We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” – Bill Gates
Most of us understand the value of customer feedback to our businesses. Without it, we don’t get those valuable insights into how we’re doing that allow us to grow, adapt, and improve.
But if you’ve never proactively done it before, you might be wondering the best ways to gather customer feedback.
Here are five practical and easy methods that small business owners can use.
This is the main way that I do it. Because the main way I utilise my clients’ feedback is in the form of testimonials on my website, receiving the feedback in easily digestible written form is really useful. It also gives me a record of their consent to be quoted, either by name or anonymously.
You can create a simple form using Google Forms and then share it by email and social media. It’s free and it takes less than 10 minutes. Here’s mine for inspiration:
If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business page yet, go and check out my handy guide and get that set up before we go any further.
Once you’ve got your Google My Business page, create a short business name and URL to request reviews from customers. You can then share this link on your social media, add it to your email signature, make sure it is prominently displayed on your website, and even print it on your business cards.
Google Reviews are one of the most trusted sources for consumers and potential clients. 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends, according to Inc., and Google Reviews is often the first place those prospective customers will look.
There’s another added bonus, too: gathering just a few positive Google Reviews positively impacts your SEO, helping you to rank higher in search results. Marketer and author Brodie Tyler reported that a business appearing in the top 3 results for a local search had on average 7.62 reviews.
This is probably the most under-utilised method of gathering feedback, but it’s so, so useful! Want to know what someone thinks? Just ask them.
When you’ve been working with a client for a while (or a customer has had your product for a while,) reach out to them directly using whatever method you normally use to communicate.
Just say something like this: “I’m seeking some feedback on [my work/the product/our customer experience/delete as appropriate]. I wonder if you had any thoughts you’d be willing to share on anything that is working well and anything I could improve?”
If you have this conversation verbally rather than in writing, make notes so you remember what they said.
Social media is a goldmine of potential candid customer feedback, and there are a number of ways to use it.
The easiest way is just to put up a post asking for customer feedback. You could link to your testimonials form or Google Reviews page, or ask people to drop their feedback directly into the comments. Another option is to use polls. For example, on Twitter you can run a poll with up to 4 multiple-choice options. Here’s how tech giant IBM used a Twitter poll to ascertain what type of content their audience values:
And on Instagram Stories, you can run a this-or-that poll with 2 options, or a sliding poll where respondents move the slider to a particular point to indicate their response. Here are a couple of ways companies have used these tricks to gather customer feedback:
Be aware, though, that anything said on social media is by definition public. So you might only want to poll your customer base publicly if you’re reasonably sure you’ll get a positive response!
If you want to get more in-depth and hear what your customers think on a number of different points related to your business, it might be time to use a more in-depth survey to gather customer feedback. You can create your survey using a tool like SurveyMonkey or TypeForm, and then disseminate it to your customers using your email marketing list and social media.
Since filling in a lengthy survey takes time, I recommend offering an incentive to those who take the time. You could offer a generous discount code on their next purchase, a freebie such as access to premium content, or enter everyone who completes the survey into a prize draw (the prize should be something anyone can use – an Amazon gift card is a popular choice.)
Here’s how cafe and restaurant The Stage did it:
Different businesses will find that different techniques of gathering feedback work for them. Don’t be afraid to try a few different things and see what yields the most useful responses.
What useful methods of collecting feedback have worked for your business?
With optimism coming from the vaccine rollout programme, UK SMEs expect to be hiring 1.2m staff over the next year.
Renewed optimism is the driving force behind these hiring plans, with an added desire for SMEs to grow their workforce diversity and prioritise employee wellbeing.
Some say everything needs to be online. And they have led you to believe that everything is now actually online and you won’t succeed unless it is. Yet, as we look across the business landscape at how customers and clients are coming back to businesses, there is still a very healthy demand for face to face contact and relationship building. So the sensible and and logical thing to do is to build a business that can offer both.
Some say everything needs to be online. And they have led you to believe that everything is now actually online and you won’t succeed unless it is. Yet, as we look across the business landscape at how customers and clients are coming back to businesses, there is still a very healthy demand for face to face contact and relationship building. So the sensible and and logical thing to do is to build a business that can offer both.
New data has revealed that almost three-quarters of UK consumers (71%) think brands, retailers and small businesses are NOT doing enough to make their beauty and personal care* purchases more sustainable. They also identified plastic waste as the main culprit – around half (46%) see it as the biggest sustainability challenge facing the industry.
Friend of the Small Business owner, eBay has posted some impressive figures after Christmas 2020
Boohoo, the online fashion retailer, has bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m, but will not take on any of the businesses remaining 118 High Street stores or its workforce.
Whether your business has thrived or barely scraped by this year, it’s been a rough ride. We’re all going to need to plan, strategise, and draw on all the resources available to us next year. With that in mind, I wanted to delve into an interesting trend I’ve noticed and ask this question: will 2021 be the year of the freelancer?
Whatever the reason, sooner or later there will likely come a time when you have to break up with a client. But there’s a right and a wrong way to do that. Here are a few things to bear in mind as you navigate the sometimes-messy process of ending a business relationship.
There’s been a lot of buzz about virtual assistants in the last couple of years. Perhaps you’ve already worked with one, or thought about doing so. But maybe you’re not entirely clear how a virtual assistant (VA) can help your business, or whether you’re at the stage where hiring one would be helpful.
Today, we’re talking about all things VAs!
Do you feel like you keep posting and posting on social media but you’re getting little to no response? Have your follower numbers plateaued? If so, your content might be the problem. Too many business owners fall into the bad habit of only posting when they’ve got something to plug, or posting the same types of content again and again.
Here are a few ways to add variety to your content and get your engagement rates soaring:
