Customer feedback is an invaluable asset for both established businesses and new startups alike. This information can help shape new products, highlight sticking points, and keep customers coming back for more. Sometimes, however, capturing this information can be challenging.
Here are six practical tips for collecting better customer feedback to help improve your business.
1. Create a Follow-Up Flow.
Automation has revolutionized how startups operate, making it easier to accomplish more tasks with fewer resources and less time. To streamline the feedback collection process, consider creating a follow-up flow within your email marketing program.
While setting up a feedback flow takes time and consideration on the front end, it requires minimal work and maintenance afterward. By automating the feedback collection process, your company will always have up-to-date information from customers. This information can be used in weekly and monthly update meetings to help make data-driven decisions.
2. Keep it Simple.
The less work your customers feel they have to do, the more likely they are to contribute. The best way to get valuable customer feedback is to keep your request brief, limiting the interaction to no more than five quick questions.
The best NPS Surveys often have one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” The respondent is then presented with a scale that allows them to share their feedback with the click of a button, providing quantitative data that can help inform future business decisions.
When creating a survey or feedback request, highlight the fact that contributing will only take a minute. By clarifying that someone can help without dedicating too much time and attention, you will improve your overall response rate.
3. Analyze Customer Conversations.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are incredible tools for reviewing customer interactions. You can use various programs to analyze customer conversations, whether it’s via live chat or a call center. Many of these programs can evaluate the customer tone and satisfaction rate in real time, based on keywords and fluctuations.
The information collected using this method presents qualitative data for a more subjective approach. This in-depth look can help determine where customers are having the most issues and what sticking points should be clarified or addressed during a transaction.
4. Practice Social Listening.
It’s not enough to ask for feedback from customers; you need to keep your ears to the ground online. Not all customers will share their feedback directly with the company. However, they might share their feedback with friends and followers online. Use a program to set social listening alerts that indicate when someone is talking about your brand or product, whether you’ve been tagged or not.
You can also use social media to collect feedback from customers. Add a simple poll in Facebook or Instagram Stories to collect votes to shape new product ideas, content marketing inspiration, and overall satisfaction.
5. Ask Prospects.
Paying customers are a fantastic source of inspiration and feedback for your future business endeavors. However, it’s often the people who don’t convert who hold the most valuable information. Those are the people who can tell you why they don’t want to spend their money with you, providing an opportunity for improvement.
Ask your prospects why they decided not to purchase your product or service. Again, keep it simple and casual and with the customer in mind. This feedback could indicate that you’re having unknown technical issues on your website or that you’ve failed to showcase the value at the price point you’re asking. Look for commonalities and use the data you collect to drive your business forward.
6. Practice Proactive Customer Service.
Proactive customer service is the act of reaching out and offering support before a customer has an issue. For example, contacting a customer a few days after their purchase to ask if they have questions or want training support.
This approach encourages passive customers to share their concerns without the traditional feedback collection methods.
With these simple strategies, you can collect better customer feedback and revolutionize your startup.
[Photo by Anthony Shkraba on Pexels]
