Even on the sunniest of days there are floods of feedback forms and follow-up calls bombarding customers about their recent experiences with a brand.
Just yesterday, I received seven requests from companies I do business with.
Some are not too disruptive because they arrive in your email. Others can feel annoying, like pesty flies, especially when they are tied to an experience that has caused you a lot of stress — like when your Internet goes down or your computer locks up. Next thing you know is that you are behind on your work. Not five seconds after you hang up with a technology support person whose English is not the best calls you to find out how their brand performed.
While research is well intended and provides critical insight to make the best decisions, if you are customer-careless, it can backfire too.
As a marketer, gathering customer experience feedback is important, but being sensitive to the situation, the buyer’s mood and appreciating their time is key.
Here are seven ways to get better feedback from your customers.
1) At the beginning of the outreach, message or call, always give your customers an option of participating or not.
2) Keep things simple and brief. So your customers do not feel like it’s a lot of work on their part. I recommend a mix of closed and open-ended questions.
3) Do reward customers who participate with a voucher or a tangible gift. This can be a valuable touch point to build loyalty too.
4) If you use email as your survey method, make sure it’s branded with your graphics and brand voice and if you can include a signature with a real person’s name.
5) Let your customers know their feedback matters by showing them that their feedback actually transpired into improvements and new offerings.
6) Monitor your social media. This is a good way to gain intelligence while being non- disruptive to customers and is low cost.
7) Make it easy for customers to post reviews about your brand by reminding them of your feedback and social media channels.
Bottom-line stay connected with your customers. Listen and pay attention to their behavior. When you learn something new, take action.
Brand on!
One more quick thing
Interested in building your consulting practice? Join me in Atlanta for the first Million Dollar Consulting Convention.
I’m one of the global, expert faculty members at the Million Dollar Consulting® Convention in Atlanta, March 11-13, 2105. The keynoters are Alan Weiss and Dr. Martin Seligman. The 11 expert presenters and your colleagues from all over the world will create an experience that has never before been provided for solo practitioners and boutique firm owners. My program will be on branding. Alan Weiss has been one of the most important coaches in my career. If you are looking to amp up your career, I highly recommend you check this out.
You can learn more about it, watch a video and register here:
http://www.summitconsulting.com/million-dollar-consulting-convention/
This will be a unique event in the world of consulting, coaching and professional services. If you can come, I hope to see you there.
