Direct Feedback
When you’re running a business, customer feedback, both direct and indirect, is going to be very important to you. This is because customer feedback helps you to be responsive to your customer. It helps you to fulfill customer demands, no matter what they might be. Your customer might want you to make some changes to your product, reduce its price, give them more methods of purchasing it, accept different payment methods, etc. You’ll never know exactly what your customer is looking for unless you get their feedback.
What Is Customer Direct Feedback?
Customer feedback can be divided into two types: direct and indirect. Direct feedback is when you ask your customer exactly what they’re looking for whereas indirect feedback is generally unsolicited.
Direct feedback can be gathered via an in-person interview where you ask the customer a number of questions. It can also be gathered via a survey. You can send your customer a survey via email or ask them to fill out one at the point of sale. Chatbots can also direct customers to surveys. And customers can be asked to answer some questions after a customer service call.
Direct Feedback FAQs
If you’re still wondering whether you need to collect direct feedback from your customers and how you should go about doing it, here are some FAQs:
What Is the Purpose of Customer Direct Feedback?
The purpose of customer direct feedback is to collect more information about what your customer is looking for. How exactly can you improve the customer journey? Can you do this by improving your sales or marketing techniques? Do you need a better store experience or a more intuitive website? Or do you need to make the process of buying the product easier?
How Can Businesses Respond to Negative Customer Direct Feedback?
Negative customer direct feedback gives the company an opportunity to implement the changes needed to satisfy their customers. If you’re getting a lot of negative feedback about the same thing, then it makes sense to make the change that your customers are looking for. If the negative feedback is only from certain individuals, then that gives you the opportunity to get in touch with those individuals and figure out a mutually satisfactory solution.
What Are the Benefits of Customer Direct Feedback?
Customer direct feedback can help your company in many ways.
1. Enhanced Customer Experience
By implementing the changes your customers are looking for, you can give them an enhanced customer experience, which will result in more satisfied customers.
2. Gain Valuable Insights
Getting feedback from your customers might make you aware of positive and negative elements about your company or product that you were not aware of before.
3. Better Employee Morale
Keep in mind that a lot of your feedback might turn out to be positive, which can help boost employee morale. This is especially true when customers are asked to give feedback about a certain employee e.g. after a customer service call.
4. Identification of Growth Opportunities
If you’re thinking about growing your business, then direct feedback can give you a lot of valuable information about the form this growth should take. You can ask customers if they would like another, similar product or more locations, and you can plan your company’s growth accordingly.
How Often Should Businesses Gather Customer Direct Feedback?
In general, having more information is never detrimental to a company. However, keep in mind that customers who keep receiving emails with surveys might start deleting them without opening them. You can figure out the exact frequency with which you should gather direct feedback when you set up your customer feedback management platform.
What Is an Example of Direct Feedback?
A survey is the most prevalent example of direct feedback. Surveys can be used at various points in the customer journey. You can solicit feedback about your product, your marketing materials, the customer’s store experience, the customer’s website experience, and your customer’s overall experience with your company, via a survey.