While perception is very subjective, it is everything. What do your customers really think of you? Is your company trusted? Do your clients believe in the value you provide, or are they eyeing competitors?
If you’re wondering about this, stay there because how customers feel and what they think shapes their perception. And yes customer perception may vary from user to user, each should be acted upon as it brings value that makes them continue their business with you.
From every marketing message to your last support ticket, you have an opportunity to create a positive customer perception. Customer perception is not fixed, it can be influenced by managing customer expectations at every stage of their customer journey.
Keep reading to understand what customer perception is, how customer opinions shape it, and how to turn it into a positive experience.
What is customer perception?
Customer perception is how customers view a brand, product, or service. It’s shaped by their opinions, beliefs, and emotions, and can differ from one person to another.
Managing customer perception helps in building brand reputation and a loyal customer base. It is formed during various customer interactions they have had while onboarding, solving queries, sharing feedback on product usage and marketing i.e. it can be direct and indirect.
Why is customer perception important?
Customer perception dictates your company’s sales cycles. Positive perception fosters customer loyalty, reduces churn, and fuels referrals. Word of mouth can enhance this effect, further attracting prospective customers. Negative perception?
It can drive away potential customers for upselling or cross-selling opportunities, or even someone who could become a key influencer for your target market. Understanding and shaping how customers perceive you is your growth lever, as it influences purchasing decisions.
Key impacts of customer perception
1. Retention drives business growth:
Retaining customers is far more profitable than acquiring new ones. A mere 5% increase in retention can boost profits by up to 95%.
2. Customer advocacy reduces CAC:
Referrals lower acquisition costs as satisfied customers naturally share their experiences, bringing high-converting leads at no cost.
3. Crisis resilience:
A strong company perception buffers against challenges like service issues or market fluctuations.
Even one frustrated customer can have an outsized impact. Losing their subscription may seem minor, but it’s often more than a single transaction. Customer dissatisfaction is three times more likely to be shared than positive feedback, affecting the perception of your brand.
Example: Strengthening perception through better onboarding
Consider a SaaS HR platform struggling with churn after the first year. They discovered the issue stemmed from customers feeling unsupported during onboarding. By assigning dedicated success managers and personalizing the process, they transformed consumer perception, improving retention and doubling referrals.
Customer perception isn’t static hence every customer feedback and interaction shape how your business is viewed. When you invest in building trust and consistency, you don’t just win customers—you turn them into advocates.
5 factors that influence customer perception
1. Marketing messaging
Your marketing defines how the product is perceived initially. Websites, social media, and webinars can shape expectations. Misaligned or inconsistent messaging creates confusion and damages trust.
Make sure your marketing aligns the proposition with your product’s capabilities. Align social media posts with customer needs by showcasing real benefits across all channels.
2. Customer reviews
A case study by TrustRadius shows that reviews are critical for enterprise executives: 59% use reviews to buy business tech and 41% of Gen Z and 29% of Millennials said “check online review site” was their first step in their buying journey.
Positive reviews build trust, but empathetic responses to negative reviews can shift how your brand is perceived. Monitor review platforms like G2 or TrustRadius to measure the public perception and quickly address feedback, demonstrating accountability.
3. Customer support quality
Support experiences shape customer satisfaction throughout the customer journey—great service shows value, while poor service raises doubts about your commitment.
Delivering exceptional support reflects that you care enough to improve customer experiences. Maintain support quality by making sure you:
- Offer self-service options: Empower customers with tools like FAQ pages, knowledge bases, and articles for quick, independent issue resolution. These solutions minimize customer frustration and reduce the burden on your support team.
For more inspiration and reference, you can also take DevRev’s intelligent knowledge base as an example. It is built using its AI-native platforms so customers and potential customers can find answers swiftly, improving support experiences.
- Adopt omnichannel support: Use a platform like DevRev to provide seamless service across multiple channels, such as email, chat, and social media. Focus on the channels your customers prefer, ensuring smooth transitions between them for a unified, stress-free experience.
DevRev’s omnichannel support enables support teams to meet the customers wherever they are. With DevRev, you get a chance to go ahead of the curve, offering customers a seamless experience across every touchpoint, transforming customer support from fragmented to fantastic.
- Accelerate response times: Implement tools like autoresponders and pre-built templates to handle repetitive queries efficiently. Faster responses mean happier customers and allow your team to focus on delivering empathetic, personalized support.
4. Company values
Customers resonate with businesses that reflect their beliefs. Public commitments to causes like sustainability or diversity boost brand image.
Strong company values clearly communicate your purpose, vision, and beliefs, creating a deeper connection with your audience.
Why does your business exist? What do you aim to achieve? Who are you, and what do you stand for?
Customers gravitate toward organizations that embody principles like transparency, inclusivity, and sustainability. But it’s not enough to state them—you need to live them. Companies that actively integrate their values into everyday actions build brand loyalty and credibility.
For eg: Airbnbs ”champion the mission" value serves a reminder to its employees to ‘create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. Their ‘We Accept’ campaign. Conveying Airbnb’s long-standing values of community-led and culturally diverse travel, the campaign combines simple photography — showcasing a diverse range of people — and soft music, encouraging viewers to reflect on the messaging.
5. Employee advocacy
Employees who believe in your company’s vision create positive customer experiences. Engaged teams are more likely to go the extra mile for users. Train employees to embody company values and align their goals with customer success, ensuring every touchpoint builds trust.
Employee engagement has a direct impact on customer behavior. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Research shows that a one-point increase in employee engagement leads to a 0.41-point rise in customer satisfaction. When employees feel appreciated, their positivity shines through in every customer interaction.
3 ways on how to measure customer perception
Customer opinions differ from user to user, this ambiguity should be narrowed down by taking in account customer feedback and consumer behavior using the below methods.
1. Sentiment analysis
Sentiment analysis provides an unfiltered view of public perception. Use DevRev’s seamless Sentiment Evaluator to identify common themes, track customer sentiment trends, and gather valuable customer insights automatically from conversations.Regularly monitor and analyze sentiments to spot recurring pain points or celebrate wins.
Another way to understand it might be through customer effort score (CES)
Customer Effort Score reveals how easily customers can resolve issues, with a lower score indicating a smoother, more frictionless experience.
Social media mentions, online review sites like G2, and forum discussions help measure customer perception by tracking emotional tone across channels.
2. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys
Customer satisfaction score provides a snapshot of customers’ immediate feelings, making it valuable for transactional insights. It’s a quick measure that asks customers to rate how pleased they are with a company’s product or service.
CSAT helps businesses see what they’re doing right and what they need to fix to satisfy their customers thus influencing their perception.
Customers appreciate a company that actively seeks to improve its services. Regularly measuring customer perception through CSAT surveys and translating it into actionable changes not only enriches your service but also helps improve customer perception.
DevRev lets you capture CSAT on conversations, ticket resolution and even sends a Slack notification whenever a negative CSAT score is received in a conversation for timely action on customer responses.
Follow up with questions like “What could we do better?”, “Why did you choose this score?”, or “Where did this interaction succeed or fail at meeting your expectations?” to understand the drivers behind consumer feedback in their own words.
3. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS evaluates customer loyalty by posing the question, “How likely are you to recommend us to someone you know?” Customers rate their likelihood on a scale of 0 to 10. NPS categorizes customers into Promoters (scores 9-10), Passives (scores 7-8), and Detractors (scores 0-6).
By calculating the difference between the percentage of Promoters and Detractors, NPS provides a clear measure of advocacy and customer perception.
Similar to CSAT, follow up with open-ended questions like “What’s the biggest reason for your score?” or “How can we improve?”. These responses help pinpoint areas where negative perceptions can be enhanced. Conduct NPS surveys biannually for consistent insights into shifting customer sentiments.
Businesses combine metrics like CSAT, CES, and NPS to gain a holistic view of customer perception. By analyzing satisfaction, effort, and loyalty, companies can find key insights into how consumers perceive their business and strategically use these metrics to strengthen relationships throughout the customer lifecycle.
How to improve customer perception
A positive customer perception is built through intentional actions that align with customer needs and expectations. It’s more than just features—it’s about the relationships you nurture.
1. Respond to feedback with action
Feedback is a goldmine for understanding customer needs, but its value lies in how you respond and how customers perceive your responsiveness.They notice when their input leads to real change. Ignoring customer feedback can harm trust, but acting on it strengthens your relationship and shows you care.
For instance, if customers highlight slow onboarding, respond by creating step-by-step tutorials or assigning customer success managers. Then, inform users about these improvements to close the feedback loop.
2. Understand your target audience
Trying to appeal to everyone can dilute your positioning and marketing narrative. Instead, focus on understanding your core audience’s pain points, aspirations, and values. Stay up to date with their specific needs to build trust and customer loyalty.
An analytics platform discovered their ideal audience valued intuitive dashboards over complex customizations. By shifting their messaging to highlight simplicity and ease of use, they resonated more with their target market and saw a 30% increase in engagement.
Pro Tip: Use customer interviews, behavioral analytics, and customer perception surveys to continually refine your understanding of your audience. Align your features and messaging with what matters most to them.
3. Empower employees to represent your company’s values
Every interaction with an employee influences how customers view the brand, with engaged employees consistently promoting a positive image.
Foster customer-centric behavior in your internal team. Offer training to ensure employees understand your brand values and mission. Incentivize service to boost repeat purchases, attract new customers, and improve satisfaction. Create a feedback channel where they can provide deeper insights on how to craft superior experiences.
4. Align your narrative with customer values
Customers don’t just buy a product or service—they buy into stories. A clear and authentic narrative resonates deeply, shaping perception and loyalty. Regularly audit your messaging to ensure it aligns with customer and brand values. Showcase success stories, values-driven actions, and transparent communication to deepen connections.
For example, a SaaS company specializing in data security emphasized their commitment to privacy rights by advocating for stronger industry regulations. Customers, particularly those in compliance-heavy industries, felt aligned with the company’s mission, leading to increased trust and referrals.
Understanding customers to influence customer perception
Companies thrive when everyone has a seat at the table with the end user (the customer). Every interaction, from your first marketing email to your last support ticket, shapes how customers see your company.
The future belongs to those who prioritize the customer in every stitch of their business. Customer service requires focused, consistent, and strategic efforts. While metrics are a way to direct your performance, it’s essential to couple them with a deep understanding of customer needs and adaptable strategies for sustained success .
Start today. Measure, act, and watch your customer perception drive lasting growth.
