Listen to your customers before they start talking

Research from the Internet Advertising Bureau reveals that just 7.7% of consumers have complained about organisations through social media. So it’s perhaps surprising that companies are so proud to boast of ‘listening’ to their customers on social networks.

Perhaps they forget that in the vast majority of cases, this small subset of consumers has probably tried to contact the company through traditional means first.  In fact, in terms of customers who have a gripe with your organisation, this social-media aware crowd is probably the tip of the iceberg.

Its fair to say that, by the time people complain via social media, they are generally really, really annoyed with you and desperate to talk to anyone who will listen, wreaking considerable damage to your brand in the process.

So isn’t the real question whether listening to customers on social media is a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted?

United breaks guitars

Take the celebrated example of Dave Carroll, who, when United Airlines refused to pay compensation for damage to his $3,500 guitar, took revenge via a YouTube music video. His composition ‘United Breaks Guitars’ became a huge hit, causing more than a few people to share it with their friends. In total, it now has almost 11 million views and counting…

Considering the disgruntled artist had been trying to get a response from United for over a year at this point, could it have nipped this all in the bud much earlier if United had listened more closely through traditional channels? My own experience with United suggests that they still have a pretty poor attitude to listening to customers’ luggage concerns and don’t appear to have learned much from Mr.Carroll’s diatribe.

Make sure you’re looking after all your customers

So how do you make sure you’re listening across traditional channels and taking feedback on board to improve customer experience?  The five suggestions below will ensure that brands generate maximum value by listening to their customers and uncover actionable insights in the process:

1. Make it really, REALLY easy for customers to contact you and give feedback

Place feedback forms with prominence across your website, in your retail outlets and introduce brief surveys at the end of calls to your contact centre so customers don’t have to go looking for them. And they should be easy to fill in – keep them short. It’s also really important to ask open-ended questions, so customers can tell you what’s really on their minds rather than restricting them to just a few points that you think the company wants to know about.

In our experience, you can get most value from a simple rating score and then ask customers to explain why they gave that score, using their own words to highlight what is most important to them.

2.Use multiple channels to invite feedback

It should go without saying, but customers want to contact you via their channel of choice and know that you will be ready and waiting to listen.  Invite feedback via SMS.  Create a smart phone feedback form so that they can give you feedback while on the move.  Include a link in the confirmation email following a transaction.  The opportunities are endless and can easily be tailored to your business, mostly at low / no cost.

3. Make sure they know you’re listening

Now this one is not as easy as it sounds.  That’s why you need processes in place – and resources – to listen and respond to the hundreds, or thousands, of communications you are likely to receive.

And of course, it’s impossible to act upon each individual request, however large your customer service department. So you need the ability to understand the feedback, prioritise where you do need to intervene, and then to make it simple for you to take the right actions.

Making the penultimate point doubly important…

4. Close the loop

Some customer feedback will be positive, some requests will be plain impossible to action and some will be genuine complaints that you can do something about.

Make sure that you take action to resolve the latter, but also that you close the loop every time.

For example, “Thank you very much for your suggestion that we stay open on Christmas Day.  But due to legal requirements and our commitment to our families that is impossible for us to do. We appreciate your comment nevertheless”.

It’s actually very easy to ‘wow’ your customers by responding to their comments. Our clients repeatedly tell us that customers say “Wow – I never thought you’d read that stuff” when they close the loop. And as one Feedback Ferret client has found by contacting customers expressing negative sentiment about their holiday experience, their re-booking rate has multiplied four-fold amongst these people. Big payback!

5. Be prepared for cultural change within your organisation

If you are serious about listening to your customers, it is quite likely that this commitment will have far-reaching effects upon the culture and business processes within your organisation.  Having a strategy is important.

Yes, you will need to determine what themes and topics are most relevant to your customers, but beyond that, you will start to focus on what your customers actually need, rather than what you think they want. And that in itself is a radical step, producing genuine innovation, way beyond the scope of social media monitoring.

What do you think? Feedback gratefully appreciated…