Late fall is the perfect time to reevaluate your business roadmap – and using the customer feedback is a great place to start. Why? Because one of the most important things that you can do with feedback is to transform it into tangible strategies to strengthen your organization.

Power Feedback into Action

In today’s world, people love to give their two cents. After all, the more feedback they give to businesses, the better the products and services will be for them. Even better? It’s effortless to give feedback through numerous online channels such as email or social media. But, the question is, are businesses today really utilizing all of this information? Unfortunately, it appears that small business owners are failing to use it as much as they should be and are wasting some critical opportunities.

In the Entrepreneur article “5 Cool Things You Can Do with Customer Feedback,” Akshaya Venkat explores how to correct this situation with a few key tips. We’ve generalized and summarized them below.

Put Feedback into Your Product Blueprint

There is no one that knows your products inside and out like your customers. Even though you are the one that makes these items, these people use them every single day. They know what is best about them and what can be improved. In addition, they also come up with really innovative (and often very unexpected) ways on how to use your products beyond the original scope of use. If you want to tap into all of this, ask them, follow customer discussion forums, scrutinize support tickets, and record everything you see and hear. You’ll likely uncover things that amaze you.

Create a “Wall of Love”

When you create a popular product or service, you can see the widespread acceptance in sales. If that’s the case, create a “wall of love” by displaying your glowing customer feedback on all your important touch points. You can turn this wall into a more physical creation and display it at your workplace to keep motivation high.

Generate References and Testimonials

While it seems very obvious, transform customer feedback into testimonials. When customers shout your praises from the rooftop, other fellow people listen. This is much more real than what companies say about themselves, and it’s more trustworthy. Pick and choose the most robust testimonials to feature, especially if it gives other customers tips and hacks on your products and services that are not as commonly known.

Inspire Your Employees

Your team needs to remember why they are working for your company, and why and how your products and services help people. Make sure your team sees all this great customer feedback to further inspire them to support your company and generate future successful ideas. Your employees need and deserve to be reminded of why they are so important.

Reward Your Customers

When you get a compliment, a thank you comes next. This should go the extra mile when it comes to your customers. Reward the people that give you the most valuable content. Write them a personal thank you letter. Send a meaningful gift. Give them a promotion that you don’t give the average person. Do something that shows them how important they are to you, and give them reason to keep submitting that important feedback your way.

Don’t Forget to Ask

If you aren’t getting the amount of customer feedback you want and need, change that right now. Ask people specific questions and tell them why it’s necessary. Remind them that the more you learn from them, the more you can help improve their lives with better products and better services. Thank them for being a part of your success, and ask them to come along on this journey with you.

Was there any specific customer feedback that transformed your business in a powerful way? Please share with us!

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References:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251743