There is more choice than ever before for consumers and it is vital that as a business owner you understand how to effectively manage your brand, and more importantly how to manage customer feedback and feed it back into positive reinforcement of your brand, its ideals, and the overall customer experience. Hiring a professional service that provides you with clear and accurate customer feedback is a great way to ensure that you are maximising the potential of your company and that you continue to improve by listening to your customers.
Word of mouth has always been king in the consumer world; it’s just that these days word of mouth comes in many different forms and not just a recommendation from a friend, a family member, or a colleague. Word of mouth and recommendations are amazing for any business and should always be the primary target as a means of acquiring new business, but these days word of mouth can also include online reviews. With this in mind it is vital that the customer experience is a positive one and that you improve all areas of your business where the customer is in contact with your company – even if this is before they are making a purchase and are in the stages of researching a product or service.
A string of excellent customer reviews is brilliant, but a negative one can have a dramatic impact. It is all about brand perception, but also how you react to negative comments. Customer feedback can be implemented carefully at various stages and can include processes such as mystery shopping in person or over the phone, video mystery shopping, customer satisfaction surveys, and other forms of customer feedback. It is important to acquire, collate, and analyse customer feedback that is as honest as possible rather than forced upon them by a member of staff at the point of sale. This is where a professional brand management company can provide qualified customer analysis and feedback that helps you make a real and genuine difference to your approach.
There is a disconnect across the board from the view of companies that state they provide an excellent level of customer service and the customers of those companies and how they view customer service. The customer experience is vital to encouraging not only return custom from an individual but also how they are likely to act in future, are they willing to write a positive online review, as well as recommend your products or services in person to those in their lives?
With professional help you can certainly find a solution that provides you with stark, accurate data that allows you to build a development programme that speaks to your customers concerns, reinforces positive feedback and builds long-term trustworthy relationships with your customers. Customer feedback and brand management are interlinked, and your customers should always feel like their opinions and values matter to your company. Too many businesses pay lip service to customer service and CX without doing much to realistically change the way they operate for the better of the customer.
