How To Get Reliable Feedback From Customers

Many business owners insist they want customer feedback but they either don't actively ask for it or respond to it when it is given.

Customers are more than willing to provide their input (good & bad), but they need to know it is worth their while and will be
acknowledged. Create a system to solicit and follow up to customer feedback. Let your customers know you care, and they will not only tell you what they think, but also support you as you work to improve &change to meet their needs.

The BEST way is to appear a 3rd party conducts inquiry. People tend to be way more honest/forthcoming if they believe it’s anonymous. Equally important is the design of the questions. Just like anything, junk in = junk out. Asking the right questions is imperative. They should be well organized open ended questions in addition to the measurable (scale of 1-5, for example) or option (select from list given) answers. Open ended is beneficial feedback, but they're difficult to measure.

Ask for it with every interaction! Not annoyingly, but ask in a way
that engages them to provide candid, honest input.
And last, but not least~return the favor and make them look good!

Your customers are likely talking about you online. One disgruntled customer can sway your online reputation and the way your company appears on search engine results.

Proactively manage your online reputation and engage good customers to write online reviews on your website by offering discounts, use counter card instore reminders that you value customer service and reach out to authors of unflattering reviews. New good reviews will help counter bad ones and improve your online reputation.

It’s simple, but it takes commitment and frankly, courage. If you want reliable feedback-Ask. Restaurant owners, using the reservations book for contact information, could call customers the next day, thanking them for their patronage and asking "how did we do?" Ask specific questions-general questions sound sappy and sometimes insincere. Businesses accepting credit cards can track loyal customers who receive a personalized letter-most people love to share their opinions when they are asked.

Last month our company ran a promotion for feedback. We asked subscribers to send us their feedback on being a club member. Those that responded would receive a double order on their next shipment. Notice we did not ask for just positive feedback, but simply one's honest assessment of the club. We received a tremendous response.

To take the temperature of clients I recommend surveys. Give customers the ability to answer specific questions about your service. Start with targeted questions that rate service 1-5 then have open-ended questions with space for comments which let clients expand on their thoughts. Most importantly release your answers publicly so people see you take the input seriously. This will get more people to participate. Finally reward clients for their input as even a small gift can help boost response.

While a business does everything to build and nurture a symbiotic relationship with the customer, a direct contact at a company (account exec etc.) might sometimes experiences the feeling of inaccuracy or reluctance in the customer's feedback. One technique that I've seen help offset this in particular cases is to have someone else on the team gather feedback. This allows the customer to feel like they can be open about feedback without jeopardizing the relationship with the direct contact.

Think and act like the customer. In other words, most people (clients, market research companies, marketers, PR/Ad firms, etc.) who seek customer feedback pose questions based on THEIR prospective versus that of the target audience. If you are unsure as to how to do this, engage an outside professional firm to formulate the questionnaire. If you insist on doing this yourself, at the very least, do a limited test trial of the survey to measure its effectiveness. Remember, THINK LIKE THE CUSTOMER!

The most effective tool we’ve used to solicit customer feedback lately is KISSmetrics. Currently in beta, it’s a simple “plugin” that creates a pop-up question on your site at certain points for your visitors. We’ve asked questions like:

“Would you miss this site, if it was gone forever? Why?” “What’s one way
we can improve our service to you?”

I have yet to see something that keeps customer feedback this simple, less-intrusive or relevant.

Companies need to engage with their customers and be able to accept feedback through a medium the customer is comfortable with and already using, in order to receive consistent and reliable feedback. This could be email, phone, SMS, social media (such as Facebook) etc. Customers want to provide feedback when its convenient for them not for you. This method will help open a 2 way dialogue that is sure to provide insight to the company and value to the customer.

When we want to get really honest and detailed feedback from a customer, we offer them a 10% refund on their purchase to find out their opinions about our products and our customer service. This has always worked really well for us. Who doesn't want money back?!

Ask SPECIFIC questions of your customers.

What caused you to choose our service?

What results did you get from our services?

If you were to tell a friend about us what would you say?

I like to ask the customer these questions myself and record the answers, either as a written or audio testimonial.

Even with the best intentions people have a hard time getting around to it.

Stop worrying about the best way to gather, sort and rank customer data and just ASK them. Enough analysis paralysis. You can spend months coming up with a foolproof strategy or you can go quick and dirty. Leverage social media. Set up an easy online survey via Survey Monkey. Invite customers to an informal focus group and offer a discount code or, heck, even a drawing for a Starbucks card. Always offer an incentive for their valuable time and participation.

Soliciting feedback from customers is an exercise in value psychology, in that the inducement you provide must not only have sufficient value by itself; it must also be of a degree that will induce a customer to initiate feedback or comments.

I have offered discounts on future book purchases for book reviews posted to Amazon.com and have sent free mini-CDs (sample chapters of new books, discount vouchers, music samples) of my upcoming classical guitar CD in return for book reviews.

If you have a website or online service, set up live chat to communicate with your customers as they are participating in your online experience. You get immediate feedback and you can ask them interesting questions too. It's a great way to start a two-way conversation.