6 Simple Tips for Collecting Customer Feedback

Originally Posted on March 30, 2012 by Tricia Morris

Collecting meaningful customer feedback to help your organization improve products and services is no easy task.

The Aberdeen Group published a benchmark report on customer feedback management that examined the use and the experiences of 300 enterprise organizations. It revealed a stunning disparity between best-in-class organizations and those that were considered average or below in customer feedback management.

Best-in-class companies are eight times more likely to increase customer satisfaction and 26 times more likely to increase customer retention than average companies because they maintain better customer relationships through customer feedback.

26 x more likely to increase customer retention

19 x more likely to increase customer focused

innovation

Best-in-class organizations are also 19 times more likely to increase customer-focused innovation through their proactive use of feedback data.

Personalized service, better communication, innovation, correcting inefficiencies and strengthening positive customer service differentiators – they’re all vital for customer-focused organizations to stand out from the crowd. Therefore, pinging the Voice of the Customer (VOC) regularly to gauge satisfaction is a necessity. Here are 6 simple tips for managing customer feedback surveys to collect actionable data:

NUMBER ONE

LIMIT YOUR QUESTIONS

No one wants to complete a two-page written response survey or fill-in bubbles on rows and rows of almost-identical questions. The average human attention span is about 30 seconds (some sources say it is as little as 8 seconds). Choose five questions and make them count.

NUMBER TWO

BE SPECIFIC

Be specific in your questions so that your organization can act on the feedback you receive. Broad questions such as “how are we doing?” or “how was your service today?” do not provide actionable data for improvement.

Instead ask, “what did you enjoy most about your product or service experience? what did you find least enjoyable? if we could make one improvement in our product or service, what should it be?” How about “How would you describe our product or service in one word?” Think of the great things marketing could do with the positive responses to this question.

NUMBER THREE

ASK CONSISTENT QUESTIONS ACROSS ALL CHANNELS

Ask the same set of questions with the same wording across all channels be it phone, live chat, online, email, etc., unless you’re specifically asking about customer service channel preferences.

NUMBER FOUR

TRY TO CAPTURE FEEDBACK AT THE POINT OF INTERACTION

This is when you will receive the most honest and detailed response, when the customer experience is top-of-mind.

NUMBER FIVE

CONSIDER PROVIDING AN INCENTIVE TO COMPLETE A FEEDBACK SURVEY

Show your appreciation for your customers’ opinions by offering a discount code or coupon following survey completion. Many customers will never use it, but the gesture is memorable.

NUMBER SIX

TAKE ACTION ON DATA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Those who have offered their feedback will be waiting to see if your organization actually follows up. Don’t disappoint by gathering customer feedback and then doing nothing with it.

MORE CUSTOMER CARE CONTENT YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

• 5 Tips for Maintaining a Positive Business Image Online (Even If You Receive a Negative Comment)

• 3 Questions Every Company Focused on Customer Service Should Ask

• 5 Ways to Keep the Customers You Already Have• Parature Feedback Feature Sheet• Parature Survey Feature Sheet

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