Do you know what your customers really think about your brand? Many studies show that in order to succeed business wise, you need to focus on your customer satisfaction. Customers can make or break your business, so you need to be sure that each and every customer is getting the best experience possible. These are just a few of the methods you can implement to get a better valuation of your current customer experience.

Mimic the customer experience
If possible, you should attempt to mimic the customer experience as often as you can. Head into your business and act as a customer. Think like a customer and evaluate the aspects that you enjoy and the ones that could be improved. Find ways to improve upon this experience. Compare your customer experience to your competitors. What do they do well that you could improve on? What are you doing better than they are and how can you ensure you stay ahead? This is an underused technique for measuring customer experience.

Hire a secret shopper
Secret shopping companies are in business to give you additional information about your business. Secret shopping companies employ trained shoppers that will act as a customer in your business. You can even list exact factors of the customer experience that you want them to pay attention to. Do you value friendliness? Have them rate the staff?s friendliness. Do you value efficiency? Ask them to assign a rating to efficiency. Approximately 64% of people cite shared values as the main reason they have a relationship with a brand. Decide what your values are and then hire a secret shopping company to test those values.

Pay attention to customer satisfaction surveys
Many programs allow you to print off customer satisfaction surveys for customers, usually on the back of their receipt. Sometimes, the business will offer free or discounted incentives to get customers to respond. Offering something of value can be a great way to get more responses to customer satisfaction survey questions. You can learn a lot about your business this way and research has shown that it is six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. Use these surveys to improve the overall customer experience and avoid customers leaving your brand.

Utilize social media to your advantage
As of January 2014, 74% of online adults use social media sites. Due to the convenience of social media, more customers are usually willing to leave reviews on the business. You can learn a lot about what your customers think of your business on these sites. You can also use these sites to resolve customer complaints and keep their business. Many businesses use social media to communicate with customers and to solve their experience problems.

Listen to your employees
There are two important reasons to pay attention to employee insights. Firstly, your employees are right in the middle of your business. They communicate with customers on a daily basis and can usually give helpful insight into needed improvements. Secondly, the employees are the face of your business. If they are not satisfied with their position or the business, it is likely to show in the customer experience. Valuing employees and also solving their problems can go a long way in building customer trust and value.

There are too many businesses that ignore customer?s feedback. Your customers are the most important part of your business success. There are many ways to get customer feedback in today?s technological world. Find where your customers are at and pay attention to their feedback. Make improvements as needed and you are sure to increase your customer loyalty and value.