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Customer feedback is one of the most amazing assets in a marketing toolbox. In this article, you will learn how to collect customer feedback to determine how they feel about your brand. As a marketer, the biggest challenge is understanding the wants and needs of your audience.

• What is the audience looking for?
• What do they need?
• How can I help them?

The problem is that these questions are not easy to answer. Humans are complex people, and to be honest, we do not spend a lot of time paying attention to their needs and wants. A study by Janrain found that only 5.8 percent of users felt that digital advertising understood their needs.

To overcome this issue and reach the customer, we must pay attention to their demands:

This path begins with examining customer feedback. Customer feedback is one of the most amazing assets in a marketer’s toolbox. Customer feedback also shows whether we are on the right track and how to improve it. Their feedback is also an integral part of the brand message and marketing activities.

The problem is that the idea of ​​customer feedback can be daunting.

• What if they do not help us?
• What if they do not like us?
• How long does customer feedback take?
• Where should I start?

The answers to these questions are as follows:

• They help you
• They like you
• As long as necessary
• I have some ideas in my head

I have eight ideas for collecting customer feedback that I will share with you.

Ideas for collecting customer feedback

1. Customer check-in

When I was working from home, there was someone on our marketing team whose job was to talk to customers. He talked to several customers every week to see how they felt about the product. But how can we help them?

The feedback we received was very helpful and showed customers that we care about them. Customer review is not necessarily a complicated task. It can be as simple as picking up the phone or sending an email. Take Amazon, for example. Some Amazon sellers do a great job. They ask the customer for feedback and rating.

It is a very simple method and, at the same time, gives a real insight into the feelings of customers. The key is to use the feedback you get. Make sure the feedback is properly collected and delivered to the right people. Otherwise, the information obtained will not be useful.

2. Live customer Q&A

A few months ago, the software department was preparing to introduce a new product. But before doing so, he held live Q&A with his users. It allowed the company to get real feedback from real users. They also found out what features they did not include in the product, what bugs still exist, and, more importantly, how the audience can use it. The last is the key sentence. Nalgene water bottle

It is familiar to many. But did you know that it was not supposed to be a water bottle?

According to Nalgene:

“Our laboratory scientists were also active on the walk, but the laboratory bottles on their backpack trips because they were lightweight and penetrating. In this way, our laboratory became acquainted with the culture of hiking and adventure. “The president then came up with the idea of ​​launching high-quality laboratory products as a necessity for hiking and camping.”

Sometimes our customers show the best way to use the products. Do not be afraid to test products before they are unveiled. It may show you new ideas.

3. Contact customer support

If you attended a marketing conference ten years ago, at least one person talked about breaking silos (sharing information). Marketers need to talk to the sales team. The sales team needs to talk to the product team. The product team needs to talk to the support team and so on.

All of this is true, but unfortunately, we are not where we need to be. The sales team does not use marketing content, and marketing does not focus on extracting SQLs database data. There is a separation between departments, and to be honest, many companies have been in this situation for a long time.

To have a successful marketing campaign, you need to break the silos and start with the support department:

The support team spends a lot of time calling customers. They know what questions are being asked, what problems users face, and what they cannot find on the website. Pay special attention to the last point. In my last job, the marketing team held weekly meetings with the customer support team to identify customer needs and find out what kind of information people are looking for.

If customers could not find the information they were looking for on the website, we would have included it in our content design. Talk to the customer support team. They know a lot.

4. Check chat history

As you talk to the support team, look at the chat history. In this regard, you can use tools such as Olark, Drift, and Livechat to keep conversations’ history. If you do not have direct access to the chat platform, ask the support team to put you in it. Even reviewing once a month can yield valuable results.

5. Check your Site Search report

I have said this before, and I will repeat it. Site Search is one of the less used domains in Google Analytics. Think about it. This report shows you exactly what users are looking for on the website, what information they are looking for, and most importantly, what information they can not find.

Before the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union) came into force, I analyzed a client’s site search data. Customer Automation Marketing had written a lot about GDPR, but it was not easy to access from the home page.

Because I had access to site search data, I knew exactly what to add to the home page. Therefore, you should also evaluate your site search data. You never know what you might find in it.

6. Submit a poll

I love polls. Because I feel that this is how my voice is heard and that the company cares about me, I’m sure they will contact me and give me a special thank you for doing the poll. But now I know that not everyone likes the poll as much as I do and that the response rate is about 33%. But this is a great way to get customer feedback. Thanks to new technologies, polling can be done in different ways:

Pop-up polls

Tools like Qualaroo allow you to place polls directly on your site. Even better, it lets you set the opening time. If you use this type of survey, remember to keep it as simple and concise as possible and make sure you are looking for the result before doing so.

Email Polls

JetBlue made good use of this survey. He asked customers about the flight and its quality by placing the post-flight survey in the form of a simple email.

I can confirm that if you have a poor flight experience, they will come to you to find out why.

Post-call polls

You may have spent time behind the phone or credit card company line and then heard that. Please stay on the line for comments. I’m less interested in these polls. But these surveys assure you that the customer support team is doing a good job and that the customers are satisfied with them.

Facebook Messenger

SurveyMonkey recently announced the integration of its Facebook messenger, which allows you to use the messenger to conduct polls. This method is really interesting, as long as you are not recognized as spam. Getting real-time customer feedback on events is a great thing. There are other polling methods as well. But you can use the above methods to get started.

7. Use Shopping Cart Email

The customer clicks on your ad; takes time to look for products. Please put them in the cart and continue the exit process. But suddenly, it comes out. What has happened? Shopping cart emails are a great way to get people back into the shopping process. It is also a good way to get customer feedback.

For example, suppose someone leaves their shopping cart. With the help of one or two reminder emails, you can encourage them to buy again or get a discount.

Why not use emails to understand why they left?

In this regard, you can put a short poll and ask why they leave. Maybe it’s because of the shipping cost or their unwillingness to buy. These two are separate, and the way of responding will be different. If someone is not ready to buy, they may be put on a re-targeting list. But if the issue is with the shipping cost, the shipping cost may be free. Getting customer feedback sometimes requires creativity, but it also means using what you have.

8. Track your brand

It is perhaps the most obvious and, at the same time, the most difficult point. In addition to that world, the Internet is a very big place, and it is impossible to find a mention (mention) of each person to the brand. You can not find any mention of your brand, and you do not have to. The key is to find signs that matter and contain real feedback from real and potential customers.

How do we do this?

Enable brand alert. Many tools allow you to track your brand. We are all familiar with Google Alert and mention. But even a tool like SEMrush lets you track your brand. There are probably many unnecessary ones, but take a few minutes each week to see what people are saying.

Monitor social media

Have you ever used social media to search for keywords? If not, you should do so. Social media is an amazing place to get customer feedback from real customers. You can also use it to get the following information:

• What do people say about your brand?
• How do they describe your products?
• How do the products of your competitors describe you?

Listen to these cases. Tools like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Sprinklr, and Sprout Social can help you. Create a complete response process with the help of the last two examples.

Collect comments

Comments are the gold of content. Whether good or bad, comments give real feedback from the customer experience and show you what you need to market. For example, if you work in a bed and breakfast (B&B) and Everyone is talking about the smell of your wood fire, you can add this to your marketing.

If you are a tax lawyer and surveys show that people have saved time by coming to you, then you can focus your marketing efforts on effectiveness and cost savings for the client. They have lessons to learn, no matter what the opinions. Tools like Channel Signal help you gather feedback and turn it into practical tips.

The last word

Customer feedback is essential for the success of any marketing, and it is not difficult to get it. Like all marketing activities, customer feedback is about how to use the data. Start small, look at your information, and start from there.