The fact that customer feedback is key has been established in all branches of doing business. One piece of the puzzle most professionals leave behind, however, is how to get quality feedback from customers.
So if you’re one of these professionals (retailers, businesspeople, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and “netrepreneurs”), this piece was crafted for you.
We’re here today to explain what quality customer/client feedback entails and consider 12 proven ways to get it, plus nuggets on how to use it. But first, what is customer feedback and why is it important?
Why quality customer feedback matters?
We can argue that by using various tools to analyze certain metrics and with the help of some tactics, business growth is nearly inevitable. While this is apparently true no matter your industry, the customers are all that matters in the last resort.
Since they use your products and/or services, it’s vital to know what their experiences are to constantly satisfy them.
So before you start generating leads and measuring conversion rates, satisfying your existing customers should be the first step.
Positive customer feedback fuels a good reputation while negative ones help your company improve.
Owing to this, quality customer feedback tells you which product/service you need to improve and help you build a strategy to achieve the improvements.
Now that we know the importance, ask this: “How do I get quality customer feedback?”
1) Use a feedback form on your website
Adding a simple feedback form to your website is the easiest way to get feedback from customers. But to take up a notch, you have to come with unique vibrant ideas to keep the form interactive and straightforward.
Also, there are many online feedback services that provide widgets, plugins, and templates. The design and functions are either subjective or based on your audience. But, always strive to keep your feedback form short, easy to answer, and interactive.
Do keep in mind that a form won’t give you profound feedback but a primary perception of your products/services. So, customer feedback forms are mostly useful in the early stage.
2) Social media is key
Social platforms (such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) offer the cheapest way to get candid customer feedback. Social media offers great insights into what real people think about your products/services.
And even though social customer feedback is often unstructured, it is a direct communication between a business and its customers. Social customer feedback consists of raw customer comments.
3) Measure customer satisfaction ratings
One way to get quality customer feedback is through customer satisfaction rating. This is usually measured on a five-point scale.It’s one of the quickest methods for customers to leave their thoughts. And if the ratings go up over time, your business is doing pretty well.
Customers who give you 5 points are likely to stay with your product/service. Chances are they’re recommending it to others.
4) Monitor your forums
The forum serves as a community for customers to not only discuss your products or services but also interact with one another. This interaction often encourages users to share useful info and solve each others’ issues.
If you can build a highly-engaged forum, a customer feedback will turn into a discussion. This may bring new ideas to either improve your products/services or expand your business.
Negative customer feedback tends to deliver actionable suggestions, which is one reason to monitor other forums and communities as well.
5) Get instant email feedback after purchases
With email feedback after each purchase, you can easily find out if your product/service is up to customers’ expectations. This gives you valuable insights and can even lead to a case study.
In the emails you receive, a customer may respond with an important feature missing in your product/service.
6) Reward feedback with prizes and gifts
Generally, genuine customer feedback is a bit difficult to accumulate. And even if you get some customer feedback, most won’t be as good as you thought.
That’s why rewarding feedback is a great way to gather multiple positive customer feedback.
To encourage customers to share their experience, you can suggest an indirect reward (so the whole process doesn’t seem like a bribe).
You can reward them with gifts, coupons, discounts, giveaways, prizes, contests, etc.
This also solves the issue of customers who forget to leave a feedback as the reward will encourage them to submit some quality customer feedback.
7) Show professionalism with negative feedback
We all know how detrimental negative feedback is to brand reputation. Nobody wants them but there is a lot to accomplish with negative feedback. You must own and hone them to your advantage.
Once a customer criticizes your product/service without ending the conversation, there is a chance to win them back. Simply surprise them by ensuring that the issue will be taken as a priority.
When you’ve created a solution, the customer will be impressed enough to submit a quality feedback.
Also, displaying only positive feedback makes your business look inauthentic. Be genuine and let your prospects and customers be aware of the whole view of your products/services.
8) Ask for feedback during live chats
Since customers want personalized support for their issues, many prefer to contact a live chat agent.
In other words, live chat sessions allow people to talk directly with one of the company’s representatives.
The first step is to ensure your representatives are equipped with enough training to successfully help customers.
Then the reps can ask them to share their experience with your product/service and the customer service.
9) Use online polls and surveys
Engaging customers to answer a particular question is an easy way to get quality feedback. Online customer satisfaction surveys and polls are a great way to demonstrate this.
They give you instant feedback with the help of a set of simple multiple-choice questions.
You can use polls on your blog, forum, and social page. Keep in mind that people are more likely to respond on social media.
There are also tools and extensions available to enhance the user experience.
10) Use comment boxes/feedback buttons on your website
Another proven way to get good feedback is to have comment boxes or feedback buttons at the end of your pages. This way, it’s very easy for customers to reach out to your support service if they’re having any serious issue.
11) Take usability tests
Usability testing is done with real users to check how easy it is to use your product or service. This provides a deep understanding of which feature is successful and which is not.
You can pick up the thought process of the customers and how they are going to use your offering.
Usability testing is more applicable to physical products than services and the tests are carried out before the product launches.
Hence, it minimizes the risk of failure and helps to improve end-user experience.
12) Ask for feedback from visitors who abandon their carts
Cart abandonment is a real issue in the online shopping scene. Do you know it tackles your customer satisfaction rate?
For those in this industry, it’s highly important to track your abandonment rate and obtain feedback from those who abandon their carts/baskets.
You should add a pop-up form to ask why they are abandoning their carts (and other feedback questions).
Is the checkout process too complex? Is the font unclear? Is the web design confusing? Did they face any difficulty while making the payment?
This is a surefire tactic to improve the shopping experience for your customers.
What to do with the feedback?
First, customer feedback serves as social proof. It’s a public measure of your business’ customer satisfaction. You can use them as testimonials on your website, landing pages, and social pages. This will definitely boost your brand reputation.
A positive customer feedback will also go a long way toward motivating your employees and/or team.
Do you know what pushes us to read reviews before buying anything? Social proof.
Similar to a 5-star review, a positive customer feedback increases your sales and customer base.
When it comes to negative customer feedback, simply respond to the criticism politely to show you are responsive and listen to customers’ pain points.
Also, customer feedback brainstorms for you. Sometimes customers’ opinions can open your eyes to new business opportunities.
You may find some customers using your product/service in ways you might not have considered. Such a valuable information can open an entirely new market for you.
Conclusion
From the above perspectives, we can be sure that customer feedback is a fundamental part of the business process.There are countless ways to use customer feedback, so it’s up to you to explore and use them to your benefit.
Do you know one or more exciting ways to get quality customer feedback? Please, share with us in the comment section below. Cheers!
