Customer feedback is the lifeblood of any business. Tapping into what your clients are thinking and feeling is without a doubt the best way to find out whether your product or service is meeting their wants and needs. Especially in today’s fast-moving economy, consumer wants and needs evolve so quickly that it is critical to keep your finger on the pulse to ensure that you change with them, or risk going the way of the dinosaurs. Customer satisfaction surveys are a tried and trusted method of gaining access to your target market’s opinion. Here are a few techniques to ensure that you have as much of the right information as possible
Keeping It Mobile
If your company or organisation has an app, you have a captive audience that carry your brand around with them in their pockets. What better way to communicate with them than through the app itself! In-app customer satisfaction survey tools can be an incredibly effective way to reach them with targeted questions that give you the information that you need. Because those receiving the invitation to respond are already engaged with your app, response rates for these technologies are extremely high, sometimes as much as 80%.
Feedback Fatigue
One thing is for sure; consumers don’t like to be swamped with too many surveys. With so many emails hitting their inboxes and push notifications lighting up their mobile phones every day, it is easy to have your request for information get lost in the din. For this reason, you need to be careful how frequently you are requesting feedback. Experts estimate that once every 12-14 months is about right.
First Things First
Following on from the previous point: with only one shot every 12-24 months, it is critical to ensure that you ask the right questions. This may seem totally obvious, however, you would be surprised how many organisation get it wrong and blow their chance. Firstly, make sure that you very clearly define your 1 or 2 highest priority areas and focus squarely on those. Is it price? Is it quality? How about service or delivery? Whatever the case, don’t try to cast your net too wide. Get the answers to the questions that matter most, then spend the next 12 months working on those areas of your business. Once you are satisfied that you’ve improved your most problematic areas, it will be time to focus on the next two highest priorities.
Ask A Silly Question – Get A Silly Answer
The wording of your questions is as important as the focus areas. Get the wording wrong and you can confuse your audience and compromise the quality of your data. In this respect, keeping it as simple and as clear as possible is an absolute must. Now that you have defined the areas of your business that most need improving, make sure that you get right to the heart of the problem without beating around the bush. Remember, your users are doing you a favour by giving you a few moments of their precious time and responding to your request for feedback. The least you can do is make it as quick and simple as possible.
Armed with these tips, you should be well on your way to devising the perfect customer feedback survey. Most importantly, once you have the feedback, you need to be prepared for the fact that the responses might challenge your conventional business thinking. Smart business people are prepared to be flexible and agile enough to respond to these by making the changes that they know will keep their customers happy and help them thrive in the long-term.
