Your customers can help you to know how, when, and where to grow your business. Gathering customer feedback and listening to how your customers feel about your products, services, and brand can help you quickly identify what you are doing right and where you can improve.
When gathering customer feedback, you’ll want to make sure you get raw, unfiltered opinions.
Here are some ways you can encourage your customers to give you feedback:
Surveys
Whether a survey be given via email or phone, this can be a great way to get guided feedback from your customers. When determining survey questions, be aware of how you frame them. Make sure they aren’t loaded to sway feedback one way or the other. Questions should be open ended: vague enough so that the customer can freely give their honest thoughts, but specific enough that a customer can give feedback about a specific product/service/topic.
Social Platform Reviews
If you have a business page on Facebook or your business is listed on Google, your customers will be able to leave you reviews. Encourage your followers to review your business online. Try to address each review—good or bad—by responding professionally. When you engage with reviews online, it shows your current and potential customers that you are responsive and care about what they have to say. If a customer leaves a review that is vague or unclear, don’t be afraid to respectfully ask for more feedback or clarification.
Other Review Platforms (Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.)
There are many other platforms that allow customers to leave reviews about your business. Be aware of all the places customers are reviewing your business. Be as responsive as possible with these reviews to show your customers you really care.
Host an Event
If you have a new product or location making a debut, host an event where customers can get an exclusive sneak preview. You’ll be able to gauge initial thoughts on a small scale and course correct from there if needed.
Incentivized Feedback
With any feedback channel, you can incentivize customers to give reviews or take surveys by offering free products, gift cards, discounts, or services. This creates a goodwill gesture in the eyes of the customer and you’ll be able to get a larger quantity of feedback.
What to Do When You Receive Feedback
Now that you have customer feedback, what do you do next? Firstly, take a look at the overall sentiment towards your brand. Is it positive or negative? Remember to take negative reviews with a grain of salt. People are more likely to complain if they had a bad experience. Next, look for any trends. Do people really like a certain product? Do people rave about the quick response time when they have questions? Do people dislike that they have to wait 3 weeks for an item to be shipped? Take a piece of paper and make two columns—positive and negative. Categorize these trends. For the positive trends, keep it up and consider how you can expand on what you are doing well. For the negative trends, think of ways you can combat bad experiences in the future. You can also look for trends in things like age, gender, demographics, etc to better define your audience.
Customer feedback can dramatically improve your business. So, gather as much of it as you can!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How can I ensure that the feedback I get from surveys is honest and useful?
To get honest and useful feedback, make your survey questions open-ended and avoid leading questions. Frame questions in a neutral manner to allow customers to express their true opinions without bias.
2. What should I do if a customer leaves a vague or unclear review on social media?
Respond professionally and ask for more details or clarification in a respectful manner. This shows you care about their feedback and are committed to understanding their experience better.
3. How can I encourage customers to leave reviews on various platforms?
Encourage customers to leave reviews by reminding them through email, social media, or in-person interactions. Offering incentives like discounts or gift cards can also motivate customers to provide feedback.
4. What steps should I take after receiving customer feedback?
Analyze the overall sentiment and look for trends in the feedback. Categorize feedback into positive and negative trends, and use this information to enhance your strengths and address areas for improvement.
5. How can hosting an event help me gather valuable customer feedback?
Hosting an event allows you to present new products or services and get immediate reactions from attendees. This provides direct, actionable feedback on a smaller scale, which can guide improvements before a wider release.
