In yesterday’s blog, we took a look at an Om2Marketing.com article that described the act of pleasing customers as an art. Naturally, this art requires a number of factors but also provides a number of benefits when pulled off correctly. The article also noted that there are three levels of customer satisfaction. We’d like to visit that concept in today’s blog.

The first level of satisfaction deals solely with the product that a customer is looking to buy. If he or she is satisfied with a purchase, that experience only conquers one level of the customer-pleasing art. This is because the purchase provides little opportunity for the business to provided added value.

The second level of satisfaction is when an opportunity arises for a business to add advice, information or services that serve as add-ons to the product being purchased. This helps for the customer experience to be a deeper one. Instead of simply being satisfied with the brand being bought, the customer can now attach an emotional value to the visit of the store.

The third level of satisfaction deals with the customer’s feelings towards the service he or she receives. This is when a person is able to attribute his or her affiliation with a store to the experience had during a visit. When customers enjoy doing business with you specifically, you have helped them to reach a true sense of customer pleasure.

On Om2Marketing.com, it is explained that to reach the third level of customer satisfaction, one must consider a number of factors, yet again. The first is tangibles which include the appearance of your store, equipment and personnel. The second is reliability which refers to how dependable and accurate your staff members are shown to be.

Responsiveness is another key factor. Are you and your staff willing to help customers promptly? Assurance is also important. This demonstrates how knowledgeable your staff is. Empathy is an important factor as well. When your staff shows a caring attitude towards your customers, it connotes that you are willing to give individual attention to each person who enters your store.

Mastering the art of customer-pleasing means implementing each of these factors in your approach to those who visit your place of business. As the site writes, “Your true aim should be not just to create positive satisfaction but rather a very high level of satisfaction (‘delight’) because this level has a disproportionately favourable effect on what customers think of you and leads them to keep buying from you.”