How to leverage the right technology to gather customer feedback
Many organizations collect customer feedback in hopes of using that data to improve their operations and, ultimately, the customer experience. But the success of your customer feedback strategy hinges on your ability to collect that data efficiently and effectively.
Can Feedback Collection Damage the Customer Experience?
The whole point of asking your customers for their feedback is to gain insight into how they experience your services. But without leveraging the right collection methods to hear their thoughts, you risk
- Working with inaccurate data
- Collecting feedback that doesn’t reflect what you want to know
- Not being able to use the data effectively
With even one of these three drawbacks present, your feedback collection strategy can inflict more harm than help.
Luckily, the digital era has afforded us plenty of tools that have not only improved the way we collect feedback, but also how we view, sort, and use the data.
But beware – not all feedback technology is created equal, and choosing the wrong tools can weaken the customer experience in the long run.
How to Choose the Right Technology for Successful Customer Feedback Collection
Selecting the right technology to collect customer feedback can define the success (or lack thereof) of your entire strategy. However, it takes a little prior research and planning if you want to see any real benefit from your collection efforts.
Step #1 – Define your goals.
Mapping your goals boils down to one key question:
Why am I seeking customer feedback?
Understand exactly what you want to get out of your feedback strategy, then brainstorm how you can go about achieving it.
Step #2 – Decide what you need to know.It’d be nice to hear only the positives about your services, but the reality is that you do have areas you need to improve. And once you discover what those areas are, you should plan to address them. Ask yourself:
- What do you want your customers to tell you?
- Once you gain this knowledge, how are you going to use it?
One good place to start is looking at your current metrics and see which ones are underperforming and which ones are somehow related to those underperformers. Knowing this can help you connect the dots when analyzing your data.
#3 – Choose the technology that best delivers the information you need.
Once you establish your goals and understand what you want to know, choosing the right collection tools is magically easier. Let’s look at a few popular methods:
Email Surveys
On the plus side, email surveys are easy to create and scale, plus tools like SurveyMonkey compile your results in an easy-to-read format.
However, students may not fully complete the survey, or even participate. In addition, you need to keep the survey short and to the point, which may limit how much data you collect.
SMS Text Surveys
On the upside, text surveys are a familiar practice for most students, and can help you discover simple insights.
On the downside, encouraging participation and limiting your survey to only one or two questions can stifle the amount of data you collect.
Receipt Surveys
Perhaps one of the most valid types of feedback, you can add a secret survey link to each receipt that indicates how to leave their feedback. You can also require a code or receipt number to boost response validity.
The only real downside is promoting it – you’ll need to find some way to draw attention to the survey to encourage participation.
Social Media Feedback
The biggest benefit is that students are already using social media for other things, so they’re likely to leave feedback here.
However, feedback results are hard to compile and usually focus only on what guests want to say, rather than on the specifics you want to know.
Wrap Up
Not all of the feedback tools will be a viable option for you. Take time to decide which feedback collection option will help you meet your unique goals.
