Feedback is a double-edged sword. As a business owner, you get the good with the bad. Some people provide honest opinions about their experiences with your product, while others seek to vent after a bad experience.
While it can be challenging to sift through waves of negative feedback, it’s inevitably what helps a business thrive. Nothing is more clear-cut, transparent, or honest than a customer’s feedback.
It’s not just reviews that can filter feedback, but surveys, too. The benefits of surveys include the ability to customize them to your liking. Want opinions strictly from people who have invested time and money into your business? What about a survey exclusively for young adults aged 18-25? The structure of surveys is perfect if you wish to focus on a specific demographic.
But never mind the different ways to gain feedback; what are some of the positives that come with it? All of this feedback, whether good or bad, has to be useful for something, right? Thankfully, there is indeed a lucrative pot of gold at the end of the review rainbow for businesses who elect to use their reviews to their advantage.
Customer Satisfaction/Retention
It takes time to build up customer loyalty when you’re building up a business of your own, but it’s perhaps one of the most important aspects of a successful business. As multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett once famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” One of the ways many small businesses ruin it is by not paying attention to their audience. Building trust with customers is imperative for companies of any size. In today’s digital landscape, a single loyal customer review can significantly influence the opinions of multiple consumers before they’ve even tried your product.
It’s a bit silly, yes, but that’s the world we live in. Just as a good customer review can bring people to your door, a bad one will have them running for the hills.
How do you counteract a negative review or build off a positive one? The bulk of customer loyalty is gained through businesses remaining attentive to feedback. It’s good practice to take a glance at reviews from a distance and identify potential areas for improvement. Pay close attention to patterns that begin to form; if multiple people seem to have the same problem or concern with your product, then consider making a change. Online reviews on Yelp or Google provide a straightforward way to streamline customer complaints to businesses.
Make sure to set aside time to respond to your reviews. It means a lot to pay attention to the customer, as they feel like their opinion is making a difference. This is how you gain customer satisfaction and retention through feedback.
Ideas For Product Development
Not all good ideas come from the minds of those involved in a business.
Fun fact: Did you know that Steve Jobs and Apple developed the first iPhone based heavily on feedback from the iPod? Didn’t turn out so bad for them.
Listening to your customers leads to loyalty, but it may also lead to new ideas. It’s a process adopted by a variety of video game developers who release early versions of their games, allowing players to provide feedback on the experience before the game’s official release.
Although some ideas may seem outlandish, it’s essential to listen to feedback, as it can lead to improvements in the product or its features, such as your company’s phone app. Implementing changes from feedback gives your customers a sense of belonging. If the customer feels involved, they will be more likely to gravitate towards your product.
Advantage Over Competition
Having a loyal customer base is what separates a good business from a great one. Focusing on customer satisfaction and retention is factually proven to help your business stand out from others. Here’s some statistics to back that up, courtesy of Forbes:
- Companies that lead in customer experience outperform others by nearly 80%.
- 84% of companies that work to improve their customer experience report an increase in revenue.
- 96% of customers say that customer service is essential in their decision to be loyal to a brand.
- 77% of consumers say inefficient customer experiences detract from their quality of life.
- Loyal customers are five times more likely to make a repeat purchase and four times more likely to refer a friend to the company.
You get the picture. The point is, the customer is what drives your business. Think of it as ROI. The more you invest in your customer, the more they’ll invest in your product. It’s essential to prioritize the customer when managing your business, and it’s even more crucial to establish this standard among employees. It’s a team effort that revolves around the most important thing — people.
