Here Are Five Tips To Retain Customers Using Feedback Surveys

Do you know how loyal each customer is? Do you have an early warning system to know when a customer is looking around? Do you just have a gut feeling that you are doing great? This is a dangerous assumption. Things change fast. Don’t wake up and find you lost a customer. Here are five things you may want to consider when setting up an effective customer feedback process.

Tip No. 1 – Make It Painless for Both You and the Customer – Think short, timely, to the point and easy-to-take surveys. Customers want five or six questions. No more. Online surveys take 30 seconds, if designed right. Go online.

Tip No. 2 – Leverage Your Production or Order Management System – Contact and invoice information is all there. Use it for timely feedback – real time. It should take less than a minute to get transaction details and customer  e-mails.

Tip No. 3 – Make It a Process, Not an Event – Survey close to the time when purchases occur or service is delivered, but don’t over survey. Survey new and sporadic buying customers, and do it within 30 days of service if not sooner, but do not survey repeat customers more than every 90 days. Too much of a good thing kills response rates and relationships. You can ask one marketing question, but no more. Ask what they buy from other suppliers. They will tell you and then you can expand client share.

Tip No. 4 – Shoot for a 25 to 30 Percent Response Rate – If done right you will hit that. Monitor response rates, product and service quality and loyalty. Review the info in team meetings. Note: Monitor customer loyalty and set stretch goals.  The best businesses are up over 90% customer loyalty.

Tip No. 5 – Do Something with the Data – Customers gave you a gift by sharing. Cherish it and thank them by following up on leads and correcting problems. The best run businesses have a process for this.

Leave a comment