CX Approaches to Gathering Feedback Need to Expand

CX Approaches to Gathering Feedback Need to Expand

It is an understatement to say that COVID has fundamentally changed almost everything, including how we do business. We’ve adapted to working remotely, endless Zoom meetings, customer service with a mask, social distancing, curbside pickup, expanded deliveries, less travel to see customers, etc. Accordingly, customers expect more flexibility and options now, even for customer feedback. Have you reconsidered how you gather feedback from your customers too?

CX Approaches to Gathering Feedback Need to Expand

Customers want to provide feedback in different ways or sometimes not at all. What changes do we recommend? A good customer feedback program should take a holistic approach. Blend the various feedback modes, and create an omnichannel strategy. For example:

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  A live interview is probably the best mode for more significant product sales or service transactions where the complexity is high.

  An email or text survey can work well for more straightforward transactions (e.g., rental, parts, small sales orders). You only need a few feedback points to determine customer satisfaction. Since these types of transactions are more cut and dried and definitive, there is less need for extensive unstructured feedback.

• A live interview is probably the best mode for more significant product sales or service transactions where the complexity is high. The types of surveys are also best for relational surveys. A well-executed interview provides in-depth feedback and uncovers critical likes and dislikes of the service or product. To make this channel work best, you need to manage and organize the qualitative feedback.
• 

  Text surveys for in-the-moment feedback

  Weblinks are a potentially helpful way to get feedback. For example, attaching a web link to an electronic invoice provides another opportunity to get customer feedback. From my experience, web links are not widely used in the B2B arena, but they do have value.

• Text surveys for in-the-moment feedback. This mode can be especially effective at important customer journey points. However, so far, these are not widely used in the B2B space.

Make Your CX Program Hum in 2022 and Beyond

If you are starting a new CX program or planning to revamp an existing one, keep the following in mind:

Think about how your customers want to give feedback. Give them options. We are already providing flexible feedback options for our clients. As people have grown accustomed to changes brought by COVID, this has changed many approaches to business. Giving feedback is just one of them.

We have learned that responding to customer issues is an essential key to a successful CX program. No matter the channels or modes used, promptly respond to issues raised by customers. In a study recently released by CustomerGauge, only 26% of companies responded to all issues raised by customers. Remember, there is an 11-point NPS® difference between companies that do not act on customer issues and those that do.

Communicate the changes you make that benefit your customers. Remember, customers, like to know that spending a few minutes responding to a call or digital survey made a difference in the products and services you provide.

How we interact with our customers is changing. B2B customers are saying they like doing business differently. Many of the changes wrought by COVID are likely to stay! Make sure you include expanding how you gather customer feedback.

 

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