Really Common Small Business Mistakes to Watch Out For (and Avoid)
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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?
Really Common Small Business Mistakes to Watch Out For (and Avoid)
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:
When people hear “passive income,” it conjures up images of money for doing nothing. It’s a very seductive myth. Who wouldn’t want to have the cash rolling in while they lie on the beach sipping a cocktail?
Have you ever agreed to do a project for a customer or client, only to have them add on “one extra little request” once you’ve started work? You’re kinda annoyed, but you let it slide and do the extra thing. Got to keep the client happy, after all! But they soon come back with just one more tiny little extra… and then another… until, next thing you know, the project is completely out of proportion with what you initially agreed to do…
Have you ever agreed to do a project for a customer or client, only to have them add on “one extra little request” once you’ve started work? You’re kinda annoyed, but you let it slide and do the extra thing. Got to keep the client happy, after all! But they soon come back with just one more tiny little extra… and then another… until, next thing you know, the project is completely out of proportion with what you initially agreed to do…
Time is what we all want the most, but use the worst. So here are som ‘hacks’ for small business owners to make the most of what we’ve got…
The current situation may call for it, but is diversification a good or a bad idea?
You’ve got an amazing client and they probably set up 70% of your business. But what happens if they get a walk out or go bust? I’ll tell you…
Have you ever agreed to do a project for a customer or client, only to have them add on “one extra little request” once you’ve started work? You’re kinda annoyed, but you let it slide and do the extra thing. Got to keep the client happy, after all! But they soon come back with just one more tiny little extra… and then another… until, next thing you know, the project is completely out of proportion with what you initially agreed to do…
Here are five practical and easy methods that small business owners can use.
