For more than a decade there has been strong emphasis on using Feedback Loops to capture customer perspective and sentiment. Simply asking customers what they think could save you a great deal of time and resources building things that are of limited value to them.
There are many ways to capture this feedback from a simple survey to a formal session withing a user group. Fair to say that companies that do not ask for and leverage feedback are at a disadvantage, and we might dare suggest even flying blind to some degree.
Some methods to capture customer feedback:
- A simple poll – people tend to respond to these well and like to be able to cast a vote
- Contextual entry point – many top companies enable context specific entry points to provide feedback. This is ideal because it lowers the barrier to entry for giving feedback at the moment of inspiration.
- Star Ratings – If you are involved in any opportunities to collect star ratings then it is imperative that you pay close attention to these. Anything showing as 3 or below should be seen as a real opportunity to improve. Reaching out to those customers who gave you low scores actually does score points because they know you care and are paying attention. Once they see that you implemented their suggestion the are not only likely to improve the score but also provide more feedback on that channel.
OK great you are now able to hear the voice of your customers but are you really listening to them and acting on that feedback? It is highly recommended that regular planning sessions dedicate some finger on the pulse time to review and allow feedback to influence what you do next. A healthy mix of your North Star vision should take into consideration what it is your customers actually want from you.