There is no better reward for a business than having their customers satisfied and happy with their products or services. After all, satisfied customers are loyal customers, and they would bring more revenue for your business. How would you know whether your customers are happy and satisfied with your brand, though? The answer is simple: feedback. Feedback can be collected from many sources; but of course, the most important feedback comes directly from your customers.
As one of the most important elements in business growth, customer feedback will not only give you insights into customer satisfaction, but it will also guide you in making the right business decisions that will lead to product and service quality improvement, as well as building customer loyalty. Therefore, admittedly, collecting customer feedback is very crucial.
Oftentimes, however, getting feedback from customers is proven to be a difficult challenge for many businesses. Many customers are reluctant to fill out surveys and they have their own valid reasons behind it. For instance, they have busy schedules and they do not have time to fill out the surveys, or that they feel uncomfortable sharing honest opinions on your products or services. Whatever the reasons, businesses need to be more understanding about it.
So, rather than letting the opportunity to receive feedback from customers slip through your fingers, or worse, force your customers to give feedback, business leaders should take other approaches to actually have customers willing to express their opinions on their businesses as well as the products or services they receive.
Let’s dive into 5 approaches you can put into practice in order to persuade your customers to give feedback so that your business can get accurate and real insights from them.
1. Send a follow-up e-mail
Usually, when your customers have questions or complaints, they would contact you via phone calls, email, or social media. Email is one of the preferred methods for customers to reach out to a business because they can express their opinions at length and even attach photos along with it. Instead of waiting for them to send emails to you, why don’t you take the initiative to send emails to them asking about their experience and opinions first?
Sending a follow-up email is an effective method to acquire customer feedback not only because it enables customers to describe their opinions in detail, but it will also make it easier for the people involved in the business itself as this process can be automated.
A proper customer feedback management solution would include a feature that enables you to collect customer feedback through emails. SMARTSURVEYS™ is one of them. As a customer feedback platform that supports convenience and effectiveness, SMARTSURVEYS™ offers the flexibility of methods and applications, including online surveys via email that can be sent automatically to your customers upon service completion, product/ service purchase, etc.
2. Send surveys via SMS
Many businesses often underestimate how effective reaching out to customers via SMS can be. They assume the worst of this method because they think SMS is outdated. How mistaken that belief is! There are three simple reasons SMS can be a great choice of platform to get customer feedback.
Firstly, SMS does not require an internet connection or a deep knowledge of the internet or technology, which means you will be able to collect feedback from more people, even those who come from older generations.
Secondly, sending out surveys via SMS actually has a higher chance of being read than email. Finally, just like sending out follow-up emails, the process of sending out surveys via SMS can also be automated.
If you are looking for a customer feedback management solution that has an SMS follow-up feature, SMARTSURVEYS™ is the answer. With this customer feedback platform, you will have a higher chance of getting feedback from more customers.
3. Offer incentives for feedbacks
Frankly speaking, filling out surveys means taking away customers’ valuable time, especially for those with busy schedules. You can persuade your customers ─ not to mention make them feel more appreciated ─ to fill out surveys by offering them rewards. Keep in mind that incentives do not always mean money.
There are many options you can offer your customers as incentives, such as offering them vouchers, discounts, merchandise, e-books, educational pamphlets, etc.
4. Ask for feedback at the right time
When you ask for feedback at the right time, it will increase your chances of getting a response. For in-store surveys, you can ask your customers to fill the survey right after they receive the products or services. If you send surveys via SMS or Email, you can arrange that the SMS or Email be sent at vacant hours, such as lunchtime, late afternoon, or weekends. Avoid asking for feedback at general busy hours as you will have a slim chance of getting a response.
5. Make sure the questions are relevant and clear
Now that you understand those approaches, you can put them into practice. Applying those approaches will be easier when you have assistance from an advanced customer feedback management solution, like SMARTSURVEYS™.
Our highly efficient customer feedback platform allows you to adjust each survey in accordance with your company’s needs and ensure convenience and effortlessness both for your business and your customers. It even allows your customers to leave their feedback anonymously if they wish to. SMARTSURVEYS™ has many features that will surely be beneficial for your business and help you get real insights from your customers.
Reach us at info@bss.com.au or visit our website to learn more about SMARTSURVEYS™.
