For every entrepreneur, his business is like a baby to him. He will do everything in his capacity to make sure that his business grows and blooms in the field of success.
The primary objective of every business, irrespective of its size and nature is to earn profits. If the business doesn’t earn a profit, then what’s the point of running it? An entrepreneur pours his energy, resources, and time into the business to keep the most important people of the business happy; the customers.
If the customers are kept happy then they will stay as your customers. Failure to please your customers will make them shift towards your competitors.
There is no wonder that every business tries their best to keep the customers happy and cater to their needs…
But…
How will you know if your customers are happy with your services or not? If you stay oblivious to what your customers feel about your business, or what complaints they have, then there is no way you can address their problems, or give them the best customer experience.
The feedback from customers is no less than an asset for the businesses that wish to improve and retain the customers. There are numerous ways by which you can leverage the feedback of consumers and improve upon it.
In this article
8 Reasons Why Collecting Customer Feedback Is Important
Don’t worry if you do not know the ways to collect the feedback or how to encourage the consumers to provide you their valuable feedback. We’ve got it all covered for you. But before that, let’s have a look at the following reasons that highlight why customer feedback is important for a business.
1. Helps Improve Products And Services
No business would launch their product randomly in the market. It will take ample time to study the needs of their potential customers, design the appropriate product, and market it through different channels, etc. before selling it to their customers.
Even after going through so many stages before the product launch, no business can be assured of the fact its product will be a massive success.
The success or failure of the product will be ultimately decided by its consumers because they will be the ones using the product or service. They will be in a better position to highlight the flaws of the product and what areas need working to improve the quality of your product or services.
If a business fails to acknowledge the feedback provided by the customers, then it will no longer survive in the market. Consumers do not like to spend their money on a product or a service that fails to meet their expectations or fulfills their needs.
A consumer’s feedback will benefit your business to improve the quality of our products or services and let it reign in the market for a long time.
2. Serves As A Yardstick To Measure Consumer Satisfaction
The feedback from customers will tell you how your consumers feel about your business. Customer satisfaction is mandatory if you want your business to scale and continue to survive in the competitive market.
If your customers do not share how they feel about your brand or products, then except for telepathy, there is no other way to know about their feelings.
Invite your customers to share their valuable reviews about your products so that you can work on the areas that need improvement. You do not have to arrange a conference to ask all your customers how they feel about your brand. A simple conversation with them will be more than enough to give you an insight into their views regarding your products.
The perfect example to quote in this regard would be a restaurant. The customers are asked by the waiters or the chefs about the taste, quality, and quantity of the food. If there is something wrong with the taste of the dish, then the restaurant can work to make it better for its customers.
3. Makes The Customers Feel Valuable
The trend of conducting business and implementing marketing strategies has changed over the period. Customers do not like the brands that are over-promotional and care only about the credit card numbers of the customers.
These days, consumers prefer brands that care about them and their opinions. If a brand cares about its customers more than considering them as a source to fill up their accounts, then customers reward such a business with their loyalty.
A simple request to customers to share their feedback if they are content with a product or service makes them feel involved and valuable. They will love to stay as your customers if their complaints are solved or the suggestions provided by them are implemented by a business.
4. Provides A Better Customer Service
Every entrepreneur strives to provide excellent customer service and receive no complaints from their side. Unfortunately, there are some times when minor mistakes and unforeseeable circumstances make the customers sad, or sometimes even furious. For instance, when the customer receives a wrong order, or deliveries get late, etc.
By providing the customers proper avenues to discuss their problems a business will be in a better position to understand their problems and what possible solution can be offered to them.
Do not get upset if your customers complain about something. As a customer, it’s their right to express their views or concerns regarding a product. A business should feel low only if it is unable to solve the problems of its customers.
The quicker you respond to your customer’s problems, the more you earn their loyalty.
According to research, 70 customers out of 100 will stay with a business if it resolves their issues. Also, if the complaints are instantly resolved then the numbers are increased to 95.
Try to be active to handle the complaints and queries of your customers as soon as you receive them. It will allow you to provide the best experience to your valuable customers.
5. Helps Retain Customers
Customers prefer brands that care about them and are willing to address their problems. If your customers share the problems that they have with your product or service, then you can take prompt action to solve them and earn their loyalty.
When the problems of the customers are quickly looked into by the business, it makes the customers stay loyal to that business.
But, again you first have to provide your customers with a proper channel to express their problems and share their suggestions and feedback. In case of the absence of proper ways, your customer will not be able to connect to you and he might switch to another business.
6. Influences Other Potential Customer
Do you shop from every online store that you come across? Of course not. An online user is very cautious about where he spends his money. He will not purchase from a store about which he has heard nothing. He will prefer to shop from familiar places that are trusted by his friends, family members, or the customers of that brand.
It has become a common practice of people to read online reviews about a place, product, or service before he visits or orders something from them. Approximately 90% of the online shoppers read the online reviews before making their purchase.
If your business doesn’t welcome the reviews of the people, then you are closing the gates on new people to become your customers.
Allow your customers to share their reviews about the products and their overall shopping experience on your social media profiles to make it easier for the potential audience to place their trust in your business or create a testimonial page where customers can openly share their thoughts and opinions on your product or service.
Do not disable the comments and review option from your profiles. It makes the business look suspicious and scam. Let people see what your customers have to say about you and how you respond to them.
7. Helps In Formulating Future Strategy
By knowing the likes and dislikes of your customer you are in a better position to formulate proper plans for the success of your business. The feedback of the customers allows the business to strengthen the areas which the customer loves, and improve on the areas that give customers a hard time.
For instance, you run a bookstore and people love the quality of your books and packaging. However, the late delivery of their orders is a concern for them. Considering their feedback, you will try to maintain the quality of your books and work on the delivery issues.
To put it simply, customer feedback gives you an insight into the weak points of the business that troubles your customers and might make them shift to your competitors.
8. Metrics To Measure The Success Of The Business
If you want your business to be successful and outshine the competitors in the market then just remember one tip: ‘keep your customers happy’.
Happy customers do not only increase the bank balance of a business but also become their biggest supporters and advocates. If you have provided a good shopping experience to your customers and addressed their problems, then they will be delighted and provide favors to you. They will not only stay as your customers but will also make sure to market your brand.
In the era of digital marketing, words of mouth or online reviews outweigh the effectiveness of an advertisement. People know that an ad will only highlight the good things about the product. Customer feedback, on the other hand, is an honest review about how the product actually is and does it fulfill what it claims, etc.
The importance and benefits of customer feedback are not limited to the ones mentioned above. There are many other advantages that a business can leverage if it invites, considers, and acts according to the valuable feedback provided by the consumers.
Customer Feedback Channels
The following are the most common ways to get feedback from your current and potential customers:
1. Social Media
Social media is the new Google for generation Z. If a person wants to know more about a brand, he will simply visit the profile of the brand and read the reviews of the people posted on their page.
Therefore, never disable the review option on Facebook. If you do, then new people who come to your profile to learn more about you will leave immediately thinking that your brand is not a professional one but a scam.
Similarly, do not turn off the comments on social profiles. Customers sometimes share their reviews and answer other people in the comments section. Moreover, if you have responded to the query or feedback of the customer then the new audience will get an idea of how strong your customer care service is.
Always be quick to respond to your customers. There will be some customers who will be furious about trivial things and might bash you in the comments section. In such situations never lose your temper and respond to them in a professional and understanding manner. Remember, that you are being speculated by 1000s of other people. Your one negative or rude response will tarnish your image in the market.
2. Conduct Surveys
Many people will not be comfortable posting their reviews on the business page or a social media group. Do not let them go without knowing how they feel about your business.
Instead of waiting for them to post a review on social media, provide them with a survey or poll to get their input on how satisfactory your products or services were to them.
Display short surveys on your website or app and request your customer to fill them. Make sure to keep it short and relevant. Provide multiple options to your customer to select from. It is easier to select the option than to type the whole answer.
Use Woorsie to create engaging surveys and forms for your customers.
Feedback via Live Chat Option
Thanks to advanced technology for inventing live chats to make the interaction with customers easy on the website.
You can ask your customer about their shopping experience on the website by using the option of live chat. Ask them simple questions such as to rate the prices, quality, and variety of products available in the online store, etc.
Sending Contact Forms
To make your customers feel valued and add a personal touch, send them a contact form via email to provide you their feedback.
Send your customers a feedback form and allow them to respond to you by expressing their concerns or views on your business. You can either keep open-ended questions or provide them multiple choices to select their answers.
Sending a questionnaire in an MCQs pattern is a wiser choice as it takes less time for the customer to provide you with his feedback. Make sure your question has relevant questions that will help to improve your business. Do not ask personal or questions that are not in any way connected with your business. For instance, a grocery shop asking for a customers’ relationship status, or if they’ve kids is not going to benefit the business, rather it will irritate the customers.
Sales Person
This is the most common channel for customers to share their views regarding business. Unlike an online store, customers are well assisted by salespeople in a physical shop.
The interaction with customers is easy and quick in person. Your salespeople can ask the customers if they would like to share their experiences or their overall view of the business. The upper management can then collect the data from the sales team and work on the areas that need attention and improvement.
Many other channels can be used by your business. The ones stated above are the most common ways to get the feedback of the customers.
The next section of this article will shed light on the ways to encourage your customers to share their feedback.
Because, out of every 100 customers, only 26 customers will share their complaints from a business. This means that there is a huge chunk of people who remain silent and don’t express their views. Use the following techniques to gather the customer’s feedback and quantify customer satisfaction.
Ways To Encourage Customers To Give Feedback
Offer Incentives
Tempt your customer to provide their valuable input by offering them discount vouchers or a small gift that is related to your business.
Mention The Time Limit
A long list of endless questions is a big turn-off of customers. They will never spend their precious time on the forms if they take a lot of time.
When you present a survey or a form for the feedback, make sure to mention how long it will take. By looking at the time mentioned in seconds, a customer will be induced to fill it up.
Respond Promptly
Another easy way to encourage your customer to share their reviews is by professionally answering the previous comments and posts published on your social media profiles or business website.
When the customer sees that a business is responsive towards its customers, he will not refrain to share his views or concerns with such a business
Star Rating
Instead of asking your customers to write paragraphs or sentences expressing how their experience was, use a star rating method to get their feedback.
Tapping on stars or emoticons is quite simpler than typing long sentences.
These were some common ways to lure your customers to share how they feel about your business and products. Check out other methods to generate feedback from your customers.
Conclusion
Customer feedback is an important resource for a business to measure the effectiveness of its strategies and how far it succeeded in providing the best experience to its customers.
Make sure in the hustle-bustle of running your business, you do not forget to take into consideration what your customers think of you.
Listen to them, help them, quantify customer satisfaction and your business will soar to new heights of success.
