You might think you know your customers and their needs, but if you aren’t getting your insights straight from the source, it’s possible that you’re missing out on valuable information that could clarify your marketing and sales strategies.
The Why Behind Customer Feedback
It’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics and develop a false sense of security about the health of your brand. But at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that truly matters: Are customers satisfied? Because unless your customers are happy, future sales will never follow.
Businesses collect feedback for different reasons, but it’s typically for a combination of the following:
- Engagement. Gathering feedback is another touchpoint for your business – albeit slightly different than most sales and marketing touchpoints. Used wisely, it can increase overall levels of engagement and help deepen your relationship with customers.
- Knowledge. Your customer base is continually evolving. Feedback helps you understand who they are and what’s important to them right now. This information can be tracked over time to identify profitable trends.
- Product improvement. You can test your product internally as much as you want, but nothing replaces customer feedback. Not only will you identify areas for improvement, but you’ll also discover which parts of your products/services work the best. This can help you refine your unique selling proposition (USP) and improve your marketing and branding.
- Social proof. Positive customer feedback gives you a war chest of reviews, testimonials, and anecdotes that can be utilized in the sales and marketing process.
The beauty of customer feedback is that one piece of feedback can actually provide multiple benefits. And the more you gather, the better your chances of success.
Powerful Ways to Learn About Your Customers
Want to learn more about your customers and get a better idea of what they’re feeling? Here are some of the best ways to check their pulse:
- Study Website Analytics
Your website is a really powerful data source, but you have to know how to use it well. This starts with collecting data and identifying the right key performance indicators (KPIs) and conversion goals to track.
The best part about your website’s data is that you own it. And with Google Analytics, you can technically access all of this information for free. The key is to know what you’re looking for – otherwise, it’s easy to get lost in the data.
The first step is to identify your conversion goals. In other words, what specific actions do you want your website visitors to take? If you’re an ecommerce website, this might include adding an item to a shopping cart and making a purchase. If you run a blog or information site, email opt-ins may be your conversion goal.
The second step is to track these goals and then study the other KPIs that typically support the underlying goal. Website traffic, bounce rates, click-through rates, and average time on page are some pretty useful metrics to begin with.
- Conduct Surveys
Surveys are another excellent method for collecting valuable data from website visitors. Whereas website analytics provide passive insights on anyone who visits, surveys require a visitor to engage with you.
With attention spans shorter than ever, you’ll have to be strategic with how you implement website surveys. They should be short, user-friendly, and easy to fill out. Net promoter score (NPS) surveys are very popular. (They simply ask people how likely they are to recommend your brand to others.)
- Try Social Listening
Social media can be an excellent channel for engaging with customers. It can also give you keen insights into how your customers think and feel (about your brand, your industry, their pain points, etc.).
In addition to carefully tracking your social profiles, you can invest in social listening. Using a social listening tool, like one of these options, you can track what’s happening across all social media platforms and identify when your brand or one of your products is mentioned. This allows you to leverage positive mentions and quickly address negative ones.
Get to Know Your Customers
You can make a lot of assumptions about your customers, but assumptions don’t typically improve revenue or foster loyalty. The only way to be certain that you’re implementing customer-centric strategies that drive future sales and loyalty is to go straight to the source.
Whether it’s website analytics, surveys, or social listening, there are plenty of ways to get “in-tune” with your audience.