How do you measure and take into account customer feedback?

If you're running a business, you need to understand the importance of customer satisfaction: if you don't fully meet your customers' demands, they may look for another partner. Conversely, establishing yourself as the perfect solution to people's needs enables you to secure more contracts thanks to the phenomena of recommendation and word-of-mouth! That's why we've dedicated this article to measuring customer feedback: the art of soliciting, listening to and understanding customer feedback.

How do you collect customer feedback?

You have multiple channels at your disposal for soliciting and collecting feedback from your customers, whether digital, print, oral... Each has its own advantages: attractiveness to individuals, reassurance during the process, speed of the process, accessibility to younger or older customers... The ideal approach is to start by identifying the means already at your disposal and studying the tools they enable you to deploy.

Do you have a website? You can easily insert a dedicated "survey" page, and link to it in your e-mails, order acknowledgements, etc.

If your transactions take place over the phone, you can deploy short automated surveys at the end of the call.

If you have a face-to-face meeting with your customers, you can give them a paper form to fill in, or ask them your questions directly!

Once you've acquired your data, how do you sort it?

Once your customers have answered the few key questions in your feedback questionnaire, you'll have a whole range of data at your disposal, which you'll need to sort through first. Many of the answers will be incorrect, incomplete or too biased to be of any use.

You'll also need to categorize them according to various criteria: what product or service was purchased? What medium was used to answer the questionnaire? If you've collected personal information (age, occupation, etc.), you can also sort them according to customer profile.

Some pitfalls to avoid in your customer feedback management processes

To get the most out of your surveys and questionnaires, there are a few rules to bear in mind. Of course, they don't apply to every situation, but it's always a good idea to ask yourself about them and, if necessary, take them into account throughout your feedback management. So remember to check these points:

• Is the sorting carried out judicious and does it make it possible to group together data that can be analyzed jointly? (e.g.: do not mix oral responses with an electronic survey).
• Is the volume of responses sufficient to draw any real conclusions? (e.g.: too small a sample of 5 individuals doesn't allow us to identify any real trends).
• What were the cognitive or affective biases at play when filling in the questionnaire? (e.g.: an individual will often be intimidated when filling in an oral questionnaire, but more confident when filling in an online questionnaire).