1 Define customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the degree to which your customers' expectations and needs are met by your service or product. It can be influenced by many factors, such as quality, reliability, usability, support, and communication. To measure customer satisfaction after a major incident, you need to define what it means for your specific context and goals. You can use different methods, such as surveys, feedback forms, interviews, or metrics, to collect and analyze customer satisfaction data.

2 Communicate proactively and transparently

One of the most important factors that affect customer satisfaction after a major incident is how you communicate with your customers. You need to inform them about the incident, its impact, its resolution, and its root cause. You also need to apologize for the inconvenience and show empathy for their frustration. You should communicate proactively and transparently, using multiple channels, such as email, social media, phone, or chat. You should also provide regular updates and follow-ups until the incident is fully resolved and closed.

3 Implement service recovery actions

Service recovery is the process of restoring customer satisfaction after a service failure. It can include actions such as offering compensation, discounts, vouchers, or free services, providing additional support or training, or making improvements or changes to prevent future incidents. Service recovery actions can help you retain and regain customer loyalty, trust, and satisfaction. You should implement service recovery actions that are appropriate and proportional to the severity and impact of the incident, and that are aligned with your customer satisfaction goals.

4 Conduct a post-incident review

A post-incident review is a meeting or a report that summarizes the details, causes, impacts, and learnings of a major incident. It can help you identify and address the gaps and weaknesses in your processes, systems, and teams that contributed to the incident. It can also help you document and share the best practices and recommendations that emerged from the incident response and recovery. A post-incident review can help you improve your service quality, reliability, and resilience, and ultimately, your customer satisfaction.

5 Monitor and track customer satisfaction trends

To measure and improve customer satisfaction after a major incident, you need to monitor and track its trends over time. You need to compare the customer satisfaction data before, during, and after the incident, and see how it changes across different segments, channels, or regions. You also need to correlate the customer satisfaction data with other relevant metrics, such as service level agreements, incident frequency, severity, and duration, or customer retention and churn rates. By monitoring and tracking customer satisfaction trends, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your actions and strategies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize them.

6 Engage and involve your customers

One of the best ways to measure and improve customer satisfaction after a major incident is to engage and involve your customers in the process. You can ask them for their feedback, suggestions, or testimonials, and show them that you value their opinions and insights. You can also invite them to participate in your post-incident review, service improvement plan, or customer advisory board, and give them a voice and a stake in your service delivery and development. By engaging and involving your customers, you can build a stronger relationship with them, and increase their satisfaction and loyalty.