There's a major perception gap between companies and customers. In an Insightly study, 73% of business decision makers said they were very aware of how happy their customers are, and 98% claimed at least some awareness. But only 21% of consumers felt companies were very aware of their happiness, and 14% felt companies were completely oblivious. The fix: tell customers what you've heard and what you're changing.

Earlier this week I posted about a study commissioned by the CRM platform Insightly, which showed the lengths that consumers and business decision makers would go to in order to avoid stressful customer service interactions.

Companies Think They Understand Customers. Customers Disagree.

While the consumers and business decision makers in this study were clearly aligned on their feelings about the issue resolution process, they didn't see eye to eye on another key issue: companies' awareness of customers' experiences.

Seventy-three percent of the business decision makers in this study reported being "very aware" of customer's happiness levels with their company — and nearly every single respondent (98%) said they were either "very" or "somewhat" aware of how their customers were feeling. In contrast, only 21% of U.S. adults said they felt that companies are "very aware" of their level of happiness with them, and 14% feel that companies are completely unaware or oblivious.

How To Close the Perception Gap

My advice: I don't see nearly enough organizations letting their customers know what they've heard and what they're doing about it. So, as you implement customer experience improvements, let your customers know by setting up a regular cadence of communication across multiple channels.

Just be sure to tout your efforts after you've got solutions in place to avoid making empty promises that you don't end up keeping.