All businesses want happy customers who continue to do business, provide referrals, and have few complaints. However, many companies do not know if their customers are truly satisfied. To determine if customers are happy, businesses should consider if customers continue business, provide referrals, have few complaints, feel important, are willing to provide feedback, and trust the business to meet their needs and follow through on issues. Happy customers help increase a business's bottom line through return visits and referrals.

1. All businesses want happy customers. However, many companies do not know how to
recognize whether their customers are really satisfied or simply going through the motions
until a better deal comes along. To help you gauge whether you are adequately meeting your
customers' needs, consider these ten characteristics of happy customers.
Continuing Business - Happy customers will keep coming back to your
business time and time again. They will ask for other products and service you
offer. You will become their go-to place for meeting all their needs in your
particular industry.
Few Complaints - Happy customers rarely have complaints, and when they
do, they present them in a calm, positive way. If you have customers
frequently venting frustrations about your service or policies, you need to go
the extra mile by providing flexibility customized to your customer's specific
needs.
Referrals - Word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools
available, and happy customers will spread word of mouth like wildfire. If you
are frequently seeing new customers that have been told about your business
by current customers, you are nurturing a happy customer base.
Questions - Happy customers will bring their questions and problems to you
because they are confident that you can effectively answer them.
Feeling of Importance - Happy customers believe they are a significant part
of your company. You can nurture this feeling of importance by calling
customers by name when they come in and taking the time to learn about them
as you are developing a professional relationship.
Willingness to Provide Feedback - Are your current customers willing to
complete surveys and provide feedback about your products or services?
Happy customers feel comfortable enough with your staff to talk freely about
the products and service they receive from your company.
Trust in Your Input - When you suggest a new product or service to a
current customer, how do they respond? Do they listen to your pitch, or do
they immediately turn off? Happy customers trust the people they do business
with enough to know that cross-sales efforts are done with their best interests
in mind.
Trust in Your Follow-up - Happy customers know that when an issue arises,
your business will see the issue through to resolution. Remember that just one
dropped ball in the process will frustrate your customer and diminish that
trust. When your customer has an issue, own the problem and see it through to
the end - without exceptions.
Trust that Their Needs will be Met - Truly satisfied customers know that a
business is going the extra mile to satisfy their needs. They trust that policies

2. and procedures can usually be modified to their unique situations when
necessary.
Increases Your Bottom Line - Happy customers help a business grow. If
you see your bottom line increasing with return customers and customer
referrals feeding those numbers, you know you are doing something right.
Happy customers build businesses and these characteristics will tell you if you are on the
right track. If not, it is time to strengthen your customer service to ensure everyone who
walks through your doors walks out a happy customer.