Gone are the days where consumers were overwhelmed with force-fed advertising. Today, a more subtle approach is favoured where brands prefer to connect with real-world customers on an experiential level. We’re not saying that TV adverts, flyers, and billboard prints have totally gone out the window – we’re just very aware of the engagement that’s needed to hold the attention of modern-day buyers.
To ensure that your target market does engage with your brand and hang onto your every word; gathering customer feedback needs to form an important component of your marketing strategy. This way, you can keep your audiences intrigued and ultimately satisfied as they engage with your business.
Did you know that 60% of future customers (the ones who will shape the marketing landscape for the next 20 to 40 years) expect a consistent brand experience across all channels? – Social Media Today
Now that you understand what’s needed to advertise to modern markets, let’s emphasise the vitality of customer or client feedback, how it can be gathered, and more importantly, how it can be applied.
What is customer feedback?
Customer feedback is information that’s been gathered from both customers and potential customers. This info can be positive and negative in nature and should relate to a customer’s personal experience with your business, product, or service.
Customer feedback can come in many different shapes and sizes and will largely depend on your brand, what it offers, and how it offers it.
Responses can be given freely – which means that a person will provide you with insights or opinions out of their own initiative (no prompting needed), or they can be actively asked for by your business.
When feedback is given freely, then most individuals will leave a review, a social media message, or they may email or phone you to share their thoughts. This means that you need to be on the ball and pay close attention to all types of communication that your brand receives.
As we proceed with this guide, our focus will lie on requested feedback, but this does not mean that information that’s shared without encouragement shouldn’t be considered – it should always form part of the bigger picture – which we like to call “customer satisfaction”.
Why is customer feedback important for marketing?
Customer feedback is a requirement for continuous business growth. We all know how it goes: the happier your customers are, the more loyal they’ll remain to your company. And if they are happy and confident with your product and service, then they are also more likely to refer you to their contacts. You get the gist of it!
Essentially, without comments and reviews, you won’t know if your customers are happy or unhappy. If they’re unhappy, you could be using their responses to save your brand before it’s too late.
In terms of marketing, feedback can be used to determine:
- How a customer base views your brand. Does your brand image speak to them in a positive light? Are the messages you’re communicating being easily absorbed? What are the reactions to your methods of advertising?
- How they view your products or services. Do your customers feel like your product or service lives up to its promises? Are there suggestions for improvement? Would your customers purchase your product or service again if an updated version was released? How would they prefer to be notified when new products or services are released?
- What they would like to experience when engaging with your brand. As we discussed, marketing has become more about customer experience (CX) and less about streamlined advertising. Ask your audiences what would make their experience with your brand better; from the point of brand awareness to aftersales.
Happy customers are the ultimate marketing investment. Why? Because not only are returning customers less expensive to convert, but they market your business to their friends and family for you – for FREE!
How can you gather feedback from customers?
The strategy or tools used to gather customer feedback will differ from one organisation to the next and will depend on the type of information needed, the nature of the business, as well as the type of relationship you have with your customers. There are, however, a few popular methods of data collection that most brands flock towards, they include:
SMS or text messages. SMSs have the highest response rate at around 40%. This makes this method ideal for businesses who need direct answers fast. It’s also one of the more cost-effective ways of gathering responses. Messages can be sent to a target audience requesting a direct response or the message can feature a link that leads to a more complex customer feedback survey.
Surveys. Surveys are one way to get indepth insight into how audiences feel about your brand. They can be conducted via text message, email, social media, telephonically, or face-to-face. A well-thought-out customer satisfaction survey can be the difference between a brand that cares and a brand that falters.
Direct communication. A personal approach is one way to not only ask an individual for their opinion on your business but at the same time, it can make them feel important and valued as a customer. This especially applies if the question/s come from management personnel who have taken the time to gauge how customers are feeling in real time.
Reviews. Online reviews can be requested using social media channels or web pages. If you use this method, it’s important that you remember to curate your pages so that a negative review isn’t left “hanging” – which can leave your brand in a very “negative” light.
Social listening. What’s the news on the street? What’s trending on Facebook? That is, what are your customers saying about your product on social media and at events? Sometimes, keeping an ear to the ground is what can give you the best marketing ideas.
As your company grows, you’ll have to gather more responses to continue expanding. You’ll also see that by simply listening to your target market, your brand will naturally draw more people to it – especially if you accumulate positive written reviews and word-of-mouth praise.
Qualitative vs quantitative feedback: which one is better?
Feedback is usually quantitative or qualitative in nature. For example, quantitative feedback tells you how many customers feel a certain way, while qualitative feedback tells you why they feel this way.
Let’s take a deeper look into each approach:
Quantitative feedback
Quantitative feedback helps to confirm an average opinion of a general audience. It’s an important part of determining product/market fit and can gauge whether your product or service is worth being marketed. It can also be used to provide insight into a widespread problem with the intent of finding an effective solution to said the problem.
This type of feedback relies mostly on short, multiple-choice questions which are easy to complete and don’t prompt a high drop-out rate.
Qualitative feedback
Qualitative feedback, on the other hand, focuses on answers that are detailed and personal. This way, you can gain a deeper understanding of how your customers feel. When applying this method, then open-ended questions are favoured. Such questions allow for a wide range of responses, many of which may come as a surprise to you.
When creating customer surveys, you will need to discern what it is you want to learn and why. This will help you to determine if you need to take a qualitative or quantitative approach to your feedback – you may even want to plan a combined strategy!
How do you categorise customer feedback?
Once your customer feedback questions have been answered, you’ll find yourself sitting on a mountain of invaluable data. However, categorising this information can be an overwhelming process.
Customer Service Manager shares some tips with us on how to categorise and analyse feedback:
- Categorise the answers. Start by reading through the answers you’ve received and keep an eye out for recurring patterns. For example, is there a common thread on what people are saying about your brand? Typical answers will often refer to the delivery of your service, the quality of the products you sell, and if the type of customer care you offer is satisfactory. Take note of these themes or patterns and then jot them down as separate categories.
- Divide categories into sub-categories. Once you’ve read through your feedback and noted common themes or categories, then there’s bound to be a few specific topics that deserve their own attention. This can be done by creating sub-categories. Sometimes, these sub-categories may seem of little importance when compared to the main themes. However, even feedback that may be received as inconsequential can help to improve business operations that you think nobody notices but are actually very significant to your customer journey.
- Separate positive and negative feedback. No matter how perfect you feel your business model is, there are bound to be unhappy customers who come back with negative comments. This is okay. Positive comments can draw a picture of what you’re doing correctly (and what you can do more of) and negative feedback can be used as a guide to change aspects of your brand that customers do not approve of. Both types of feedback can form the basis of an effective marketing plan moving forward, with customer loyalty being a vital goal.
- Combine your results and form a plan of action. Once you’ve created categories, sub-categories and separated positive and negative comments, then you can consolidate your results. These results can be used to adequately respond to any issues raised and they can also form a marketing strategy based on your audience’s needs.
This particular way of categorising and analysing responses will also help you to gain valuable knowledge that will improve future customer feedback strategies for marketing and overall business growth.
Applying customer feedback to improve marketing
We’ve focused on the types of feedback you need to collect for improved marketing and we have also discussed how responses can be categorised and studied. Now it’s time to look at how you can use this information for product development and overall business growth.
As long as you’re getting constructive feedback from your audience, you’re taking the first step. – Forbes
The approach we’re going to share focuses on customer experience as a means of effective marketing.
Curate your content
Content marketing is currently all the rage, and for good reason. It’s an ideal way to connect with consumers without being overbearing or forcing products onto them. So, we suggest that you use what you’ve learnt from studying user feedback to curate content on your blog, website, social media pages, emails, and SMSs that “speaks” to your audiences in a way that they want/like to be spoken to.
You can even use this type of information to divide your audience and send out content that speaks to each division on a more personal level.
Improve existing products
If a product or service is optimally amazing, then it may just market itself. It’s very seldom, however, that an item or service doesn’t have room for improvement. If your customers are hinting that your product could do better, then heed this advice!
Listening to what audiences have to say and actively trying to perfect your product/s based on their feedback is a great method to help ensure that your product will be welcomed by the market. You’ll probably see a surge in positive reviews and even purchases after making suggested changes.
Increase your customer retention rate
One of the most important things you can do with customer feedback is use it to build a trusting relationship with your target market and increase your retention rate. By allowing customers the opportunity to provide feedback; you make them feel like their opinion and experience matters. For instance, if a client is dissatisfied with your service and is getting ready to cancel a subscription, you can use the data you received to quickly turn their experience around for them.
Analysing why your customers want to leave or refrain from purchasing your product and then turning it into a positive experience is a significant part of gathering feedback.
Understanding how and where you can perfect customer experience will help you fine-tune your marketing strategy.
Gone are the days where consumers were overwhwelmed with force-fed advertising. Today, a more subtle approach is favoured where brands prefer to connect with real-world customers on an experiential level. We’re not saying that TV adverts, flyers, and billboard prints have totally gone out the window – we’re just very aware of the engagement that’s needed to hold the attention of modern-day buyers.
To ensure that your target market does engage with your brand and hang onto your every word; gathering customer feedback needs to form an important component of your marketing strategy. This way, you can keep your audiences intrigued and ultimately satisfied as they engage with your business.
Did you know that 60% of future customers (the ones who will shape the marketing landscape for the next 20 to 40 years) expect a consistent brand experience across all channels? – Social Media Today
Now that you understand what’s needed to advertise to modern markets, let’s emphasise the vitality of customer or client feedback, how it can be gathered, and more importantly, how it can be applied.
What is customer feedback?
Customer feedback is information that’s been gathered from both customers and potential customers. This info can be positive and negative in nature and should relate to a customer’s personal experience with your business, product, or service.
Customer feedback can come in many different shapes and sizes and will largely depend on your brand, what it offers, and how it offers it.
Responses can be given freely – which means that a person will provide you with insights or opinions out of their own initiative (no prompting needed), or they can be actively asked for by your business.
When feedback is given freely, then most individuals will leave a review, a social media message, or they may email or phone you to share their thoughts. This means that you need to be on the ball and pay close attention to all types of communication that your brand receives.
As we proceed with this guide, our focus will lie on requested feedback, but this does not mean that information that’s shared without encouragement shouldn’t be considered – it should always form part of the bigger picture – which we like to call “customer satisfaction”.
Why is customer feedback important for marketing?
Customer feedback is a requirement for continuous business growth. We all know how it goes: the happier your customers are, the more loyal they’ll remain to your company. And if they are happy and confident with your product and service, then they are also more likely to refer you to their contacts. You get the gist of it!
Essentially, without comments and reviews, you won’t know if your customers are happy or unhappy. If they’re unhappy, you could be using their responses to save your brand before it’s too late.
In terms of marketing, feedback can be used to determine:
- How a customer base views your brand. Does your brand image speak to them in a positive light? Are the messages you’re communicating being easily absorbed? What are the reactions to your methods of advertising?
- How they view your products or services. Do your customers feel like your product or service lives up to its promises? Are there suggestions for improvement? Would your customers purchase your product or service again if an updated version was released? How would they prefer to be notified when new products or services are released?
- What they would like to experience when engaging with your brand. As we discussed, marketing has become more about customer experience (CX) and less about streamlined advertising. Ask your audiences what would make their experience with your brand better; from the point of brand awareness to aftersales.
Happy customers are the ultimate marketing investment. Why? Because not only are returning customers less expensive to convert, but they market your business to their friends and family for you – for FREE!
How can you gather feedback from customers?
The strategy or tools used to gather customer feedback will differ from one organisation to the next and will depend on the type of information needed, the nature of the business, as well as the type of relationship you have with your customers. There are, however, a few popular methods of data collection that most brands flock towards, they include:
SMS or text messages. SMSs have the highest response rate at around 40%. This makes this method ideal for businesses who need direct answers fast. It’s also one of the more cost-effective ways of gathering responses. Messages can be sent to a target audience requesting a direct response or the message can feature a link that leads to a more complex customer feedback survey.
Surveys. Surveys are one way to get indepth insight into how audiences feel about your brand. They can be conducted via text message, email, social media, telephonically, or face-to-face. A well-thought-out customer satisfaction survey can be the difference between a brand that cares and a brand that falters.
Direct communication. A personal approach is one way to not only ask an individual for their opinion on your business but at the same time, it can make them feel important and valued as a customer. This especially applies if the question/s come from management personnel who have taken the time to gauge how customers are feeling in real time.
Reviews. Online reviews can be requested using social media channels or web pages. If you use this method, it’s important that you remember to curate your pages so that a negative review isn’t left “hanging” – which can leave your brand in a very “negative” light.
Social listening. What’s the news on the street? What’s trending on Facebook? That is, what are your customers saying about your product on social media and at events? Sometimes, keeping an ear to the ground is what can give you the best marketing ideas.
As your company grows, you’ll have to gather more responses to continue expanding. You’ll also see that by simply listening to your target market, your brand will naturally draw more people to it – especially if you accumulate positive written reviews and word-of-mouth praise.
Qualitative vs quantitative feedback: which one is better?
Feedback is usually quantitative or qualitative in nature. For example, quantitative feedback tells you how many customers feel a certain way, while qualitative feedback tells you why they feel this way.
Let’s take a deeper look into each approach:
Quantitative feedback
Quantitative feedback helps to confirm an average opinion of a general audience. It’s an important part of determining product/market fit and can gauge whether your product or service is worth being marketed. It can also be used to provide insight into a widespread problem with the intent of finding an effective solution to said the problem.
This type of feedback relies mostly on short, multiple-choice questions which are easy to complete and don’t prompt a high drop-out rate.
Qualitative feedback
Qualitative feedback, on the other hand, focuses on answers that are detailed and personal. This way, you can gain a deeper understanding of how your customers feel. When applying this method, then open-ended questions are favoured. Such questions allow for a wide range of responses, many of which may come as a surprise to you.
When creating customer surveys, you will need to discern what it is you want to learn and why. This will help you to determine if you need to take a qualitative or quantitative approach to your feedback – you may even want to plan a combined strategy!
How do you categorise customer feedback?
Once your customer feedback questions have been answered, you’ll find yourself sitting on a mountain of invaluable data. However, categorising this information can be an overwhelming process.
Customer Service Manager shares some tips with us on how to categorise and analyse feedback:
- Categorise the answers. Start by reading through the answers you’ve received and keep an eye out for recurring patterns. For example, is there a common thread on what people are saying about your brand? Typical answers will often refer to the delivery of your service, the quality of the products you sell, and if the type of customer care you offer is satisfactory. Take note of these themes or patterns and then jot them down as separate categories.
- Divide categories into sub-categories. Once you’ve read through your feedback and noted common themes or categories, then there’s bound to be a few specific topics that deserve their own attention. This can be done by creating sub-categories. Sometimes, these sub-categories may seem of little importance when compared to the main themes. However, even feedback that may be received as inconsequential can help to improve business operations that you think nobody notices but are actually very significant to your customer journey.
- Separate positive and negative feedback. No matter how perfect you feel your business model is, there are bound to be unhappy customers who come back with negative comments. This is okay. Positive comments can draw a picture of what you’re doing correctly (and what you can do more of) and negative feedback can be used as a guide to change aspects of your brand that customers do not approve of. Both types of feedback can form the basis of an effective marketing plan moving forward, with customer loyalty being a vital goal.
- Combine your results and form a plan of action. Once you’ve created categories, sub-categories and separated positive and negative comments, then you can consolidate your results. These results can be used to adequately respond to any issues raised and they can also form a marketing strategy based on your audience’s needs.
This particular way of categorising and analysing responses will also help you to gain valuable knowledge that will improve future customer feedback strategies for marketing and overall business growth.
Applying customer feedback to improve marketing
We’ve focused on the types of feedback you need to collect for improved marketing and we have also discussed how responses can be categorised and studied. Now it’s time to look at how you can use this information for product development and overall business growth.
As long as you’re getting constructive feedback from your audience, you’re taking the first step. – Forbes
The approach we’re going to share focuses on customer experience as a means of effective marketing.
Curate your content
Content marketing is currently all the rage, and for good reason. It’s an ideal way to connect with consumers without being overbearing or forcing products onto them. So, we suggest that you use what you’ve learnt from studying user feedback to curate content on your blog, website, social media pages, emails, and SMSs that “speaks” to your audiences in a way that they want/like to be spoken to.
You can even use this type of information to divide your audience and send out content that speaks to each division on a more personal level.
Improve existing products
If a product or service is optimally amazing, then it may just market itself. It’s very seldom, however, that an item or service doesn’t have room for improvement. If your customers are hinting that your product could do better, then heed this advice!
Listening to what audiences have to say and actively trying to perfect your product/s based on their feedback is a great method to help ensure that your product will be welcomed by the market. You’ll probably see a surge in positive reviews and even purchases after making suggested changes.
Increase your customer retention rate
One of the most important things you can do with customer feedback is use it to build a trusting relationship with your target market and increase your retention rate. By allowing customers the opportunity to provide feedback; you make them feel like their opinion and experience matters. For instance, if a client is dissatisfied with your service and is getting ready to cancel a subscription, you can use the data you received to quickly turn their experience around for them.
Analysing why your customers want to leave or refrain from purchasing your product and then turning it into a positive experience is a significant part of gathering feedback.
Understanding how and where you can perfect customer experience will help you fine-tune your marketing strategy.