Ultimate Guide To Actionable Customer Feedback

If you’re reading this article, there’s a chance that you’re interested in the benefits of customer feedback. You might be wondering if your business should focus on this aspect of your operations.

I’m here to tell you that customer feedback is essential to any business’s success. It helps with retaining customers and letting marketers understand their market better, which can positively affect customer experience and scalability.

If you have neglected this aspect of your business for a long time, then today’s the day to change all of that.

At the end of this article, you will see how valuable customer feedback is. You will also learn how you can use them for your business.

If you’re ready, then let’s get to it!

What Is Customer Feedback?

Before we get into the benefits and positive effects of customer feedback, let’s first clearly define what it is.

Customer feedback is the information you receive from your customer regarding your business. This information can be about their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your product, service, or other aspects of your business.

This means that customer feedback can be positive, neutral, or negative.

If you can get a ton of feedback from your customer, you’d have a pulse on what your market thinks and feels about your business. You’d have an idea of whether you satisfy your customers or not.

This is the importance of customer feedback. You have direct answers from people who transact with your business. These are real opinions and suggestions.

Through customer feedback, you can also improve customer satisfaction and aim for a greater customer experience.

To further convince you to take customer feedback seriously, here are the top benefits of it.

Top 9 Benefits Of Customer Feedback

1. Improved Customer Experience

A lot of top marketing agencies will tell you that business growth is all about customer experience. That’s why marketers spend a lot of time studying their audience and doing research.

Customer feedback gives marketers an objective answer to their user experience research. This is important since every business should aim to have a seamless user experience in every facet of their operations.

Although focusing on customer experience can bring many benefits to businesses, several companies still neglect this aspect of their operations.

Some businesses only focus on products, services, and pricing since they think these are the only elements to scale their company.

However, the statistics behind customer experience tells us otherwise.

SuperOffice reported that the top priority of businesses in the next five years is improving customer experience. This is the case since 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a greater customer experience.

Here are other statistics behind customer experience:

• Companies that focus on customer experience have 4-8% higher revenue than their competitors

• 83% of companies believe that making customers happy plays a major role in increasing revenue

• 73% of consumers report that a good experience is vital to brand loyalty

• Businesses who take the time to engage with customers outperform their competition by 147%

• 77% of consumers favor businesses that seek customer feedback and acts on it

• Customers who had a positive experience with businesses will spend 140% more

The data behind customer experience shows that it is a very important aspect of any business. The numbers here are so significant that marketers and owners can’t neglect this anymore.

Even brand designers who shape the brand identities of businesses need to consider customer feedback if they want to portray a specific picture to their market.

The statistics above also show us how customers no longer base their loyalty on the price and the product. Whoever gives them the most excellent customer experience is where they will give their loyalty to.

So if you’re planning to grow your business, you can do so by enhancing customer experience through feedback surveys.

2. Better Sales Funnel

Every business has a sales funnel. Whether you know it or not, each of your customers goes through your business’s funnel before successfully paying for a service or product.

But how does customer feedback make a better sales funnel? It simply informs the team behind creating the funnel on what their customers want.

The information shared through customer feedback allows sales teams with predictive dialers to create a personalized script; it helps marketers target the interests and likes of their audience; it helps business owners make informed decisions on where to direct the business based on customer interests and likes.

As mentioned, feedback usually consists of suggestions on how customers want to be treated. It also has information on what they like to see from your business which pertains to what content and marketing campaigns they like to receive.

By reading customer feedback, you now know what your customers want from your brand. You can leverage this information and improve your sales funnel around it.

This will allow your funnel to have more people going through it. You’d have better marketing campaigns, more effective sales scripts, and a more engaging landing page that really converts.

Remember, sales funnel are made for prospects and customers. By getting and studying customer feedback, you’ll know exactly how to approach these people.

You’ll know what type of lead magnets interest them and whether promo codes can make them purchase something.

Look at how Orizaba Original uses promo codes to persuade prospects to go down the funnel and become paying customers. This is a good strategy to have since according to coupon statistics, 57% of customers would not have made their purchase if they didn’t have a promo code.

You can also leverage your previous customer feedback to push customers down the sales funnel. Take a look at how Gili Sports dedicated a whole page displaying their customer feedback.

Leveraging customer feedback can help customers further the sales funnel since it removes any doubts they have in their minds. It eliminates thoughts on whether the business is legitimate or not.

3. Improved Products and Services

When you created your products and services, obviously, you had your customers in mind. But it is only through customer feedback that you will objectively know whether what you’re doing is appreciated by your market.

Improved products and services lead to increased customer satisfaction, greater customer experience, wider market reach, and a lesser chance of cart abandonment emails.

By reading customer feedback, you will see both the flaws and advantages of the products and services you created. The opinions you get here should be taken seriously since these are the people who actually tried what your business offered.

When customers express their experience and opinions, you’ll have an idea of what’s working and what’s not. You’ll know what needs to be retained in your process and what needs to be replaced immediately.

Some businesses even send out a customer feedback survey immediately after customers’ few hours of purchase. Companies do this to have a fresh view of the customer’s mind and capture accurate feedback since they just got their product.

A great example that uses this style of getting feedback is Apple. Right after their customer purchases their product, they are quick to send a survey to rate their satisfaction level and how likely will they purchase again.

Since a top global company like Apple quickly uses customer feedback to improve its product and service. In that case, your business should be leveraging the same strategy to grow your operations.

Another example would be how 3Wishes - a lingerie and Halloween costumes eCommerce store, used customer feedback to give their audience what they wanted in terms of shipping fees.

Whenever customers are on their checkout page, they remind their shoppers of their free shipping promotions.

4. Higher Customer Retention and Increased Customer Loyalty

This is one of the best benefits of customer feedback that’s listed on this list. One of the very main goals of a marketer and business owner is to transform customers into loyal ones—the types of customers who are advocates of their business.

These loyal customers bring a ton of benefits to any business. They can do all the marketing for you. These customers can give you some love on their social media, spread your business through word of mouth, or create a wonderful review of your business.

But how can you leverage customer feedback to increase customer loyalty and retention?

You can do so by acting on the feedback.

If most of your customers think that the process of getting to the checkout page seems too long, then it’s wise for your business to shorten it. If your market believes that your business is hard to contact, then it’s time to act on this and implement proper customer service pages.

When customers see that you’re taking their opinions and suggestions seriously, the more they want to do business with you. It gives them a picture that your business puts customers first above anything else - even profits.

Putting your customers first and acting on their suggestions will create a lasting impression on your market. This will make them choose your business over your competitors. It is what will compel them to share your business with their network.

So if you’re planning to have better customer retention and increase customer loyalty, put their opinions first and act on their feedback.

5. Opportunity to Convert Unhappy Customers

Opening your business for feedback means you’re inviting negative and positive reviews from your customers. Most businesses only want to focus on positive reviews and tend to neglect the negative ones.

But this is not the ideal approach to customer feedback. Negative feedback should also be dealt with and solved immediately.

Here are a few points to remember when dealing with negative customer feedback and responding to them:

• Be professional

• Greet the customer

• Address the issue

• Apologize for the inconvenience

• Propose a solution

These are essential things to remember when responding to negative customer feedback. It’s vital to be professional at all times. Although negative feedback may seem like an attack on your business, you shouldn’t be emotional and angry with your response - be professional and courteous.

Along with your response should be an apology for the inconvenience and a solution to solve the problem. No customer would appreciate a business that acknowledges the mistake but doesn’t try to make up for it.

Here’s a short example of a professional way of responding to customer feedback done by Transparent Labs.

Although the customer not liking the taste of their whey protein supplement is beyond their control, they still took the time to apologize professionally and presented a solution.

Another thing to note when dealing with negative feedback is that it is an opportunity to convert a person.

Just because a customer gave negative feedback means that you shouldn’t try to convert them. If you follow such a way of thinking, you will let other companies use negative feedback as an opportunity for them to pitch their service.

Just look at how Inflow Inventory introduced themselves when a customer had a complaint about their competitor:

6. It Helps in Making Business Decisions

Business decisions are made every day, from the smallest ones like determining the preset used for your Instagram photo to significant decisions like allocating a big budget.

Although these decisions occur daily, they are not easy to make, especially the major ones. It affects many people, and a wrong decision could potentially bring more harm to a business than good.

That’s why the most competent CEOs don’t make major decisions on a whim. They take a more strategic approach. They gather data and leverage customer feedback. It is only through this approach that they can make an informed decision.

Customer feedback will give you information on your customer’s point of view. It tells what your market wants and what they dislike. This makes your business decisions easier since you already have an idea of what your customer wants.

For example, you might be thinking about where to spend your business’s spare budget. Are you going to invest in product development or advertising? This might be an important decision to make and a hard one to do.

But if you’ve researched customer feedback, you might have found out that you lack promotional efforts and need to boost those marketing metrics.

7. It Builds a Happy Community

Consistently making your customers happy by reading and acting on customer feedback can create a happy community. This is one of the best things to achieve as a business - creating a community of happy customers.

A happy community means that the people that love your product and service have trust in your business. They are more than satisfied to purchase from your company continually.

Plus, happy customers are confident consumers. And confident consumers tend to spend more than regular ones. This just means that if you act on customer feedback, you’re also boosting your company’s revenue and exposure.

8. Boost Brand Reputation and Exposure

When a business consistently satisfies its customers, it’s only natural for it to gain popularity and have a better reputation.

A brand gets more exposure if the customer loves doing business with it. Because satisfied customers will always share their great experience with people they know or on social media. They want others to experience the same thing they did.

As a business gets more exposure and positive reviews, its reputation increases along with it. A boost in reputation invites more people to try out the business. It makes prospects curious about the company and what it has to offer, resulting in an opportunity to convert more.

A brand gets more exposure when its audience relates to its content. And fortunately, businesses can create content based on customer journey and experience.

When customers relate to these contents, they won’t second guess on sharing them on their social media platforms. It will boost brand exposure and increase its reach.

9. Upsell and Cross-sell Opportunities

When your customers are more than satisfied with your business, this is the best time to sell them something new. You want to keep the momentum going by serving them the best products and services that fit their needs.

A lot of businesses receive good praises and move on to converting other ones. Although that strategy isn’t bad, it’s just a lost opportunity to sell more of what you have to offer.

Some customers might even choose to go for your high-ticket products since they are happy to do transactions with your business.

Creating An Engaging Customer Feedback Survey

Now that you know the benefits of customer feedback, do you know how to create one your customers like? Are you able to create a customer satisfaction survey from scratch?

If you don’t know where to start, we got you covered. We can’t just leave you hanging now that you’ve understood the importance of customer feedback.

In this section, you’ll learn to create an engaging customer feedback surveys that your customers would love to answer.

I. Be Specific

When creating feedback surveys, you should be as direct and specific as possible. The last thing you want to do is use general questions because you will also get broad answers which are hard to study thoroughly.

Rather than asking a question like “what do you think?”, try being more specific and ask questions like:

• “What do you think of

• “What areas in our service can we improve on?”

• “Do you have any suggestions on how to improve your product?”

By being specific, you’ll get a more detailed answer from your customers. You’ll know exactly what their opinion and suggestions are. It removes all the guesswork in the whole process.

II. Stick to a Few Questions

Your customer feedback survey will only have a few questions when you aim to be specific and concise. You don’t want to bombard your customers with a series of questions that makes them feel like they have an exam.

Remember, customer feedback surveys are not mandatory. Your customers are taking time off their day to provide you with some information. So to respect their time and make sure to ask necessary questions only.

III. Give Them Enough Space

When creating customer feedback surveys, make sure to leave enough space for your customers to speak their minds. If you only give them a single space for their feedback, you will also get one-liner answers.

IV. Make Sure It is Accessible

Given that customer feedbacks are not mandatory, you need to make sure that your customers won’t spend a lot of time accessing your surveys.

If you give them a link via email, make sure the link is live 24/7. You don’t want to be sending out broken links - it will just waste your customers’ time.

A much better strategy would be presenting them the survey immediately. If you’re a physical store, you can give out the survey as soon as they pay to the counter. But if you’re asking digitally, those surveys should be easy to access.

V. Aim for a Great Design

Feedback surveys shouldn’t be overwhelming, over-the-top, and confusing. The main reason for a feedback survey is to get opinions from your customers. You don’t want to turn them off by overdoing the design and structure of your feedback survey.

Here are some design guidelines you can follow:

Make a logical flow: Don’t go jumping from one topic to another. Make sure the flow of questions lined up for your customers is natural as possible.

Label each field: Check if each on your survey is labeled correctly. You don’t want your customers to be guessing what it is. It just takes more time for them to finish the survey.

Make the questions optional: Answering which questions on the survey should be completely up to the customer. Don’t force them to answer something they don’t want. It’s a major turn-off and might end up closing the survey.

KISS - Keep It Short and Simple. No one wants to answer a three-page feedback survey. The KISS principle is applied to the design and the overall flow of the survey.

Conclusion

We have discussed everything you need to know about customer feedback. You have learned about the benefits of it and how to create an engaging survey.

The only thing left to do is apply the learnings you’ve collected here. By putting more significance on customer feedback, your business is on its way to growing and expanding its reach.

One thing to remember is that the benefits of customer feedback may take time to transpire. Although the effects might not be seen overnight, your business will eventually get there and reap the benefits of providing excellent service to your customers.

Author

Christian Cabaluna is a finance blogger at Novum™ with 5+ years of first-hand experience. When he is not writing in his favorite coffee shop, Christian spends most of his time reading (mainly about money-related topics), cooking, watching sitcoms, visiting beaches, and catching beautiful sunsets.