Last Updated on February 3, 2024 by Dave Schoenbeck
As a small business owner, you know the importance of customer feedback. From validating a new idea to pivoting in your current enterprise, knowing what the people want (and what they don’t want) is vital to running a successful company.
Customer feedback is invaluable for the health of your business. Here are 4 benefits you’ll gain from collecting customer comments with customer satisfaction surveys.
1. Written, unfiltered feedback is more powerful than informal comments.
People say a lot of things – including a lot of things they don’t mean. Sometimes, initial excitement can be deceiving. This is why it’s essential to document uninhibited, thoughtful, and authentic feedback from your clients.
Customers are more likely to be completely honest When they don’t feel pressured to respond immediately. Moreover, if they’ve had time to use your product or service and contemplate their experience, they comment that much more meaningful and accurate.
Remember that while spoken comments can be helpful, written follow-up feedback gives you more bang for your buck. These comments can be saved for the future and are easy to refer back to when needed.
2. Repetitive feedback reveals more than just customer satisfaction or disappointment.
Patterns can tell you a great deal about the state of your business. Repeated comments illustrate trends – both good ones and bad ones. Being aware of what your customers like and don’t gives you the knowledge to make significant decisions about running your company, what changes to make in your offerings, and how to utilize your staff.
3. Customer feedback helps you better structure your employees’ compensation.
As you learn more about the actual value of your product or service, you can better tailor your employees’ pay structure to match your sales income. This is especially helpful if you’re venturing into hiring for the first time and are adding salespeople to your team.
Alternatively, you can structure your employees’ sales commissions to be determined based on customer satisfaction. If an employee is underperforming or has poor reviews from your clients, you can alter their pay to reflect their conduct. Or think of it another way. Incentives drive better performance. So, if you link customer satisfaction results to their income, great things start happening.
4. Customer comments help you shape internal conversations about your business.
When you know your customers’ thoughts, you’re better able to make necessary changes within your business and discuss various strategies with your employees.
Start every team meeting with a discussion about what your clients tell you. Give special attention to feedback from your key customers: these are likely your biggest buyers, and their comments are worth gold. As the CEO, openly discuss your client’s feedback with them to get a clear sense of their feedback.
Amassing Data
So, how do you collect this kind of information in an organized and consistent manner? How do you ensure you’re constantly gaining invaluable feedback from your leads and customers to help you solidify more sales in the future?
Consider using one or both of the following two methods:
Online Surveys
Solutions like SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo are great for running short, digital customer satisfaction surveys. Both platforms offer free starter packages, and their tutorials are beneficial in constructing the first survey.
SurveyMonkey also gives you a few extra benefits that your current customers may not: you can poll an unbiased, targeted audience to get feedback for new ideas and validate them before launching.
Comment Cards
Sending comment cards after a sale is another way to collect accurate data.
Someone in your business should be tasked with consolidating and interpreting feedback. As the CEO, you should decide what to implement and change.
Remember that regardless of your chosen method, only some customers will be keen to share their thoughts. Follow simple guidelines to get the most out of your customer surveys.
The statistics are clear: customer feedback from surveys can mean a lot for your bottom line. If you’ve been reluctant or nonchalant about incorporating them into your sales process, now is a great time to add customer feedback tools!
Would you be interested in discussing how to drive better business results? For a complimentary online coaching session, fill out my contact form.
Coach Dave
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