Ways to Collect Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is one of the most useful tools for a brand to improve areas of dissatisfaction if there are any. Not only that, it can help you get to know your audience better and you can see what your brand is doing right too. It can strengthen your brand reputation as one who cares about its audience and sees them as more than just a paycheck. Here are a few of our top choices for collecting customer feedback.

1.     Surveys with incentives: these are a great tool and entice people to take them to receive something in return for their time.  

2.     Net Promoter Score (NPS): this keeps it short and simple for your audience. It will ask a single question, such as, “How like are you to recommend our brand to a friend or colleague?” The answer is a scale of 0-10. Zero is not at all and 10 is definitely. Those that rate you high should be asked for reviews, testimonials, etc. if they’re interested.

3.     Emails: check in with customers on a regular basis. Email marketing is a great way to do this. Some tools allow you to create small surveys within MailChimp to gather information about certain brand topics.

4.     Social media: read comments and see what people are saying about your brand.

5.     Interviews IRL: a lot can be missed with just online feedback. Body language is nonexistent behind a keyboard so it’s important to engage with some customers in person. Read their body language and the tone of their voice. These can tell you a lot but make sure you ask the right questions to get the information you need. The more specific the better.

6.     Website Live Chatbot: collect information from the live chatbot on your website. Have them ask a question when your customers come to your brand website landing page.

Finding out what your audience really wants from you and how they currently perceive your brand should be your top priority. Happy clients equal happy revenue streams. Humanizing your brand to audience connection with strengthen your relationship.

The Importance of Customer Service

“Welcome to Good Burger. Home of the Good Burger. Can I take your order?” If you’re close to our age, then you remember this Nickelodeon special from the 90’s with Kenan and Kel. A comedic show about two friends who work at a burger joint that serve up terrible service on the side with their burgers. I think those of us who have worked in the service industry at some point in our lives are sometimes overly critical of service standards. That being said though, 96% of people say they leave a brand because of bad customer service (Tidio Research). With people cutting back on spending due to economic uncertainty, brands cannot afford to lose business because they fell short on customer service standards. However, a lot have. There has been a 19% decrease in customer service in 2022 and it hasn’t improved. We’ve noticed this within the service industry for sure. But why is it that people are lagging on customer service when WOM is the best kind of advertising? Well, one reason could be that people have had to take jobs that they are overqualified for and feel entitlement within their workspace. They think they’re too smart and too educated for such a job and perhaps their disdain is seeping out and they cannot relate to the customer experience. It’s important to hire people who want to be there. Perhaps the problem is that some got used to not having to work through living off of unemployment during the pandemic and don’t want to be working. Whatever it is, it’s crucial that your brand steer clear of these pitfalls and unfortunately, these types of employees. Another option is to strengthen customer service in the digital space through AI tech, such as chat bots. No matter which way you look at it you can’t afford to be a brand who loses their loyal audience due to bad customer service. Making sure that you communicate with your customer in an open and effective way will alleviate this stress. Communicate this to your employees as well in order to avoid this pitfall that so many others have.