Happy and satisfied customers help businesses thrive. However, in an ever-changing consumer world, it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes customers happy.

Even well-established brands are constantly looking for ways to improve their customer service. For new organizations, though, the challenge is even bigger.

Having said that, the whole thing doesn’t have to be complicated. At least a part of it. It might come as a surprise, but some customers are willing to talk about your business. 

Customer feedback provides valuable insights. In some cases, it could be a significant game-changer, helping you take the next step.

Benefits of Customer Feedback

The standout benefit of customer feedback is that it helps you understand what your audience is like. Hearing directly about the likes and dislikes of a product or service paints a picture and helps make adjustments where necessary.

For instance, if a customer complains about shipping issues via live chat and is eventually asked for feedback on how their issue was resolved, their feedback will let you know if your live chat agents are doing a good job or not.

Customer feedback also works great in helping customer support improve their skills. Interacting with unsatisfied customers, especially, serves as a great experience. 

Finally, customer feedback leads to new customers. According to BrightLocal, 69% of consumers would be happy to engage with a business if they see positive reviews about it.

It makes sense to rely on reviews from a consumer’s point of view. You have no personal experience with it, and unless someone you know can recommend you goods or services, you have no choice but to rely on other consumer experiences.

Unfortunately, not everyone is open to sharing their thoughts about the goods or services they purchase. 

It’s up to the brands to create a customer feedback encouragement strategy. Let’s take a look at how businesses can encourage more customers to share their thoughts. 

Remember that the more of these strategies you implement, the higher your chances of generating customer reviews.

1. Send Follow-Ups

A follow-up goes a long way in getting the feedback. Of course, the first thing to note is that you shouldn’t bother customers who don’t want to leave a review.

If they say no or ignore your emails or text messages after a few attempts, consider it a lost cause and move on.

The purpose of a follow-up is to become a reminder. For example, someone might purchase a product and be happy with it, wanting to share their positive experiences. However, at the time of thinking that, they might be too busy.

If they don’t have the time to write a review, then they might forget about it in not too long. A reminder email asking for feedback sparks that initial motivation to sit down and share thoughts with other consumers.

Another example could be someone missing the original request. They might not even think about leaving a review, but a reminder explaining why their opinion matters could be enough of a push.

Ultimately, businesses that want more customer feedback have nothing to lose by sending follow-ups. If anything, it’s likely going to be a noticeable net gain.

2. Simplify the Feedback Process

A more straightforward feedback process is another tactic. Some shoppers might be reluctant to engage with a feedback system if it’s too complicated.

Writing a detailed review from scratch sounds too much of a hassle. Not to mention that for international shoppers, they might not have good enough English skills to express their thoughts in writing.

This is where simple feedback solutions come into play. Note, though, that you shouldn’t abandon regular customer feedback reviews. Instead, offer simplified versions. It’s about collecting as much valuable feedback as possible.

Source: bazaarvoice.com

You could create a survey that lets customers fill in the gaps, rating different online shopping experiences on a one to ten scale, for instance. 

Closed questions with simple picks like “yes” and “no” are worth a shout as well. Open questions leave room for interpretation and confusion, but if a customer has to choose between two or three options, they will have fewer things to worry about.

Naturally, a more simplified customer feedback collection approach limits how much insight you can gather. Nevertheless, it’s still much better than missing feedback.

3. Offer Incentives

Incentives are one of the oldest marketing tricks to persuade consumers. Think back to social media contests and giveaways. Posts that announce giving something away for free tend to receive a lot of engagement.

A similar thing applies to customer feedback. Since sharing your thoughts takes some time and effort, not all consumers are willing to bother.

That changes with incentives. Once they see that there’s something they can get in return, they will participate.

Source: vectorstock.com

Incentives vary depending on how much a brand is willing to invest in the campaign. More often than not, it’s:

• Free shipping vouchers
• Discount Coupons
• Exclusive VIP status

Some brands take their incentive strategy a step further. They organize weekly or monthly raffles and select a winner from the best reviews submitted during that week or month.

In such cases, the reward should go well beyond simple vouchers and coupons. Even if there is only one winner, the raffle idea still works, encouraging customers to spend extra time writing a detailed review.

If there is one downside with incentives, especially in raffles, is that they might lead to some ingenuine feedback.

Customers might think that they have a better chance of winning if they focus entirely on the positives, leaving the negatives aside. And they are right to think that.

From a business perspective, praise is great, but it leads to creating an environment where the feedback section becomes an echo chamber. A review section made up entirely of positive feedback leaves potential consumers suspicious.

4. Reach Out Directly

A direct and personalized approach is another tactic. We covered sending follow-ups that can be enough to push customers into sharing their feedback.

Reaching out directly is also a worthwhile suggestion. Sometimes, receiving attention from a brand via live chat, email or even social media is enough for a customer to connect and find the brand relatable. 

You can even go as far as recording a personalized video message. You can upload it on YouTube or another platform. 

Or, attach the video to an email and let them download it directly on their device. Whether it’s an MKV player for MacBook or an iPhone, for instance, they shouldn’t have issues opening and playing the video.

One other idea is to organize live events with customers and ask for their feedback in person. This particular method is not that common these days when the internet and digital devices let people exchange information effortlessly.

Still, it’s worth considering, especially if your brand is looking to expand its customer feedback efforts and are looking for new ways to approach it.

The downside of direct outreach is that it requires a lot of resources, particularly when trying to create tailor-made experiences and singling out customers.

5. Establish an Online Community

Source: forumbee.com

Creating a dedicated network that invites your audience to participate in various discussions might not seem like a direct way to get more customer feedback.

It takes a lot of resources to manage such a community, particularly if it’s active and constantly growing. 

Still, the effort is well worth it. It’s a forum or a social media group that lets your consumers freely express their thoughts about the goods or services.

Besides generating more feedback, an online community also:

• Drives revenue growth

Revenue growth is expected when there is transparency from the brand itself, and this transparency is combined with genuine shopping experiences.

Someone new might join a group and be interested to know more about the brand. Reading through previous discussions or starting one should lead to conversions.

• Helps stand out from competitors

Not all brands are willing to dedicate resources and establish an online community. It’s not a novelty idea, but it’s not that popular either.

Being one of the few brands in your niche, you stand to gain a lot by working on building your online community.

• Creates genuine connections

It’s easier to find a brand relatable when you establish genuine connections with others. Discussions within a community lead to relationships that go beyond being interested in a particular good or service.

Add staff members from the business participating in conversions directly to show that they care, and the genuineness grows even further.

• Makes things easier for the customer support department

Source: vervoe.com

Customer support can treat an online community as a great resource to improve. Direct feedback helps pinpoint problems and report to higher management. 

Expressing one’s dissatisfaction is one of the primary reasons why you would join an online community. And it’s up to the right departments to react and address customer complaints.

Conclusion

To sum everything up, customer feedback plays a prominent role in shaping how customers perceive your brand.

Gathering feedback is tricky, but there are ways to encourage more consumers to express their experiences.

Find what works best for your brand. Test different suggestions mentioned in this article and explore other sources to get even more ideas. 

Remember that online shoppers rely on peer reviews to make their decisions. Continue to gather feedback and raise brand awareness with the help of your shoppers.