Comment: Are you using customer feedback effectively?
Too many organisations are wasting time and money going through the motions of collecting customer feedback and then failing to act on it.
By Rob Keve
Of the 95% of companies which collect feedback, only 30% actually make use of the comments they receive. This means the vast majority of organisations are failing to tap into a valuable resource which can deliver tangible business benefits.
By following a simple five-stage checklist outlined below, businesses can significantly improve their relationship with their customers and reap the rewards that follow.
1) Acknowledge the feedback immediately either by phone, text or e-mail. By doing this you are showing the customer that you are listening, that you value their comments and that their feedback has not simply been put straight in the bin. This serves to build a relationship in which the customer is engaged with the organisation and is more likely to be vocal in their support.
2) Act on the feedback swiftly. Fast reactions can stop issues affecting other customers and delight the original person offering the feedback. A customer complaining about dirty toilets or long queues will be impressed with an organisation that immediately makes an announcement calling for extra staff to clean up or work on the checkout. Only one in 27 customers affected by an issue will bother to complain, the rest are at risk of defecting, reducing their spending and spreading bad word of mouth. By acting swiftly on a single complaint an organisation can improve the customer satisfaction of significantly more people.
3) Communicate with the customer and inform them of the action taken. Only 5% of companies currently take this step despite statistics which show a customer who has had a complaint successfully resolved is 90% more likely to spread positive word of mouth and spend more money than a customer who received good service in the first instance.
4) Use the feedback to incentivise and motivate staff. If customers can see an organisation is listening to them then they are more likely to engage and as a result more likely to offer positive feedback as well as complaints. By posting positive feedback on canteen notice-boards or introducing customer satisfaction into compensation schemes, organisations are communicating to their staff that they are appreciated and that their actions do not go unnoticed.
5) Analyse and track trends across different branches. This serves to identify any common problems that could be easily resolved, such as problems with outsourced services including deliveries and cleaning. Such problems could be intermittent and spread across multiple branches and, whereas they are unlikely to be picked up in a single location, they are easily identified through a centralised system of analysis.
By following these five simple steps, organisations can make profitable use of information already in their possession. The benefits of customer feedback should no longer be ignored.
Rob Keve is the CEO of consumer feedback company Fizzback
