Does your company utilize customer surveys? More importantly, if you do send customer surveys, do your customers respond and do you listen to their feedback and change your strategy accordingly? In a recent article, Marianne Hynd discusses a report that shows that a low percentage of customers respond to surveys and the ones who do respond feel like the company won’t listen or implement their feedback. If your company truly cares about using customer feedback, then you have to let your customers know you’re listening to them and you care. Hynd provides four ways your company can improve customer satisfaction and encourage them to share their opinions.
1) Close the loop: The customer has called your company and a call center agent has resolved their issue. Great! However, this isn’t where your company’s role should end. Hynd recommends following up the resolution by asking the customer how they felt the conversation went and how it could have been better. Once they give you their feedback, let them know as soon as possible that you appreciate their feedback. You should also inform the customer that the company will utilize their input moving forward to make a better customer experience.
2) Share feedback findings with your customers: Do you want your customers to know you care about their insights? Show them! Send out a newsletter or feature a page on your website that gives real-life examples of customer feedback that was used in creating a better customer experience or company strategy. This will help customers trust that their opinions matter to your company because they’ll be able to see proof instead of strictly relying on your word.
3) Highlight the negative feedback: You don’t gain trust by sweeping your negative feedback under the rug. If you truly care about what your customers think, you will acknowledge when your product or service has been poor and address how you’ll work to fix the issue moving forward. Show your customers examples of negative feedback with a genuine response from a company representative on how they can, or will, fix it.
4) Get your customers involved: If there’s motif in these solutions, it’s customer involvement. We’re in an age where customers want to be more than consumers; they want to be a part of something bigger and contribute to change and improvement. Hynd states that by inviting customers to join focus groups or other strategic improvement efforts, you’re essentially welcoming them as a key part of your company. This ultimately builds stronger customer loyalty while gaining real, valuable insight for company improvement.
Many companies send out surveys and tests constantly, and it often fatigues customers, especially if they never see results from sharing their feedback. If you aren’t taking your customers’ opinions seriously, or you’re not being transparent with them about how you’re utilizing their feedback, you’re going to see a downward spiral in customer loyalty. Show them you really care and include them in your company’s strategic planning, and you’ll see an increase in customer enthusiasm and loyalty while improving your company and seeing a great return on investment.
This blog post was based on a CustomerThink article by Marianne Hynd. To read the original article, please click the link below:
Customers Feel They Aren’t Being Heard – Here’s What You Can Do – Marianne Hynd
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