Collecting customer feedback has been a long-standing way to understand customer motivations and improve the experience.
Providing insight to evaluate current offerings while also highlighting areas of improvement, and collecting customer feedback can help you build customer relationships and boost bottom lines.
Yet, while asking for feedback may seem simple as posing a handful of questions, there is a science to encourage more responses.
If you’re in the process of creating a feedback program, today we’re looking at how you can approach customers to encourage more conversation.
5 Ways to Ask for Feedback for Greater Response Rates
Know Who You Are Talking To
Before you start promoting your first survey, it’s important to get clarity and context. Consider who you’re talking to, their interests and the customer journey that they go through. This will influence how you address them, the tone you use, channel types and the relevant information to incorporate.
If you haven’t established a buyer persona before, this could be the perfect opportunity to do so. As a starting point, consider the following:
- Who is your customer: Consider demographics like age, career, marital status and more.
- Why are they shopping from you: What pain point does your product or service relieve and at what point would they approach you?
- Where are they located: By location we’re not talking about demographics, but rather where on/off your property are they filling out your survey.
- What device and channel are they filing out your survey from: This plays a key role in the formatting and formality of your message. For a breakdown of devices and channels click here.
Of course, there is always more to consider when drafting an email, but having this initial insight can help you in the beginning stages of survey creation.
Provide an Incentive
Who doesn’t love free stuff? In an incentive research survey study, it was found that “overwhelmingly, individuals chose a longer survey accompanied by an incentive compared to a shorter survey with no incentive.”
While you shouldn’t solely rely on an incentive to incite feedback, it can be a thoughtful gesture to the folks who dedicate time to your survey.
Keep in mind that there isn’t a standard incentive and that the type you offer is completely up to your business, budgets, and any loyalty programs you’re currently running. Typically businesses decide between monetary or non-monetary rewards, which could look like a business point system, free product or service, a discount on their next purchase, or notable gift cards (Starbucks, Amazon, etc).
Be Where Your Customers Are
While your survey could be designed perfectly for your respondent, if they don’t own the device or channel you’re hosting it on, they’ll never see it. Again, this all relates to our first point: Who you’re sending the message to. Once you know, offer channels in line with their preferences – in most instances, this will involve more than one.
Consider SMS and Email signatures
While a signature may come across as an afterthought in your text message or email, it actually plays a pivotal role in how a customer views the tone and intention behind it. For example, using a company name can come across as more formal, while a name and department can be inviting and personable.
If you’re unsure of how to send off a message, a best practice is to have the sender be the head of a relevant department (i.e reception, customer service representative, head nurse, etc.)
Send at the Right Time
Timing is everything when it comes to feedback collection. It can dictate how relevant the survey is to the customer and how much detail they share.
When determining a time to send, consider when the experience is most likely top of mind. As experts in the experience management field, we always recommend immediately after the experience. If this seems like a tedious task that employees might not always remember, we highly suggest leveraging a customer experience solution. Using one, you can effortlessly schedule messages to your respondents and follow up, in real-time, on compelling feedback.
Gamify the Experience
Educate your employees on service levels while motivating them. When you gamify the employee experience you consistently encourage them to do better. In turn, you create more confident and conversational employees who encourage customers to leave feedback.
Loop Scoreboard, for example, is a great way to gamify the employee experience. With it, you can show real-time feedback from customers on a scoreboard at the back of the house. Get employees excited about the service they’re providing, and highlight exceptional staff members.
Create a Survey Specific to Their Experience
When it comes to actually filling out the survey, respondents are more likely to be engaged if the survey directly ties to their experience. It can cue specific details and can make the whole experience more personal.
Using Loop you can create completely customized surveys for specific experiences and save them as a template for later. As a school, maybe your in-dining experience requires a different survey compared to your library’s experience. In addition, if you’re in a long-term care home, maybe your entertainment room requires a different survey than the gym.
With Loop, you can engage individuals with specific questions about unique experiences. Further, using conditional logic feature, you can automate the questions a survey respondent sees based on their answers. Set defined pathways so your respondent gets asked only relevant questions.
Amplify With Promoware
If your survey is on-site, using an easily identifiable and branded tent card or poster can help put your CX program in front of ideal respondents.
For many, simply being told about a survey isn’t enough, rather having visual cues around your establishment with scannable QR Codes or weblinks can boost responses.
Pro Tip: When dedicating spaces, think of high-traffic locations like front entrances, customer service stations, your product or service, and more.
Take our Best Practices With You
Click the image to download your copy of customer engagement best practices.
Whether you’re looking to create a more tailored customer experience or simply improve your operations, collecting feedback is essential. It not only arms you with the knowledge to meet customer expectations but can help scale your business to stay ahead of the curve.
