Your business runs on the fact that your customers have needs which they can’t satisfy without your business. Catering to your customers’ needs to the best of your knowledge is great but to ensure that your actions are bringing in the desired results, you need to have a feedback mechanism in business.
Only 1 in 26 customers is likely to bring up their complaints. This means that the other 25 will silently walk away to another business. So it is essential to you inform your customers that you are dynamically following a feedback mechanism in business and are always ready to listen to what they have to say.
Of course, we are not going to go on and on about the need for feedback mechanism in business. But we have a few tricks to share with you on how you can do it effectively.
What Is a Feedback Mechanism in Business?
A feedback mechanism in business is the evaluation of a process carried out by the business to cater to the needs of their customers. It may be positive or negative and intends to improve the services/products offered by the business.
Goals You Can Achieve Through an Effective Feedback Mechanism
1. Show Your Clients You Value Them
A feedback mechanism is a business the easiest way to express you respect and value your clients is by asking them for honest feedback and actually analyzing it. They understand your value not when you simply ask for feedback but when you slice open what you receive and look into how you can fix the flaws and better the rights.
2. Learn, Innovate and Expand
There are always cues to catch from feedback, ways to identify the wrongs which will, in turn, give you an approach as to how you can improve your business. The feedback you receive may involve suggestions on what else you can do apart from what you are currently doing. When you look out and listen to these cues, you will systematically take care of how your business can expand and drive further growth.
3. Constantly Upgrade Your Customers’ Experience
There are so many new businesses starting there and each time it is going to be improved and better than what the old businesses are doing. If you don’t want to get stuck in the back of this chain, you must constantly enhance your customers’ experience. To do so, your feedback mechanism in business will give you answers. More often than not, your customers themselves will tell you what they need and all you have to do is listen.
4. Keep Track Of Your Customers’ Satisfaction
Using a feedback mechanism in your business will directly tell you if your customers are happy or disappointed. For a business to work, you need to measure your performance and tracking your customers’ satisfaction is one of the most important ways. Ultimately, if your customers are satisfied, your business surely will keep booming.
Ways To Welcome Feedback Mechanism In Business
1. Start a Conversation
Say a customer popped into your store one evening and bought a product you sell. Of course, you immediately can’t ask your customer how the product is. You need to wait until he or she uses it.
Instead of waiting out for a couple of days and then approaching your customer, strike a conversation with him or her when they are buying. And slowly bring in the mention of the feedback mechanism in business you follow. While doing so, also ensure that you make your customer comfortable enough so you can have a free-flowing response.
Once you form a bond with your customer, you can call them up in person to collect their feedback. You can also do this via text or email, but a direct phone call will work better in terms of showing your customer you value their thoughts.
2. Leverage Social Media
Even if your customers don’t answer your phone call, they can easily be found on social media. Social media not only allows you to collect feedback from your customers but you can also share it directly as social proof. SurveyMonkey Buyer trust report says 82% of people trust the voice of customers more than messages that come from the brand.
For example, you can use the Instagram story question sticker to collectively ask for feedback from a bunch of people on your stories. You can share the responses you receive on your story and type out a reply too.
Doing this may trigger your customer to reshare their response on their profiles which will improve your visibility to their followers and friends. Social proof is also the best marketing strategy.
3. Review Platforms
When anybody wants to travel to a place or eat at a restaurant or buy something or find a business, the first thing they do is check it up on the Internet. Often, Google My Business listings come up first. The reviews on these listings are what people are looking for. 98% of buyers read online reviews before making a purchase decision, says eMarketer and Bizrate.
It is imperative that your listings on the Internet have reviews from your customers. You can share the link with people who have used your services or brought your products and ask them to leave their feedback in the review section. Don’t worry about fake reviews because Google My Business waits for you to approve the customer reviews before showing it to Netizens.
All said, getting customer feedback is tricky. They might not tell you all you want to know if you haven’t asked them the right questions in the right way. Sometimes, you may miss questions while talking to them and only later remember. To make feedback mechanism in businesses a walk in the park is a few customer feedback collection tools.
Customer feedback collection tools are primarily composed of forms. You can create questions and chose the type of answers you want to receive. You can add a scale of 1 to 10 or you can add a short paragraph or even give them a choice and ask them to select one.
Google Forms and Typeform are very people-friendly and easy to use. While Google Forms is a free tool to use which comes with your common Gmail account, Typeform is specifically made to collect survey responses and feedback. You can start off with their free plan, figure out what works best for you and then move on to a paid plan.
Feedback is everywhere and you just need to collect is responsibly and be responsive to feedback, reviews and comments. Customers love it when they see you value their thoughts and ask for their opinion. It is a key factor to drive your business’ growth. Being a good listener and lending a compassionate ear is all you need to start with. Let us know in the comments if you want us to dissect how an ideal feedback form should be.
