How to gather customer feedback

Customer feedback and contact programmes are two ways of increasing communication with your customers. They can represent great opportunities to listen to your customers and to let them know more about what you can offer.

Customer feedback programmes
Customer feedback can provide you with detailed information about how your business is perceived. It’s a chance for customers to:

voice objections
suggest changes
endorse your existing processes
It’s also an opportunity for you to listen to what they say and act upon it.

Feedback is can be gathered using the following methods:

questionnaires
online surveys
face-to-face conversations
phone calls – either structured or informal
focus groups
Customer contact programmes
The purpose of customer contact programmes is to help you deliver tailored information to your customers. Examples include:

a special offer that is relevant to a past purchase
a reminder sent at the time of year when a customer traditionally places an order
Contact programmes are particularly useful for reactivating relationships with lapsed customers.

Do your best to make sure that your customers feel the extra contact is relevant and beneficial to them. Bombarding customers with unwanted calls or marketing material can be counter-productive.

There are a number if ways to contact your customers. See:

email marketing
telemarketing
direct marketing: the basics