Why partner with an MSP who values customer feedback?
Customer feedback is an often under-rated and underutilised metric. When your services are failing, and your customer communication network is glitching that niggling need for support begins. As your business frustration is mounting you know you need a managed service provider who understands your needs. Knowing if they can meet those needs, that’s a different question. One you might find the answer to in their customer feedback scores.
Customer service expectations come from experiences encountered as both a consumer and a business owner. They form the baseline of what you consider good customer service. When partnering with a managed service provider, you need to be sure that they can deliver good customer service, especially in a crisis.
If you operate a customer service-based business with a reputation for excellence, you want to partner with an MSP offering the same standard of service. Imagine your frustration if you found your MSP offered lacklustre and sub-par customer service? With slow response times and issues rumbling on, unfixed, affecting your business. That’s why you need to partner with an MSP who values customer feedback.
Customer feedback
Customer feedback is at the backbone of your business. Understanding your consumer’s behaviour is crucial to ensuring your products and services meet customer needs to create business growth. For MSPs this is no different.
Measuring feedback from your customers is something that most businesses do and there are many different ways to obtain and measure feedback. It is a crucial metric to measure. Salesforce research shows that 88% of customers say customer experience is as important as the product or service being sold.
For most businesses, customer satisfaction is often measured using survey-based measures following customer interactions. A CSAT (customer service) score is generated from a survey response and businesses are provided with metrics to let them know how the interaction went from the customer’s perspective. Over 200 MSPs in the UK use Smileback to accumulate this data.
Smileback
An industry specific tool MSPs use to gain customer feedback, Smileback provides accurate and detailed dynamic data which can be tracked across numerous timescales. Microsoft defines Smileback as “the only feedback system specifically designed for MSPs and focused exclusively on customer satisfaction.”
For the service desk in an MSP, who provide frontline responses to customer queries, this tool is a game changer. After each interaction a survey is sent out and feedback is gathered from the customer using a one-click method. Simply choose the emoticon that best fits your experience. The option to leave a comment is also available and this information is the sent back to the MSP.
By providing real-time accurate responses MSPs who choose to implement this kind of service have data that can be used to develop tailored customer service which is dynamic to meet changing needs. More significantly though, it helps customers to raise issues with customer service and hopefully get timely feedback. If an MSP is using this data one poor service desk experience will most likely only be a one off, as the MSP should use your feedback to improve their service.
Customer feedback data that goes further
Smileback data is not only about one interaction; it charts all of your interactions across an entire service desk team. Statistics are available to show how well your team is performing across any time period you choose, so achievement is measurable. Building on that it also shows you how well your MSP compares to other MSPs using the service. This is a great performance indicator which acts as customer service motivation. A top 10% across the sector is generated from real-time data which gives MSPs a live and comparable standard of excellence to strive for.
Smileback data allows MSPs to see how their service is being received by their consumers. This data should not simply be used for the purposes of showing. Quality MSPs will take this data and use it to learn from, creating actionable customer service-based goals. The best MSPs will take their data orientated goals and turn it into actionable outcomes, demonstrating that they are continually striving for the best possible customer interactions.
Actionable outcomes
Data alone is nice for a company to have. Many companies will publish their data not really understanding what they are publishing. Picking and choosing stats to shout about, you might notice that statements from these companies are followed by empty words with no actions. When you are looking for an MSP, this isn’t what you want.
Look for an MSP who understands their feedback statistics and builds on them. An MSP who sees lessons in their data and uses it, is the MSP you want to partner with. Building their team up with new skills and rewarding them for their customer service success shows the value an MSP places in delivering the best possible customer service experiences.
Smileback data
This is a bespoke infographic provided by Smileback to show the industry standards an MSP should be hitting for CSAT and NPS (Net Promoter Score) according to July’s data.
CSAT data analysis
The average MSP will have a Smileback score of 96.9 or above. As a consumer you can ask your MSP if they evaluate their feedback. You can also ask for their results as part of a report before you sign with them. An MSP with a score of 96.9 or higher is an MSP who values customer feedback. If your MSP is in the top 10% of MSPs for customer service their CSAT score will be 100.
Spotlight on Cirrus
Cirrus use Smileback to provide CSAT (customer satisfaction) data. This data is just one of the metrics the service desk, and whole team, have constant access to. At the heart of the operation is a bespoke system, built in-house, to display accurate client metrics. In the top right-hand corner of this system is the CSAT score, which is calculated using Smileback.
Smileback is tracked over a 90-day period and the score fluctuates each day. Our score for the 90 days between May 2024 and July 2024 is 98.7. In the 90 days between 4 April 2024 and 3 July 2024 the industry standard for positive feedback was 96.9. Cirrus is delighted that live customer feedback scores show consistent performance above the industry average during this quarter.
Our data shows that we have a 17.9% higher than industry average customer response rate to our surveys, showing us that our customers want to tell us about their customer service experiences. The responses are all positive with no negative feedback about customer service.
Use customer feedback to help you choose your MSP
As a customer, you may wonder what the relevance of this data is. When you look for an MSP to partner your service provision with, see how honest they are about their stats. A good MSP will see stats as a regular part of their business day and will be incorporating them into regular staff training and feedback. They will be actively using the data to positively enhance customer experiences.
Negative data is also not something that should put you off, if it is anomalous. One or two bad reviews provide interesting points to ask about when choosing your provider. MSPs who understand customer service will pivot with bad feedback and look to find solutions and learn lessons. The benefit of using a live system like Smileback means that feedback can be translated into lessons and responses in a very short time frame.
Don’t be afraid to ask when choosing your MSP provider how they would handle a problem. Oftentimes you learn more about customer service in a bad service situation than a good one. See how they respond. Ask yourself how authentic they are being and whether they embrace the possibility of a negative customer experience. They happen to the best business. This will give you a valuable insight into how they will treat you as a customer.
Conclusion
The importance of customer service cannot be overstated. Partnering with an MSP who meets your expectations of what good customer service is crucial for a happy working relationship. An MSP who understands the importance of customer service will be able to help your business grow and your will have confidence in the services they provide.
