Of all the tools you can utilise for business growth, you should never underestimate the power of leveraging feedback; how can you make this work in your favour and put it towards the task of business growth?
Know what you’re doing wrong
This will, more likely than not, be readily offered to you; the big the small, reasonable and unreasonable. Our culture is one of high expectations where the customer is always right and has multiple very accessible, public lines of communication to your company. Due to this, if your company does not meet expectations in terms of product, service, delivery or even function, whether this is due to the customers lack of understanding of your offering, their mistake or yours, then you’ll likely hear, quite openly, where you could improve.
It’s important to respond appropriately to negative feedback when it is given publicly, on social media, for example. However, it’s even more important to welcome this constructive feedback and put it to good use!
- Take this feedback and consider this when making future business decisions.
Know what you’re doing right
You’ll have to dig a little harder for this kind of feedback – the things that you are doing right, you should, however, be able to source the feedback you’re looking for from satisfied customers. Incentives are a well-used way to get customers to leave feedback, and whether this is offline or online, publicly or privately, a 5% discount for their feedback will never harm. However, as the way in which we interact with customers is more and more online-centric, social media is also a fantastic way to generate this kind of feedback. Get interactive with your customers and clients and being consistent with mentions and stories shares are often payment enough for positive posts and feedback about your brand. So, depending on your offering, figure out what variation of this is appropriate and will work for you!
- Encourage this feedback with customer interaction and do more of the positives they highlight – pursue these paths for further business growth.
The Act
Even the act of asking for feedback, if done correctly, can be beneficial for relationships with your clients. Asking for feedback shows that you care about the client’s experience with your company, that you care about any concerns that they might have.
A client who feels valued and whose concerns are welcomed is a client who’s more likely to stay with your company.
Of course, if you listen to your clients’ concerns, you need to act on them, if they are positive – that’s great, emulate them across the board and monitor your success with the approach. If they are negative then make the changes you need to, to show your clients you have listened.
- Ask for and listen to clients feedback to show their value to you and strengthen relationships.
Social Media
Online feedback is one form of feedback which should be encouraged and become part of your strategy if it is not already.
Gaining positive feedback on social media is not only good for learning where and what you’re doing well but is also a whole area of content for your marketing team! Sharing UGC is showing potential users how happy current users are with their purchases, experiences or relationships with your brand, and we all know that peer reviews can be more powerful than many other marketing methods.
Feedback on social media doesn’t just mean product and experiences shared on Instagram and Twitter; if your purely a corporate B2B brand then you might use Twitter but LinkedIn is also a smart choice, you can generate UGC here and recommendations too through the feedback you encourage.
- Feedback can be used for more than strategy and analysis – it is real time, honest marketing opportunities too.
No matter what kind of business you are, Google reviews are something which you should be pushing for. These are shown on your Google my Business which, if you haven’t got set up or you’re not sure if you’re using it properly, you can check out this blog on how to Ace Your GMB listing! Your Google My Business page can really help your SEO and give you a stronger presence in local search more specifically; with the addition of positive feedback, your services are being promoted without prospective clients or customers even reaching your site or social pages!
- Encourage online feedback and make this work for your marketing and SEO
