It’s 2019 and the consumer truly is king. In this age of social media, consumers are more knowledgeable and opinionated. They are more vocal. Today the consumer is far more forthcoming with feedback. Ratings, reviews, tweets, comments and blogs can make or break a brand. Businesses can no longer hide behind clever advertising and sell a bad product or provide shoddy service. Dialogue between the customer and the brand is now more important than ever.
In order to survive the cutthroat competition, businesses now need to adopt a customer-centric approach. Businesses must attempt to understand the preferences of the consumer. It is important to actively work towards building a relationship with customers. Businesses are now beginning to use Contact Management Software to keep a track of existing and potential customers and all their previous activity. This information is then used to provide a more personal customer service experience.
Customer feedback can also be one of the key drivers of growth for businesses. However, it is not enough to just gather feedback aggressively. It is important to translate that feedback into meaning. Not much can be achieved by gathering feedback if businesses do not act upon it.
Here’s How Customer Feedback Can Be Helpful:
Customers As Product Managers
Product expertise is now not just the forte of product managers. It is common for consumers to be experts on certain products. There are various platforms for people with similar passions and interests to interact with each other, share information and learn more. Nowadays, a consumer can know as much as a product manager, if not more. To gain real insight, businesses must listen to those who use their product. Customers are likely to favour businesses that care about what their customers have to say. Listening to customers and soliciting ideas from them can make a business stand out among the competition as one that cares. Interacting with customers is much easier today. Businesses can use various customer engagement strategies to interact with customers across various channels such as social media and live chat.
Developing A Product Roadmap
The best people to point out issues with a product are the ones that actually use it. If businesses take customer feedback seriously and use it to build product roadmaps, they will eventually come very close to giving the consumer the product they really want. Customer Support Software can be an effective tool in understanding the typical queries or concerns customers tend to have with a product. This software is designed to manage, organise and track customer requests systematically. However, they are also capable of using that information to provide valuable insights.
Carving A Niche
Collecting customer feedback can help businesses understand which products their customers are happier with. They can focus more on those products and carve a distinct niche for themselves. They can work on positioning themselves as experts of that product and work on expanding that product range. It can help them understand what works best for them.
Customer Retention
Negative feedback, if handled correctly, can be an opportunity to create a strong relationship with a customer and secure the customer’s loyalty to the brand. Customers that are dissatisfied with a product or service are more likely to talk about it than customers who may be happy with it. A customer who has made an effort to show their dissatisfaction with a product or service is also likely to talk about it to their friends and family. Calling them, understanding their issue, empathizing with them and providing them with a solution can go a long way in establishing a business as one that cares about its customers. It is an effective way to gain their trust and build a healthy relationship with them.
Building Brand Advocacy
Generating a positive buzz around a product can go a long way in ensuring its success. Feedback can be used to identify customers that are happy with a product. Thanking them for their patronage and rewarding them with thoughtful gestures for being loyal to the product might eventually lead them to become brand advocates. They would then be very likely to talk favourably about the brand and the product and even recommend it to others.
Employee Recognition And Motivation
Positive feedback can motivate employees to keep up the good work. It can instill a sense of pride in them and encourage them to do even better. It can help identify top performers. Negative feedback, on the other hand, if communicated in a constructive manner, can motivate an employee to work harder and do a better job. Feedback can also help identify and correct gaps in the training provided to employees.
Customer feedback matters immensely. It can be a powerful tool in helping businesses develop a customer-focused approach. To build a strong relationship with its customers, businesses must listen to what they have to say, do something about it and close the loop by letting them know that they have been heard.