How to Get Feedback From Customers

There’s no question that customer feedback is invaluable to businesses, but the difficulty comes with obtaining this priceless information from reluctant customers. How do you get feedback from customers without nagging or pushing them away? Here are five ways:

Encourage online reviews.

Online reviews are an easy way to get honest feedback from customers, but how do you get them to leave a review? For brick and mortar stores, encourage customers to leave a review while they’re in store, where users must check in to the location in order to leave a review. Always leave links to review sites on the emails and newsletters that you send to customers and include a link on your social media pages as well. The more that you remind customers to review your business, the more success you’ll have.

Survey them.

With tools such as Survey Monkey it’s getting easier for businesses of all sizes to reach out to customers and get honest opinions. If your business has a database of customers’ email addresses, the easiest way to distribute the survey would be through email, but if not, use social media channels. Entice customers to participate in the survey by offering free shipping or a small discount on their next order. Be sure to keep the survey as short as possible so customers with short attention spans don’t close out of the page before finishing.

Look at customer behavior.

The best way to see what customers really think? Look at their behavior. Brick and mortar stores should pay attention to what items are and aren’t selling to see what customers truly prefer. Notice how they come in the store and respond to being greeted or assisted and adjust your approach as needed. Online stores should invest in Google Analytics which can provide valuable insight into how customers interact with your website. See where customers are clicking and what’s not grabbing their attention. Use all of this information to make the shopping experience better for the customer without them even knowing they’re providing you with feedback!

Monitor social media.

You may think that checking the notifications on your business’s social media pages is enough to find out what customers are saying, but that’s not true. Businesses that really want to see how customers react to their product or services will monitor all of social media for keyword mentions or conversations that involve your brand. If your company is named XYZ Wholesale Distributors, then set up keyword searches for “XYZ distributors” “XYZ distribution” and so on. There are simple, inexpensive tools such as Sprout Social that allow business owners to set up keyword searches and receive notifications when someone mentions your brand. This way, you can see if someone is complaining to a friend about service or the quality of a product, and step in when needed.

Make it easy.

Customers should be able to figure out where and how to leave feedback without any direction from you, so make it easy for them. Create a simple form on your website that allows customers to leave their contact information and feedback about your product or service. Another option would be to list a general email address where customers can direct their concerns. That way, you can personally write back from the email address and let customers know that feedback is important to you.

How do you encourage feedback from your customers? Tell us in the comments below!