Everything Starts with the Customer
Founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room.” Today, the customer is more powerful than before. They've got multiple channels with which to spread the good or bad gospel of your brand.
The reviews that abound on companies’ social media platforms, email boxes, and even phone lines are known as customer feedback. While the customer can share their experience using your product or service,
businesses often embark on feedback-gathering campaigns. Often, after purchasing a product, a customer meets a page soliciting their thoughts on the service. Rideshare apps like Uber and Bolt are apt examples of businesses deeply invested in the business of customer feedback. Knowing what a client thinks of your services gives you an idea of the features to improve, leave as it is, or discontinue. Findings from Qualtrics XM Institute’s study show that 94% of consumers with good experience from a company are certain to patronize them once more.
No longer a bystander in the business process, the customer has undergone a vast transformation.
With this article, we'll examine how customer feedback works, and the various ways by which firms can collect them.
What is Customer Feedback?
Whether positive or negative, customer feedback is an ingredient for business success. When companies know a customer’s pain point, they can map out actionable strategies to alleviate the situation. Harvard Business Review reports that 80% of companies utilize customer satisfaction scores to understand customer experience and do better.
Customer feedback refers to the data, complaints, praise, and suggestions received from your customer base. After using or buying your service, their ordeal with the service is customer feedback. With feedback, businesses can improve the areas deserving an upgrade.
It helps marketing teams to know their campaign’s performance in the community. Feedback can manifest in random polls and surveys organized by the brand or customers can share their thoughts about the product using a section on the product. Mobile apps often have review sections where customers can air their honest opinions.
Three Advantages of Customer Feedback to Businesses
When your brand has a habit of delivering bad experiences, the damage is limitless. We draw one important insight from a report by Glance on the cost of bad customer experience. Legner's report shows that twelve good experiences are required to repair the damage caused by one bad experience.
Below are three good reasons for collecting customer feedback.
1. Enhances Service Delivery
How do you know if a part of the entire service needs improvement? Customer feedback, certainly. Hearing from the customer about a product gives you a place to work on. Before launching a product, businesses often conduct market research to determine the best age group likely to be patrons.
Even after releasing the product, the customer’s opinion remains golden. If there are flaws, feedback will tell you this. Even if a product seems to be doing well on the market, it never hurts to discover the customers’ thoughts on the product. You may learn something new and relevant to your cause.
2. Builds Customer Loyalty
Having customers is good, but having an army of loyal customers is a great way to assert your brand's dominance. Customers are humans with real-time emotions and will be glad to hear that you need their thoughts.
Whether they enjoyed or disliked using your product, getting their feedback makes them feel special. Customers will always flock to a company that values its shoppers’ opinions.
3. Helps You Design a Memorable Experience
Another insight from Glance’s research shows that 78% of customers will leave a brand because of a bad customer experience. Customer feedback helps to prevent churn and instead strengthens your bond with the community.
How to Gather Customer Feedback: Four Best Practices
Firms have different customer feedback strategies depending on their needs. Before collecting feedback, ensure that you have plans to work with the data to improve your service delivery. Certain customers abhor feedback campaigns because they feel companies do nothing with the information.
Below are four best practices for gathering customer feedback.
1. Feedback Survey
Perhaps the commonest means of getting customers to speak about a product. For feedback surveys, the temptation to ask long-form questions is high. However, include questions relevant to your product, especially in the area of improvement.
Let your questions be polite, never harsh. Feedback surveys are typically hosted on your website or mobile apps.
2. Beta Testing Programs
On Google Play Store, it's usual to find applications having a beta testing program. This involves inviting a certain number of customers to use a product in development and share their stories about it.
With these thoughts, your design team knows what areas need enhancement. To get the most out of this strategy, we advise that you plan.
3. Direct Customer Surveys
Instead of waiting till a client uses your product and comments, you can reach out first. Yes, it's possible. You can send agents to the customer’s residence to get insights into your products and services. Nowadays, video conference calls work too. Ensure that you confirm the customer's availability before placing them on a call.
4. Social Media Channels
With social media comes an even bigger chance to connect with potential and existing customers. While customers can use your page’s comment section or direct message feature, you can host polls too. Instagram allows brands to organize polls targeted at a product modification.
Never Underestimate the Power of Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is a valuable tool for growing your customer base and lessening the risk of churn. Microsoft’s Global State of Customer Service reveals that 90% of Americans employ customer service as a deciding factor for patronizing or not patronizing business. Now's the time to conserve, not jeopardize, customer loyalty.
At CXStash, we've got a pool of amazing feedback tools that can benefit you greatly. Give us a visit today.
