Getting into the customer’s head has always been the goal of marketing. How is this achieved? You will find many strategies, but the best ones revolve around customer feedback.
Think of your customers as judges and your company as an Olympic athlete. Your marketing campaign is your trial run. The feedback you get from customers lets you know whether or not you did a good job.
Good feedback can be hard to come by. Even when readers open an email requesting feedback, many don’t respond.
Customer Feedback Strategies
One big reason customers don’t provide feedback is they feel like a company doesn’t care about what they have to say. Let your email list know you care from day 1.
Ask them a lot of questions in your introductory emails. Find out some information about them and include the information in your CRM software. The information will give you an idea of who responds to questions.
Segment the responders into a separate list.
Responders are good sources for feedback.
Try to end each email with a question.
Let them know you value what they have to say.
A good way to gather information is a customer feedback survey. Email this survey to your list and also place it in the sidebar of your website.
Brainstorm with your team before you create the survey. Come up with actionable goals. What do you want to learn from the survey? This effort helps you create focused questions.
Have different surveys for customers at different stages of the sales process. A good question to ask new leads is “How did you find out about us?” This gives you an idea of which lead generation strategies work best.
Have another feedback survey for the customer after they make a purchase. Asking questions immediately after the sale lets you see how satisfied your customer is with your product.
It is important to respond to negative feedback immediately. Be prompt and proactive in your response. Ask why they are dissatisfied.
Try to salvage the relationship with complainers. The last thing you want is this unhappy customer using social media to bash your product.
Capitalize on positive feedback. Let your customer know you appreciate their kind words. Ask them if they would like to be featured as a testimonial on your website. Testimonials provide your company with social proof, which appeals to new leads.
Ask your satisfied customers to share their positive experience on their social media accounts. Great word of mouth on social media is free exposure for your business.
Adapt to Feedback
Customer feedback is useless unless you have the “always be adapting” mindset. Flexibility in your strategy is the key to success.
Pay attention to the trends in your feedback. If a lot of people respond negatively, you know you need to brainstorm with your team and make some changes.
CRM software provides you with a hub to analyze these trends in real time. Use your CRM to create lists of negative and positive responses. Adapt your strategy to address the concerns of the negative responses.
Never lose sight of the power of customer feedback. Your customers are the reason for your success. Don’t ignore them!