Making the Most of Customer Feedback: How to Use Customer Feedback
Once you gather customer feedback, it's important to use that information to address specific challenges. The action you take is what makes the customer feedback truly powerful, after all.
When considering a survey, define your scope so that you can get relevant feedback about a particular challenge, Wood says. For example, she says, if you realized that your customers are constantly demanding that you lower your price, and when you don't, they go to your competitors, you might decide to leverage an outside firm to help your management team better understand what's going on and what to do about it. One plan of attack might be to interview 10 existing and major customers, and survey 100 current accounts and 100 past (or defected) accounts, asking particularly about repurchase decisions and price. "Your problem is specific, and so is your game plan," Wood says.
Act on customer feedback. Getting the organization ready to act requires dividing customer feedback into what Wood calls "strategic horizons," which correspond to the way in which you will act:
- Horizon One: Immediate tactical adjustments, such as quick wins, red-alerts, and lifelines
- Horizon Two: Revenue interlocks, including actions that impact revenue not this month, but over the next year
- Horizon Three: Game-changing ideas and suggestions for the long term
Once the feedback is divided into action buckets, Wood says, ensure that each organization or function in your company has three roles to play: to receive the feedback, to be conditioned by the findings, and to participate in the determined course of action.
Devise and test smart solutions. When coming up with solutions to issues you uncover through customer feedback, think in stages. First, consider the insight and gather input for change from front-line employees and senior managers, Wood says. Next, define the plan for change and test it against your budgets and resources, and talk to your best customers to determine if the idea or change is even worth testing. Finally, Wood says, benchmark the test's success with metrics over a reasonable period of time and assess how well targets were achieved.
Close the loop with those giving feedback. It's amazing how many companies neglect to get back to customers even after they've implemented changes. When you have made a change that is customer-driven and meaningful, close the loop with the customers (personally or via other channels) who were part of the feedback process, Wood advises. "This step is critical, because customers will be encouraged to give input if they know they are being heard and know they may be driving change." You might set up your customer feedback mailbox to generate an automatic response initially thanking customers for their feedback, but you still need to follow up after the problem is corrected and get back to that customer with a more detailed response. "One of the most important things to remember is that these are human beings and if you don't have that kind of communication and close the feedback loop, you don't have the human touch between yourself and the customer," Finkelstein says. "That's a very big loss for any company."
Track the results. Customer feedback can spur everything from short programs and initiatives to business transformation. "The chore is not in the listening, but in the implementation and follow-up," Wood says. "As you launch feedback-driven changes, track which and how many of your customers offer up additional ideas and input. In my experience, the more you can get the right customers to participate, the better your business is growing."
Dig Deeper: How to Handle Customer Complaints
Making the Most of Customer Feedback: Additional Resources
Make the Most of Customer Feedback
http://chiefmarketer.com/online_marketing/0216-feedback-engagement/
Article on ChiefMarketer.com, by Ariel Finkelstein.
Customer Think
http://www.customerthink.com
Blog and online community of business leaders striving to create profitable customer-centric enterprises.
Making the Most of Customer Complaints
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122160026028144779.html
Wall Street Journal report on customer service.
