Customers have the power to make or break your business, which is why meeting their needs should be a brand's priority.
current Collecting customer feedback can help you identify your past mistakes, measure the success of your CX strategy, and help you decide your next actions.
With technology that is evolving by the day, businesses are offered a host of ways of collecting customer feedback, and choosing the best one for you is of paramount importance.
Indeed, 86% of customers said that they are willing to pay up to 25% more for a better experience. Therefore it is necessary to find the right methods and collect and leverage as much data as possible.
Here are the most popular and effective methods of collecting feedback:
1. Social Media
According to Sprout Social, 47% of customers with a product or service complaint will express it on social media, showing that social media presence increases your chances of receiving feedback.
With the power it holds today, social media is a highly effective platform that can help you connect with customers. People feel comfortable sharing their thoughts on social media, which makes it easier for businesses to find genuine feedback.
Businesses can go through brand mentions, respond to comments or send messages, all to see how customers really feel about certain products or services.
Social media also lets you create surveys on different platforms, such as Instagram or Twitter, which offer even more insight into customer feedback.
2. Website surveys
An easy yet important way of collecting feedback is through the business's very own website surveys. It is an accessible place to collect feedback, all from customers' views on a product, clients making suggestions to internal team members reporting a bug.
Different types of surveys can be used to get customer feedback, such as sidebar forms, in-app surveys, scored surveys, polls, quizzes, etc. The only essential element of website surveys is keeping the number of questions to a minimum, as customers might not finish them due to boredom or lack of time.
3. Setting up an online customer community
When creating an online community, brands allow customers to ask questions freely and have discussions with other people that have tried the same products or services, expressing their views without the fear of being judged. Such communities are easily implemented, and they provide companies with valuable data on customer sentiment.
If you set up a community, you must be consistent with quick responses while also engaging in discussions.
Apart from obtaining feedback, online communities also enforce customer relationships.
4. Sending follow-up survey emails
Another great method of gathering feedback is sending survey emails.
It is essential that these emails be sent right after the customer purchases a product or service, no later than five days. The experience is still fresh in their mind, and the questions can cover everything from the service to pricing and shipping. They are easy to create and access and can provide companies with valuable information which is free of biases.
5. Live chats
One easy way of getting feedback from your customers is by leveraging live chats. When customers need a quick response, the easiest way to help them is through live chats.
Using live chats helps you understand and meet customers' needs while also making sure they stay on your website.
6. Interviews and focus groups
One way of collecting direct feedback is through interviews and focus groups, which are usually done on a smaller scale because of budget and logistics.
Although this method means fewer people will give feedback, the insights are much richer. With a face-to-face or phone conversation, companies can ask more detailed questions and allow the participants to think and offer more in-depth answers.
With interviews or focus groups, it is important to go in prepared and focus on getting the answers you need. Even though some interesting insights can be obtained by going off-topic, you need to stay on track and gather the valuable feedback you're looking for.
