Make it easy for your customers to give feedback or offer suggestions

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This is something that I saw when Hana and I were out shopping the other day for food. Now, I applaud the different efforts companies make to engage and garner feedback from their customers……. but, for me, there was something wrong with this picture.

Here’s what I thought:

It’s a customer suggestion box in plain view near the customers queuing for the tills. Nice!

It’s an effort that says we want to hear what you have to say. Nice again.

BUT, the problem is that there’s no paper and no pencils for customers to provide feedback. Also, it’s near the customer queuing area which means it can get quite congested and many customers will not want to give up their place in the queue to make a suggestion (if they happen to have one).

If we keep the suggestion box area at the same place but think about the dynamics that happen in that area, our customers, the things that they have at their disposal and what they might be willing to do….how about this as a way of soliciting more feedback?

First of all, how about keeping the suggestion box where it is and keeping it filled with paper and pens for those that want to write something down. But then, how about adding a sign above that invites customers waiting in the queue to send a text message via their mobile phone to a suggestion number?

Do you think think this might work?

I don’t know.

But, I do think that there is a chance that it may work better than what is currently there. Why? Well, most people have mobile phones, a text message could be sent whilst they were in the queue and in doing so they wouldn’t lose their place and, therefore, you wouldn’t be asking them to do something that makes them go out of their way.

Many customer feedback and survey methods fall to live up to expectations, do more harm than good or deliver the results that a business wants because they are designed from a business’ perspective and not from a customers. Therefore, to make feedback and suggestions methods as likely as possible to success, make it easy for your customers to give feedback or offer a suggestion and make it fit with what works for them, not for you.

What cool, innovative, effective customer feedback or suggestion methods have you seen that work?

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Adrian Swinscoe
Adrian Swinscoe brings over 25 years experience to focusing on helping companies large and small develop and implement customer focused, sustainable growth strategies.

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