According to a recent survey, 1 in 3 customers will leave a brand they love after just one bad experience. In other words, we're not far from a world where your customers' perception of both your brand and quality of service could take precedence over traditional competitive advantages like pricing, features, or usability.

And if you're not currently investing in your customer experience and perception, you're at risk of falling behind. Many businesses are already taking stock of their support and services efforts, with 50% of customer-care leaders rating “investing in new technologies” as one of their top priorities over the next five years, according to McKinsey.

Now that we know why customer perception matters, let’s dive into different ways you can improve and uphold it in your business.

1. Look inward.

Are you putting process over people?

One of the biggest obstacles businesses often have to overcome is their processed approach to customer success. While it's valuable to have direction, too much process and protocol can get in the way of real, human interactions.

To ensure your business isn't getting in its own way, take the time to evaluate your existing approach. Ask yourself:

• Are you being proactive or reactive in your communications with customers?
• Are you getting to them before a problem arises, or scrambling to collect all the necessary information you need as the problem escalates?

2. Strike an emotional chord with your customers.

"Our research across hundreds of brands in dozens of categories shows that the most effective way to maximize customer value is to move beyond mere customer satisfaction and connect with customers at an emotional level — tapping into their fundamental motivations and fulfilling their deep, often unspoken emotional needs," explains Alan Zorfas and Daniel Leemon.

Think about it: Actions and words carry a lot of weight with customers. To build strong bonds and promote a positive experience, you must actively demonstrate a long-term interest and commitment to the relationship through every touchpoint.

This task requires you to dig beyond the surface and actively listen to a customer's needs and goals, while also tuning in to the details they’re leaving out.

This attention to detail can be easily achieved if you apply sound and communication expert, Julian Treasure's, simple listening acronym, RASA:

• Receive
• Appreciate
• Summarize
• Ask

This "process of extraction" forces you to listen with intent, while also granting the customer permission to speak openly and freely about their concerns, issues, or complaints. The more they reveal, the more opportunity you have to tap into their motivations and intentions to effectively guide them towards the desired outcome in a human and empathic way.

3. Lean on positive language.

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a leading researcher on the study of positivity, suggests that positive emotions have the power to open us. In other words, these feelings allow us to see more — they change our perspective and our understanding of possibilities.

Trouble is, people are often hesitant to introduce these types of positive emotions in the business world, operating under the notion that it's not appropriate or should be minimized. However, according to research from the Advances in Developmental and Educational Psychology journal, suppressing the interpersonal emotions of employees for customers could lead to a decline in customer satisfaction.

“People providing services in the capacity of their work with daily interactions with customers sometimes develop feelings for them. The expectation from these employees to suppress natural emotions, positive and negative alike, is a mistake," Yagil explains.

"The expression of natural positive emotions is well received by the other party and is likely to contribute to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty."

4. Commit to consistency.

When evaluating consistency, it's important to take a step back and consider its role in your customer onboarding process.

To tee up a positive customer perception, you'll want to ensure that the hand-off from sales to support or customer success is fluid and reflects how you want folks to view your brand.

To achieve this type of harmonious experience, it's helpful to establish core operating values — like respect, integrity, and customer focus — to serve as a framework for all of your brand interactions.

For example, Zappos — an online shoe and clothing shop that has set the standard for customer experience and service — asks that its employees live by the following 10 values:

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In doing so, there are no questions around how to act, what to think, or how to approach a customer problem. You just do it. And if the operating values are enforced consistently, customers will begin to expect that level of quality over and over again.

Of course, there is — and should be — flexibility around how you adopt and apply these values. This will help you avoid communications coming off as canned or impersonal during more specific customer interactions.

5. Fill skill gaps before they become evident.

Modern customer success or customer service professionals know how to treat customers like humans — not just ticket numbers. They know when to be proactive, when to ask clarifying questions, and what to do when they don't have the answer right away. These are all skills that are needed for a positive customer perception.

But this skillful approach to service and customer relationship building doesn't come without proper training and a commitment to continuous learning. And as the industry standard continues to shift to meet the demands of the empowered, informed customer, folks in customer-facing roles need to keep pace.

To maximize your competitive advantage, it's important that both you as an individual — as well as your larger organization — are aware of the skills and service areas that need improvement, and are also willing to invest in software and training to help bridge the skills gap.

6. Break down data silos.

A data silo is information that's only accessible by one team or department. If anyone else wants to see that data, they need to communicate with the team that owns it. This not only slows down internal processes, but also creates negative interactions with customers. Customers want transparency and will get easily frustrated if they think you're withholding information.

For example, airlines are often criticized for poor customer service. That's because airport security makes it difficult for employees to share information. When flights get delayed or canceled, gate attendants aren't allowed to reveal specific details about the problem. While this data silo keeps passengers safe, customers are less understanding when their needs aren't being met.

Unless you're an airline, your business probably won't be restricted by intense security protocol. While you may have some sensitive data, most information should be easily accessible and readily available when it's relevant to customer needs.

This is where data management plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience. The right data management software leads to more personalized interactions and improved customer perception.

7. Collect customer feedback.

You can't improve customer perception without knowing what your customers already think about your company. After all, you don't want to stop doing something that they really like or keep doing something that they really hate. By collecting customer feedback, you'll know exactly how they feel about each aspect of your business.

Customer feedback can be obtained in a few different ways. The most popular way is using surveys or questionnaires to quickly poll customers. You can also conduct interviews and hold focus groups for more in-depth conversations. Regardless of what you find, customers will appreciate your efforts to consider their suggestions.

Additionally, one of the biggest challenges businesses face is getting participants to submit feedback. Unless the customer has a strong opinion of your brand, they may not be interested in taking a survey. This leaves your feedback only consisting of either highly positive or highly negative reviews. Consider offering an incentive for submitting customer feedback and you should get a more accurate feel for customer perception.

8. Follow up with customers after every interaction.

Following up with your customers may seem trivial, however, it's a small investment that rewards a major payout. In a 2021 survey, 97% of companies did not send a follow-up email to customers to see if they are satisfied with the response — that’s a lot of lost opportunity. Motivating customers to return to your business strengthens your relationship with them and increases customer loyalty.

Follow-up messages present the opportunity to enhance the customer's experience or prevent potential churn. For example, after a positive interaction, you can use a follow-up call to upsell and cross-sell. Since the customer just had a good experience, they'll be more likely to upgrade or buy another product.

On the flip side, if your customer's experience was negative you can use your follow-up to collect customer feedback. Ask them why their experience was poor and assure them that your business is still the best option for achieving their goals. PWC found that 32% of people, after one negative experience, would stop doing business with a brand or company they previously loved. That means your company could save three out of every 10 unhappy customers simply by sending an email or making a phone call.

Creating Positive Customer Perception

The bar for customer expectations is rising. They want to eliminate the complexity involved in solving their problem and they want you to know when it's appropriate to balance automation vs. human outreach.

If you fail to acknowledge this shift, you can expect your brand perception to take a hit. But if you get the wheels turning back in the right direction, placing an emphasis on the importance of that perceived experience with your brand, well, we think you'll enjoy the outcome.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.