6 Easy Ways to Incorporate Client Feedback in Your Business

Customer feedback is essential for business growth: while we may assume what customers like in the beginning, we have to listen to feedback, analyse whether our assumptions were right, and change if needed. In fact, 63% of businesses report that it is how they discover problems. 

Read more: Obsess Over Your Customers Not Over Your Competitors

Yet, customer feedback serves other valuable purposes if used right. Find out about how to get customer feedback and put it to good use in business strategy.

How To Collect Customer Feedback?

You have to learn to walk before you run. Before we jump into the question of how to use customer feedback, let’s learn how to collect it first. 

Usually, people leave feedback when they are either overly satisfied (49%), too angry (30%), or are motivated to do so. However, they may share experience in private, give feedback through social media without tagging your business or use other forms of giving feedback. Here is a wide range of tactics businesses use to receive feedback (from obvious to weird ones):

• utilising online forms: email, post-purchase, cart abandonment, posting links on social media
• monitoring social media: mentions, comments, hashtags, or using Google Alerts
• reading reviews on review sites
• ask for feedback at the end of the conversation with customer service
• calling
• collecting paper feedback cards (for offline businesses only)
• analysing frequently asked questions
• creating a community
• using interactive polls on Instagram
• analysing Facebook reactions

You can choose the approach for feedback collection, depending on the type of your business and your target audience. Most businesses usually utilise numerous techniques at once or focus on one tactic to get the most out of it.

How To Use Customer Feedback?

You may have thousands of reviews or 5 customers who give you feedback regularly. The number does not matter at all if you collect feedback for the sake of collecting it. Here are 6 ways to implement customer feedback in your business strategy to gain the best results.

#1 Fix The Problem

Listening and reacting is the best and most obvious way to handle customer feedback but some companies never follow that path. 

Businesses tend to get overprotective about their products. Instead of fixing the problem, they try to prove why the customer is wrong. Of course, if a single customer out of thousands complains about something that is not true and you know it, it is not a reason to change the whole business. Yet, if many shared the same negative experience, it is time to review the product or service. 

While fixing the problem, it is essential to prioritise the tasks. You will never be able to change everything at once. Otherwise, you will be too overwhelmed. Go step by step and fix critical issues first.

#2 Find New Ideas

Feedback from end-users is a great source of inspiration for new projects, products, or services. No one understands customer needs and wishes better than the customers themselves. Therefore, appreciate constructive feedback that contains ideas for improvement and listen to it. 
You can also draw raw ideas from the feedback and brainstorm on it with the team.

Read more: What Do Your Customers Need?

If you want to take idea-generation from customers to the next level, you can create a special platform or contest with cool prizes. Motivating customers to share their ideas and desires, would give you a whole bunch of new ideas.

#3 Connect With Target Audience

While sharing feedback, customers also communicate their needs and may share some personal information even. For example, they can talk about their painful problems and how your product could solve them or have already done it, as well as describe their age, place of residence, gender, etc. All this information is the most important strategic tool in your hands, analyse her and look for patterns. Afterward, change your customer personas if needed and rethink the marketing strategy by adding new pain points and needs. 

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With a better-defined buyer persona, businesses create content and products that meet customer needs and, consequently, result in higher shareability and more sales. Customers also feel like the company creates a personalised experience for them.

#4 Highlight The Good

It is not only the bad experience that matters. Good experiences are appreciated as well. It is the ultimate way to learn the strong and unique sides of the business. 

Read more: Understanding Your Customers Is Crucial For Business Growth

You will be able to highlight these strengths in the advertisement and provide instant proof in the form of a customer review. According to a study, 92% of buyers review testimonials while considering the purchase. So, including positive customer reviews in your advertisement could significantly increase the level of trust in your brand and potentially boost sales.

If a customer has noticed something good about the business, it is worth sharing. It means that this particular strength is important enough for customers that they have noticed it. Consequently, the fellow prospects may find this strength important as well.

#5 Motivate Your Team

It is yet another way to utilise positive customer feedback. 

It is important for teams and individuals to know that their hard work is appreciated. Good management usually praises employees, but it is a delightful bonus to receive validation from end-users. 

Appreciation will boost the motivation level of the team, prove that they do not work in vain, and give additional energy to work on improvements. 

The manager should also stimulate his employees. This is a great way to not only compliment, but also maintain the integrity of the team and instil in employees a sense of dedication to the common cause and the leader personally. For example, you can financially reward them for exceeding their outreach target. Offer "cookies" in the form of a company car, fitness pass or corporate discount for completing work super tasks.

#6 Improve Relationships With Customers

Firstly, you will see who truly cares about the business when they share positive reviews or fill out lengthy feedback forms. Make sure to reach out and show appreciation for their effort and loyalty: give away a gift card, give a discount, or just send a thank you email. Customers will be even more committed to doing business with you exclusively.

Secondly, if you listen and change, you are more likely to retain customers who did not enjoy their first experience. After you admit your wrongs publicly and work on them, even angry customers will recognise your efforts and may try to reconnect with the brand. Loyal customers will appreciate your change as well.

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Retaining a client is much easier than finding a new one, and this is extremely important for any company! Maintaining good relationships with customers who make a purchase is much cheaper for the company, and they can also defend your brand and bring their friends, acquaintances, and relatives to you.

Conclusion

Customer reviews are a powerful tool for any company to understand how well or badly you are performing, which products are ideal and which ones require improvement, what your customers think of you and what they want from you. All this information requires analysis and further work with them.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes, the main thing is to learn how to correct them by showing your clients your recognition and gaining their trust. Use each review to help you improve by building strong, positive customer relationships.

Read more: Creating and Delivering Value to Customers

Parallel on heeding to client feedback, we too must ensure our employees' well-being. Let me introduce you to → Happily (or Budaya for those from Indonesia) is an amazing engagement app built for organisation to drive engagement amongst employees. It has amazing analytics and also provides activities for employees to be fully immersed in the organisation's culture and values. To find out more, click here or email info@leaderonomics.com

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