Top 5 reasons your customers don’t provide feedback
Kenneth H. Blanchard, the renowned American author, and management expert is famous for saying that “Feedback is the breakfast of champions,” and he couldn’t be more right. There are plenty of benefits that come with customer feedback, each of which bringing us one step closer to success.
One can look at customer feedback as one of the best tools for determining your progress. Sales, lead generation, and other such metrics, are all important indicators, but without customer feedback, it’s somewhat similar to working in the dark. You will not know what they like or dislike about your product or service, about your customer care, how to improve them, or what made your clients go to the competition.
But even if you ask for feedback, there is no guarantee that you’ll receive any. It can be problematic, especially when a business is looking to improve itself. To help you determine the cause, here are the top five reasons why your customers may not provide you with their opinion.
The Wrong Design
In many cases, the reason why your customers aren’t answering your feedback request is a simple case of inadequate or improper survey design. The survey may be too long, and people don’t want to bother with it. More than two or three questions and the chances drop significantly. It could also be because the questions you ask don’t match the experience they had. Or it could be because the subjects, themselves, may be too personal or for unclear purposes.
They Think You Don’t Care
Statistics show that a whopping 68% of customers stop doing business with a company just because they feel unappreciated. The same thing can translate when they are asked to provide their feedback. A lack of proper customer care may lead clients to feel apathetic towards your business and will not be inclined to give you their opinion.
They Don’t Know What You’re Using It For
Somewhat similar to the point above is when you don’t provide your customers with information as to why you’re asking them for feedback in the first place. Is it for product update, a policy change, or something else? Your customers will feel that their opinion matters if you tell them what it’s for. They will also greatly appreciate it if they know that their voice has been heard. Also, take the opportunity to make your customers feel closer to you by giving them a personalized follow-up note.
It’s Too Late
The best kind of feedback is real-time feedback. Not everyone is taking this approach to the issue. Many companies will ask a customer for feedback, probably via email, hours or even days after the interaction in question has taken place. Not only will this provide less accurate information, but it will also cause your customers to answer less than if they did it on the spot.
Broad Questions and No Personalization
Too broad of a question can cause people not to answer. You need to keep in mind that not all of your customers use your products and services the same and your questions should account for that fact. Based on your data about the client, try personalizing your questions so that they fit with their job, behavior, or whatever else may differentiate them from the others.
Conclusion
Customer feedback is valuable, but it’s no use asking for it if people don’t answer. Make sure that you follow these steps and that your surveys are answerable before you start questioning your clients to give their input.
