The importance of customer feedback
There are two ways to improve business revenue: increase your number of customers or make your existing customers happier. The easiest way to understand what your valued customers are feeling is to ask them.
That is easier said than done however. How can you motivate your customers to spend their valuable time giving your company feedback?
Is offering prizes or incentives a good way to encourage increased customer feedback?
When incentives are not a good choice
In reality, incentives are an effective way to significantly increase the amount of customer feedback. However, a greater volume of feedback doesn’t mean increased value if the quality of such feedback goes down. If you start pulling in more people by offering them a prize, you may find they tell you things to get the prize, rather than things that will help you.
In the end, the question becomes, “how much constructive or critical feedback will you hear from someone who is expecting a prize from you?”
How to properly use incentives
Knowing their limitations, there are still times when using incentives is a good idea.
The key point is knowing how to use them PROPERLY.
What motivate people to answer questionnaires:
1. They want to know that their voices are being heard
For a long time, customer feedback appeared as only some average number in a PowerPoint presentation or statistic report. This detached data however lacks any real meaning if it isn’t acted upon.
In short, there is more to be gained from customer comments than just numbers.
Understanding how each customer feels, and responding quickly and appropriately to their comments is the best kind of incentive for customer feedback. Knowing that they are listened to, they feel empowered, and are more likely to give you the advice you need. It is therefore important to remember that:
Inside every positive comment, there is a potential successful case study.
Inside every inquiry, there is opportunity to expand and develop the business.
Inside every negative comment, there is a customer that needs your attention.
2. Keep it simple
Nobody complains that a customer feedback survey is too short.
Likewise, how many customers are happy giving their ideas if they have to answer 50 questions? The feedback questionnaire itself, and not your service, may turn off a valued customer.
There are plenty of ways to make questionnaires efficient while still getting the answers you need.
3. Use incentives smartly
Money is not always the best incentive method.
Anything that your customers value is considered a good incentive.
For example, a good choice for a coffee shop owner might be a size-up coupon. Not only does it motivate your customers to give you feedback, but it drives return visits to the store.
4. Data-driven incentives
Unlike traditional incentive solutions like paper vouchers or coupons in a magazine, digital incentives come with a new advantage—it is easy to connect feedback with a customer social media or profile data.
By combining this data, you can gain even more powerful insights. Furthermore, you can prevent having your customers answer the same questions about themselves over and over again.
Syno’s Customer Experience Solution
In addition to understanding these dos and don’ts to collecting feedback, Syno’s powerful customer experience platform also allows you to:
– Receive alerts for critical feedback, such that you can improve your response time and ensure that the customer doesn’t feel ignored
– Create and control your own digital vouchers
– Integrate your own CRM data with our feedback data
For more information, please contact us.