People usually want to know what is in it for them. So when asking customers to leave feedback you have to offer them a reason to give feedback. They have to see value in it. You have to determine what that value is to your customer and give it to them so that they will give you the feedback that is needed to improve your company.
Most customers want to communicate in by an avenue that is most convenient to them. This means having multiple ways in which a customer can reach you. The idea is to make it comfortable for the customer. Ways that customers communicate include: Social media, phone, e-mail, surveys, forums, reviews. The most engaging of the processes are forums because they structure it in a way in which there is interaction between the company and the customer but other customers are also involved.
It is important to get feedback at different points in the interaction. This gets an overall feeling of how the process is working versus them leaving feedback at the end of the process. If feedback is left at the end, it is typically the predominate feelings they will express about the entire process when in fact they may have been feeling different things at different points. This means it is important to get all employees involved with the Feedback look.
Check out what your competition is dong to service their customers and get their feedback also. If you can encourage your competitions customers to provide you feedback, you may uncover where you are falling short. “Customer critiques of the competition may uncover areas where you are deficient. This process also shows your customer the value your company places on their opinion.” eHow
- Introduce yourself.
- Ask an open ended question.
- Make a positive comment.
- Don’t be intrusive.
- Ask for advice.
- Be relevant to the topic.
- Focus on the relationship building.
- Provide information that is helpful.
- Be flexible.
- Be professional.
- Don’t attack others.
- Don’t post the same thing over and over.
- Treat others how you want to be treated.
- Act like an adult.
- Don’t retaliate.
- Search other posts to see if your topic has been posted.
- Use meaningful words.
- Use correct grammar and spelling.
- Help others.
- Don’t double post.
- Don’t use all caps.
- Don’t hijack someone else’s thread.
- Don’t violate copyrights.
- Be patient.
- Don't post information you want to keep private.
It is theco-creation of companies and the consumers that create products that consumers want to buy. Companies need to see the value of input to better their company and to get ahead of the curve. It is a great way to get ideas and involve the customers. You are asking them to show you what it is they would do or what they would change.
"It's easy for people to think that new ideas are the responsibility of the innovation or R&D teams and have nothing to do with them. By telling the stories of some great everyday innovations such as the Post-It note, Band-Aid or traffic lights, you can prove that game-changing ideas can come from anywhere and are not just the preserve of men and women in white coats. In our business, our employees are also representative of our consumers, which makes them exceptionally qualified to come up with the next big thing." —Philippa Brown
Value is developed when ideas are co-created with customers. Customers can personalize their experience in a way that benefits the company. Consumers look to interact in a range of ways. They want to define what their choices are based on their value. Co-creation helps moves transactions away from just a purchase but an ongoing experience keeping the customers coming back for more because of their involvement.
Remember that your employees can sometimes be your best customer. They are working for the company and hopefully already have a sense of loyalty. "We realized we could tap our own employees to gather feedback on new ideas before doing formal research and created an on-line employee community called "FOODii." We have used FOODii for many things, including idea generation, packaging guidance, and insights into cooking habits. For example, our Jell-O marketing team turned to FOODii to help find a name for a new flavor of Jell-O Mousse Temptations. Less than 24 hours after the request, the Jell-O Team had 110 naming options to consider. They selected the 10 best names and sent them on to consumers for further evaluation. The final name, Chocolate Mint Sensation, comes from one of the suggestions provided through FOODii. Our employees have a vested interest in our success - they want to be sure we succeed, so their feedback is particularly valuable."—Julie Fleischer
User generated content (UGC) refers to material on websites, and occasionally other media sources that is produced by the users of the website. This is different than, for example, a website designed by a company which puts forth material produced by professionals. In user generated content, it is the amateur, in most cases, who contributes the content. WiseGeek
We have all used sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and user blogs that contain information that is generated by users. So where do forums play into this for businesses? It is in these forums that users can ask or answer questions, engage customers, share content and knowledge, express ideas and ultimately create content that is valuable.
There are many advantages to UGC which include more content for search engines, more information sources, critical feedback, create brand promoters, and facilitates online communities within a marketplace. As you look at you customers that can make up your community think about how you can engage your customers to create content. Not only will this content help the community, it will also encourage engagement and help with the company’s SEO efforts.
I came from a small town in Kansas and growing up there taught me a bit about customer engagement. In my hometown when you walk into a store, it is likely the people working know who you are. Having this type of community creates loyal customers. To this day when I go back home, I take my car to “Steve’s Auto Care”. My reasoning is because every time I call, Steve knows exactly who I am, what car I drive and my preferences when it comes to things such as brand of oil. Sure I can get my car serviced the same where I currently live, but I can’t get the same experience I get with Steve.
My point is that customer engagement strategy that used to fall into marketing teams now share responsibility with customer service. In order to gain loyal customers you have to understand customer engagement and the way it is changing. In today’s time, businesses need to be good listeners. This means having conversations with customers in a genuine way that builds trust.
When building trust, you can’t just go in blindly. You have to know what it is that you want to accomplish and set goals such as improving products and services, building mutual relationships or driving revenue. You have to be ready to interact with the customers in the context of their demands. If you listen to the voice of customers and heighten their experience, they become loyal and everyone is happy.
In a nutshell, effectively engaging your customers both online and offline comes down to:
- A passion for your business that comes through in the way you interact with customers, talk about your products and services, and freely share your expertise.
- Sincere interest in helping customers make the right purchasing decisions based on their particular needs.
- Enthusiasm for building and sustaining authentic connections with customers. Rick Jenson
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Paying attention to customer’s opinions about the business is important. Sometimes it is important to stop and think about what your thoughts are about your customers. Your attitude about your customers comes across in your business actions. If you don’t like your customers, they will know it.
We have all been in line where the person in front of us caused a scene and made it difficult on the employee when it is no fault of the employee working. When it is my turn, I usually end up apologizing to the employee and then want to make their job a little better to compensate for the display of the previous customer. I fully expect the employee to treat me with respect still and not take their frustration out on me.
Employees in general are not trained in acting to hide their annoyance in dealing with difficult customers. So it is important to consider the impact of the limits businesses set on dealing with new customers based on experience of past customers. What procedures are in place to deal with difficult customers and are they limiting your interactions with the next customer?
This is where feedback from customers can help you in determining if your treatment is fair. Maybe you don’t realize that your processes are harsh based on a few bad experiences. What limitations are you placing on your business in dealing with new customers based on bad interactions with past customers?
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Bill Gates
Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed how many companies don’t listen to their customers.
Ross Perot
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
Peter Drucker
Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
Donald Porter
The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.
John Russell
We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.
Jeff Bezos
Revolve your world around the customer and more customers will revolve around you.
Heather Williams
The customer’s perception is your reality.
Kate Zabriskie
Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Damon Richards
The first step to success in any business is to ask your customers what they want.
Kevin Stirtz
We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.
Laura Ashley
Ask your customers to be part of the solution, and don't view them as part of the problem.
Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
Customers will want to talk to you if they believe you can solve their problems.
Jeffrey Gitomer
Get your customers involved in your business. Make them your partners and they'll never leave you.
Kevin Stirtz
People don't care how much you know, but they know how much you care by the way you listen.
Bob Conklin
The best listener is the one who really cares about the other person.
Kevin Stirtz
The secret to success is to treat all customers as if your world revolves around them.
Unknown
There's a place in this world for any business that takes care of its customers after the sale.
Harvey Mackay
This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want.
And, if you do this, people will keep coming back.
John Ilhan
Whatever your business is, talk to your customers and provide them with what they want. It makes sense.
Robert Bowman
If you want to be creative in your company, your career, your life, all it takes is one easy step… the extra one. When you encounter a familiar plan, you just ask one question: What ELSE could we do?”
Dale Dauten
As a consumer, we want to believe that we are rational and logical versus emotional. At least that is what we want to tell ourselves. The truth though, is that our emotions usually drive purchases. Business ads are carefully put together to manipulate these spending habits and tug at the emotions of the consumer to buy.
"Emotional spending is when you buy something you don’t need, in some cases, don’t even really want. This happens because it improves the mood. Some people allow this to occur:
to cope with stress,
bring one out of a bored or listless mood,
to increase self-esteem,
to feel special
In fact, we even spend when we are happy. Do you remember what you bought yourself last time you got a raise or when you found out your BFF was going to have a baby?" Money Funk
I point this out because the other day I was asked to fill out a survey of my experience with booking a trip through an online travel agency. They asked questions such as how easy was the site to maneuver, did I find what I was looking for etc.. but not once did they ask why I picked them over other options. The truth is that I loved the pictures. As silly as it sounds, the pictures sold me because I could imagine myself at the location. It is the emotions I experienced that sold me.
The travel agency is missing out on a large part of feedback because they are limiting the feedback by restrictions of the survey. It is true that what they did ask could be valuable but sometimes the consumer has more valuable information that the business is missing out on.
Forums encourage people to talk about what drives them emotionally to buy. It is a place for conversation so that users can open up and talk about their experience and to put things in their words. By getting feedback using forums, businesses can find out what is most important to the consumer.
If you want to know how to encourage your customers to buy more, gather feedback in a way that allows you to find out how your consumer feels about it.
Monitoring feedback is important when talking about how to manage feedback. One of the best things you can do is create an area on your website that allows customers to leave feedback about the product or service you offer. This gives new customers confidence to see what others are saying. Allow customers to leave comments in their own words and look for opportunities to improve based on what they say. XTAJUMGBJ6C7
Watch what is being said on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, and any other professional networking site. Many people now use these are resources to get their voice heard so review what people are saying. Use the search function on the social media sites to search for your brand. You might be surprised what you find. Dummies.com Using a Twitter application, such as HootSuite, TweetDeck, or Seesmic, allows you to follow hashtags and search terms and receive updates as they come in. When you set up a Google Alert by using specific keywords and phrases, you receive e-mail notices whenever your brand and other search terms are mentioned. The alerts include links so that you can read the content and respond accordingly. Deborah Nq
Watch your sales. Though it is not a direct form of customer feedback and drop or increase may be a sign of things going on so it is important to monitor what the sales are. Francine Richards It is important to watch trend s so that you know the typical sales cycle and you can spot when something is going good or bad. This kind of feedback can be valuable even if it is indirect.