How to Create Customer Feedback Loops
Gone are the days when businesses could measure their performance solely by sales figures. If you really want a good indication of how well or poorly your business is performing, reach out to your customers by creating a customer feedback loop to identify their wants and needs, to encourage open discussions and to handle customer concerns promptly. A customer feedback loop has to work two ways: Not only must your company be able to connect and communicate directly with customers, but customers should also have ready access to your business to ask questions, make suggestions, give product reviews and offer other feedback. As customers respond, businesses must respond to their feedback in a timely manner. If these key elements are missing, a customer feedback loop cannot function properly.
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Instructions
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Determine which customers in your target market you want to connect with for feedback. Though every customer is important to your business, you may want to target your feedback goals to a select group of customers as you start your customer feedback loop.
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Come up with a list of specific, measurable goals you'd like to accomplish as a result of creating the customer feedback loop. Businesses create such feedback loops to get customer opinions on products they already launched, products they are planning to launch, their level of customer service and simply to keep abreast of ideas shared among members of their target market.
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Examine how you currently communicate with your customers. Some of your current communication methods could be an entry way to creating a customer feedback loop or improving on an existing one. Come up with a strategy by deciding if you want to focus your efforts online, offline or use a combination of both. Delegate the management of your customer feedback loop to a team of skilled workers with experience in engaging communities through positive, thoughtful interactions.
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Set up an online newsletter to distribute via email to your customers weekly, monthly or quarterly. Use your e-letter to give customers news, but also include a question in each newsletter that prompts a response from your customers and opens the lines of communication. Give customers an email address or website they can go to and reply to the question you pose in the newsletter.
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Set up social networking pages with popular sites like Facebook or Twitter. Use these pages to announce promotions and products launches and to start discussions with your customers. Post a question or thought about your business, once customers begin to respond, participate in the conversation and make note of customers concerns and opinions.
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Use your call center as more than just a place customers can call to place orders. Open the lines of communication and encourage customers to call in with feedback, whether it's positive or negative. Train employees to respond to and document customer feedback appropriately.
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Create incentives for customers who participate in online discussions, focus groups and surveys. Offering rewards to participate will help increase the likelihood that your customers will become active participants in your customer feedback loops.
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Tips & Warnings
Send customer surveys via email or postal mail as way of further developing your customer feedback loop.
