Customers are the ultimate heroes of your business and if you fail to make them feel so, you might experience customer churn. A business can sustain itself only if it has customers; customers stay if they receive good services and experiences.
The solar service industry is getting more competitive with every passing day. To stand out from the competition you must improve customer satisfaction that further drives customer retention and referrals.
According to Zendesk research in 2022, 61% of customers would switch to a competitor after just one poor customer experience.
It now becomes more than necessary to deliver improved customer satisfaction. Here are a few tips to improve solar customer satisfaction for solar service businesses.
What is Customer Satisfaction in Solar Service Business?
Customer satisfaction refers to the overall happiness a customer feels when dealing with your company. Solar customer satisfaction is a measure of how well your solar company delivers service to its customers.
You can also define customer satisfaction as how well your solar customer experience matches your customer expectations. A high level of customer satisfaction indicates that the company is providing excellent customer service and that the company is able to meet the needs of its customers.
Why is the Solar Customer Experience Important?
Customer experience is important in solar service businesses for several reasons. First and foremost, a positive solar customer experience can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. When customers have a positive experience with a field service business, they are more likely to return for future service and to recommend the business to others.
Happy customers who feel valued and respected are more likely to become long-term clients. When people feel like they matter, they are more likely to recommend your products and services to friends and family. This can lead to increased revenue for the business and a strong reputation in the community.
In addition to the financial benefits, a positive solar customer experience can also improve the overall reputation of the solar service business. Satisfied customers who have a good experience with a field service business are more likely to leave positive reviews and ratings, which can attract new potential customers and improve the business’s online presence.
Finally, a positive customer experience can lead to improved customer retention. When customers have a good experience with a field service business, they are less likely to switch to a competitor, which can help the business build long-term relationships with its customers.
5 Tips To Improve Solar Customer Satisfaction for Solar Service Companies
Solar service companies often have to deal with complex technical issues, tentative schedules, and other factors that can impact the customer experience. Here are a few tips to help you improve solar customer satisfaction in your solar service business:
i) Provide Prompt Services
Customers need quick responses from businesses. Sometimes a delay in service can cost you losing your customer. Your customer service department must be available and easily reachable at all times of the day.
When a customer raises a complaint, make sure your solar service manager notes down all the details correctly so that the solar technician gets a better insight into the issue. Making all the notes in manual paper-based systems might lead to loss of information or it might get misplaced. Also, the technician must reach the office to collect the paper service ticket and the related information before beginning the job.
However, you can speed up things by using solar service CRM software where you can store an unlimited amount of data. Additionally, it organizes the data well in cloud-based servers such that your solar technicians can access data at any time from anywhere on their mobile devices.
Once you note down all the customer data, use solar scheduling software that quickly displays all the technicians’ schedules on the shared calendar. You can quickly view relevant technicians’ availability in the time period preferred by the customer.
You can simply select a technician from the list and assign him the job. Once you assign the job, the solar technician dispatch software automatically notifies the technician about the job assignment. Thus you can quickly schedule and dispatch a technician and also notify the customer about the technician assignment.
ii) Keep the Customers Informed
It’s important to keep your customers informed about the status of their service, whether it’s scheduling an appointment or providing updates on a repair. Make sure you have systems in place to communicate effectively with your customers, whether it’s through phone calls, text messages, or email.
Once a customer books a service appointment, they will not wait time indefinitely to receive a response from your end. They want to keep updated about when the technician will arrive and who will come because they would not prefer letting in a stranger.
Boost your customer experience by sending them a text with technician details so that they are aware of who will be coming. You can also confirm them with the ETA so that they can finish their other tasks and keep them available at the appointment time instead of waiting all day long expecting tech to arrive at any time.
You can inform the ETA only when you know where your technicians are and how long it will take for them to reach. It will waste your time if you keep calling the technician to know their location. And imagine if you have to manage more than two technicians at the same time, manually calling to know their updates is cumbersome.
Instead, use a GPS-based solar technician tracking software that keeps you updated about the technician’s I’ve location and you can, in turn, update the customer about the technician’s ETA.
iii) Provide High-Quality Service
It goes without saying that quality service is quintessential for a sustainable solar service business model. To provide quality service, make sure your technicians are trained and equipped to handle a wide range of technical issues and be willing to go the extra mile to ensure your customers get satisfied.
It’s not only enough to train your solar technicians, you must also equip them with the right tools and data for the job. Give your technicians access to sufficient job data and service history in advance so that they can plan the job accordingly. It will help them to fetch the required inventory and tools in advance before reaching the job location so that they can fix the issue on the first visit.
Improved first-time fix rates not only boost your solar business efficiency but also delivers excellent customer experiences and build a reputation for your business.
iv) Follow-up With the Customer
Once you complete a service, the customer will have feedback either positive, negative or neutral. You cannot run a business on mere assumptions, you need data. And what can be better data than your customer sharing their experience about your service?
After you’ve completed a service job, take the time to follow up with your customers to know how satisfied they are with the work. It can be as simple as sending an automated text thanking them for choosing your business along with a link to add their feedback.
Customer feedback can help you identify any areas where you can improve, and it shows your customers that you care about their experience. Positive feedback boosts your team’s morale, negative feedbacks give you a chance to improve and tweak your solar business strategy accordingly. All in all, never fail to collect customer feedback.
You can automate the process of feedback collection using Unoservice solar service software so that you do not miss out on any opportunity.
v) Solar Service Management Software Can Help You Improve Solar Customer Satisfaction
Managing too many open jobs, customers and solar field employees can be difficult. Trying to do everything manually can make you miss out on opportunities and hamper service quality, thereby lowering customer satisfaction.
Contrarily, if you automate your solar service business workflow, you can stay assured of timely delivery of services without wasting too much time or effort. You can use the saved time to improve your service and expand your business.
If you are running a small business or even a large solar service company, you might want to consider investing in a solar service management solution. These tools help you monitor your solar service jobs and solar service technicians.
Unoservice is one of the best solar service software that helps you with work order creation, solar service scheduling, solar technician dispatching, technician live location tracking, real-time job progress monitoring and business reporting. Unoservice solar FSM tool helps you make the most of your limited resources. And the best thing is you can try it for free to explore all its functionality.
Frequently Asked Questions about Improving Solar Customer Satisfaction
How to get more referrals for a solar service business?
Providing excellent customer service and quality installations will be key to getting more referrals for your solar service business. Make sure you are meeting or exceeding your customers’ expectations and providing them with an experience that will make satisfied customers want to recommend you to other potential customers.
How does solar service management software lead to higher customer satisfaction?
Solar service software can help project managers track the progress of service projects, assign tasks to solar service technicians and ensure that deadlines are met. This can lead to more efficient project execution, which can result in higher customer satisfaction.