Customer feedback is an invaluable resource that can’t be ignored in today’s business world. Customer listening posts like surveys, client interviews, and focus groups can help you keep an honest pulse of how your business is doing, through customers' eyes. But if you're spending money on a client feedback program, chances are you probably want to get the most for what you spend. If that's the case, then you need to listen for the extra clues your clients have to share about your business and its people, beyond the final transaction and a rating on a scale of 1-10.
Here are three secrets to unlock that can also keep you ahead of slip-ups.
- Uncover operational risks. Customer feedback as a risk mitigation tool is one of the most overlooked opportunities of today's voice of the customer programs. Here's an example of how you can use feedback to mitigate business risk. In a past life, a firm I represented wondered why the business relationship with a long-time client seemed to be suffering. I flew out to see the client and conducted a client feedback session. During the interview, I learned that the client had been receiving bills for an entirely different company/client of my firm. Of course, that's annoying for the client! But that mistake is also a potential operational risk for the firm. What if those bills contained client confidential information? The client's feedback flagged a need to examine error-prone internal business processes responsible for the billing errors. Without the client's feedback, who knows how long the error and its accompanying risk could have lingered without corrective action?
- Pinpoint employee development opportunities. Have you ever wondered if you were offering the right continuing education to your team? If you ask, clients will tell you about their experiences with your staff's timeliness, responsiveness, communication style, and technical ability. Translate that input into training programs that will guide your employees toward new or improved skills customers expect your team to have. In another past life, a client shared during a feedback session that an engagement manager from my firm was technically adept, but regularly bickered during face-to-face meetings with the client's staff, which caused unnecessary friction. That feedback helped my firm to get in front of a potential relationship issue, and identify an opportunity to improve the non-technical skills of a technically talented employee.
- Prioritize digital vs. non-digital experience improvements. In some businesses, and even at some government agencies (not just the U.S.), entire new organizational divisions have been created to innovate and re-engineer websites, digital apps, and online customer portals. But studies coming from the customer experience world, and even from government entities like the Government Accountability Office, continuously call attention to the notion that customers sometimes need improvements on less technical, non-digital things like signage, wait times, seating areas, and plain language communication. Use feedback to understand what customers see as a priority, and avoid the mistake of spending time and money on things that won't bring you as close to your customers as you may have envisioned.
It is not uncommon for businesses to try to "make do" without customer feedback. Sometimes, leaders mistakenly believe they intuitively know what customers want. Or, customer feedback is viewed as a "nice to have," rather than a source of business intelligence. But if during your customer listening efforts you ask high-impact questions in the right way and listen for intersections of opportunity beyond an end transaction, then you can get a lot more from your efforts.
All opinions and insights are mine. Follow me on Twitter: @stephaniethum
Want to know how to create high-impact, modern customer feedback questions and use feedback to identify business risks and opportunities? Feel free to contact me. My areas of emphasis include business-to-business, professional services firms, and government agencies.
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