We often hear how customer feedback is important along with all the reasons why we should collect it. Customers like to hear other people’s experiences. They want to know what people similar to them liked or what they didn’t like about your product or service. They need feedback, and so do you! Especially if you are going towards a customer-first strategy. The only question is: how to get customer feedback? Here are 4 easy ways that might do the trick.
1. Ask For Feedback Right After The Service Has Been Provided
The simplest way to know what your customers think about is, you guessed it, by asking them. There are different channels you can use for requesting customer feedback right away: in person, by email, on your website, through a phone call, or by using in-store survey tablets. You can do that by putting a short survey right after the service was provided.
For example, you will receive a question about call quality every time you finish your Facebook call. Or you’ll get a “how was your service” e-mail right after you received a product online. It is simple, easy and it doesn’t require a lot of your time.
2. Offer a Reward In Return For A Completed Survey
Let’s be realistic. Sometimes people just don’t feel like filling out a 15 minutes long survey. That’s why you should consider a way to motivate them to help you gain a wider insight. Especially if the survey is complex and time-consuming. For instance, in Peekator we offer points in exchange for a completed survey! After collecting a sufficient amount of points, you can exchange them for gift cards you can use in popular stores.
We found another good example of this in one of our local pancake bars. They were giving a free drink to everyone who completed their satisfaction survey. With a lot of families with kids and teenagers there who could use a free drink, they must have collected a lot of valuable data! You know how they say: “To give is to receive.”
3. Take Advantage Of Your Social Media
One of the common ways to collect customer feedback is through social media, as well. The good thing about this one is, in many cases, people tend to use this channel to let you know how they feel, even if you don’t ask for it. Usually, they do it either by commenting on your recent post or simply by sending you an inbox message. In this case, it is crucial to stay active and be at customers’ disposal. They do a pretty good job at Starbucks!
If you want to engage with your audience or find out something more specific, take advantage of built-in polls (for example, on your Instagram story).
4. Provide a Live Chat Tool
Did you know that more than 41% of customers expect you to have live chat on your website, but at the same time only 9% have one? (SuperOffice)
Live chat is a great tool you can use to connect with your customer and find out what issues they are experiencing firsthand. We live in a faced-paced world and nobody likes to wait 48 hours for a response if they can get the answers straight away. That’s why being quick and proactive is a major virtue when using this method. You can also include a short survey at the end of the conversation to find out whether the response was helpful or not.
How other successful companies get customer feedback
1. Uber
A well-known example of how to get customer feedback is Uber. After you are finished with your ride, not only do you get a chance of leaving feedback but also the driver can rate you from 1-5 stars. That way everybody wins. You can exactly see who is picking you up, along with their photo and rating, drivers can see your name and ratings, and Uber can use this data to make the most out of their service.
2. iHerb
If you purchase an item from iHerb, you will receive an email around the time your product should already be delivered. They use a simple way of surveying as they simply ask how were you happy with the purchase. You can rate the product from poor to great.
3. Book depository
If you are a bookworm and you still prefer the old-fashioned way of reading a book, then you are probably familiar with this amazing site. Book depository is an online book shop where you can choose from a variety of all kinds of books for an affordable price. They understand the value customer feedback can provide as they send you a short 5-minute survey right after you received one of their books.
They ask you all sorts of information about the product: if you would recommend it, what you like the most about it, and what you think they should improve.
If you made it this far you saw there are many simple ways to get customer feedback. No matter how great or how big you are, there is always room for improvement. What is important is to never stop looking for ways to grow your business. Collecting insights from your customers that are supporting your organization is just one of them.
Related articles
