Why It Is Important To Capture Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is a useful and important tool for business growth. However, as you are in the process of choosing the best feedback tool for your customers, you need to clarify what you hope to achieve at the end of the process.
Indeed, too many businesses join the trend of building a feedback loop into their communication activities. However, what do they do with it?
Customer reviews can help you improve your brand and operations. How does this work? After all, every company is worried about negative public reviews, which can affect their reputation and profits.
So, what are the advantages of capturing real customer feedback?
1. You can meet your audience group
Are your customers your target audience? The answer is not always obvious. Imagine you launch an easily accessible vintage, second-hand fashion boutique. Your target audience is environmentally-friendly, typically Gen Z or Millennial generation, and budget-conscious.
Unfortunately, your shop is located in the vicinity of the financial center, surrounded by luxury boutiques and banking institutions.
The population is affluent, focused on profit, and typically established in their careers — Generation X or late Boomers. Would local residents and professionals avoid your boutique?
Not necessarily, but they may be left disappointed because the service and decor do not match their expectations.
Should you relocate to another environment? No, but you can learn from the reviews to adjust the space and communication accordingly, so you can target a broader audience group.
2. You can protect your reputation
The customer can help you address issues in your operation that you may not have been aware of. First of all, addressing the customer by name can help show that you value their feedback.
As businesses have the opportunity to respond to comments, you can seize the chance to apologize for their bad experience. If the problem expressed by the customer can be solved easily, it’s the perfect time to display the steps you are taking to solve it.
Bad feedback left unanswered can be harmful. But addressing it can help protect your reputation.
For instance, if the customers are complaining about poor product quality, you can address it before they contact the consumer protection attorney and file a lawsuit against your company. In fact, it would be wise to go now and learn about consumer rights and build a business that adheres to them.
What if the feedback is positive? Essentially, you can still find out what elements contributed to the customer’s satisfaction; you can make sure to keep these in the future.
3. You can get rid of fraudulent reviews
Not every online review is written by a customer. In fact, competitors sometimes task fake reviewers to leave negative feedback in an effort to gain more customers. So, as a business, you can use review details to eliminate scam reviewers safely:
- Ensure your staff members all wear a name badge, such as a custom badge from these guys, so you can check whether they mention a real employee,
- Cross-check order details to find whether the customer exists,
- Verify time and place, as some fake reviews refer to periods where the business was not in operation
Places such as Google My Business allow you to eliminate fake reviews, so you don’t have to worry about their impact.
Bottomline
What value can a business expect from customer feedback? Customer feedback acts as secondary communication about your business that people outside the business create.
It is a source of information about your brand’s perception and the customer experience provided.
Bad reviews are unpleasant, but they are valuable. Indeed, negative feedback left by a disgruntled customer doesn’t have to ruin the brand.
You can use the information to protect yourself from destructive targeting, adjust your brand strategy, and build your reputation.
