You probably have a pretty high opinion of your small business, and that’s fantastic. But your opinion isn’t the only one that matters.
Customer feedback is an important key to your success – but how do you get this elusive feedback, and more importantly, what do you do with it once you have it?
Get Your Customers Talking
People are busy, and most of us aren’t thrilled at the prospect of spending 20 minutes answering questions about a purchase that took 20 seconds to complete.
This is where a little legal bribery goes a long way.
Once you seal the deal, offer your customers a discount, upgrade or free shipping on their next order if they take a few minutes to answer some follow-up questions – and make sure it really does only take a few minutes! Keep it short, and only concentrate on the things you really need to know.
Be Specific With Your Questions
It’s great to get eights and nines out of 10 on online reviews, but can you take anything tangible out of that? What exactly do your customers love about you? What prevented your small business from being perfect in their eyes?
When it comes to feedback, you need to have a goal in mind. What do you hope to learn? Are you looking for ways to improve your products? An honest opinion on your customer service? A definitive answer as to whether your business is posting too many (or not enough) cat memes on social media?
Once you know the answers you’re looking for, it’s easier to tailor the questions to collect optimal feedback.
Put Customer Feedback to Work
A big data dump of customer feedback can be overwhelming. You want to take action, but you can’t please everyone – and you’ll drive yourself crazy trying.
Simplify things by breaking your feedback down into basic sections. Put all the customer service feedback in one file, the product feedback in another, and so on. Then, look for trends.
Are people consistently giving you low ratings on delivery speed? It may be time to strike a deal with a new shipping company. Do they indicate that they love your products, but aren’t a huge fan of your daily emails? You might want to think about scaling back on the mass missives.
Remember: Don’t seek out feedback if you’re not willing to make the changes it takes to improve your small business. If your customers have something to say, let their voices be heard!
Looking for more ways to get your customers talking? Let’s chat! Mischa Communications can provide guidance on how your small business can request (and use) feedback from the people who matter most.