Feedback, feedback, feedback: 6 easy ways to get it from your customers  

Collecting feedback directly from your customers is one of the best ways to really dig into what they think about your products or services. This feedback will help you build a customer-first model, allowing your customers to have input on everything from new products to website design. It also allows you to see what people prefer about your competitors. Once you have this feedback, you can then use it as a strong foundation to build your CRO programme on.

However, collecting feedback from customers isn’t always as easy as it sounds. As leaving feedback takes up valuable time and effort, most people only leave any if they have had a bad experience. Despite this, there are a few easy ways that you can encourage customers to comment on their better experiences. And positive feedback is invaluable!

Offer a reward in return for feedback

More often than not, people will need an incentive to leave feedback. You don’t have to give every customer that leaves some a voucher but offering free shipping or around 5 to 10% off their next purchase is a reasonable trade. When they have left feedback, email them a code that they can use in the future. This will also encourage them to shop with you again!

Send a follow up email a day or so after their items have arrived

This is the optimal time to ask if everything was ok with an order, as the purchase will be fresh on the customer’s mind. They are also more likely to remember smaller details with more accuracy. Checking in at this stage also allows any issues to be resolved before the customer leaves public feedback. It also is less pushy than asking as soon as their items have arrived.

Collect feedback from data that you already have

If you have a CRO process in place, the chances are that you already have a decent amount of feedback without realising it. By using customer analytics, you can investigate the activity of individuals. This makes it easier to identify exactly why certain outcomes (such as a customer leaving the website) happen.

Keep the feedback system simple

If you have a box that simply says “feedback”, the chances are that you’re not going to get much of it. Asking customers to type out a whole paragraph about a product is one of the worst things you can do. At the end of the day people can be lazy! Instead, keep it simple by using a star system or similar for feedback. You can break this down into separate categories such as product quality, checkout process, delivery speed and anything else that you think is relevant. This also allows you to easily see which part of your ordering process is causing the most problems. You can also add an optional box for any additional, longer comments.

Ask for feedback on social media platforms

Instagram is a great one for this. You can add polls, question boxes, quizzes, countdowns and more to your Instagram story these days, making it an invaluable tool for brands. With more people than ever using social media, this is an easy way to collect feedback. The only downside to this method is that anyone can contribute, and they may not have bought anything. Despite this, it is still an incredibly useful tool that more and more brands are using.

Implement a live chat feature on your website

This is a great way of communicating with customers as it is easily accessible. As well as providing them with faster support, it also enables you to get their opinion on your website and/or products in real time. Using this method will quickly show you where any issues are on your website, meaning that you can get them fixed faster and therefore prevent the same thing happening again. Whilst a live chat feature isn’t something that every smaller company can introduce, if you are a large company it is definitely something to consider!

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