8 Best Practices On How To Collect, Analyze And Leverage User Feedback Effectively

The power of social proof has been a strong constant in the ever-evolving world of business. Word of mouth still has one of the biggest impacts on a company’s growth potential, especially when a business gets positive reviews. In contrast, a business that gets negative reviews could very well pay dearly for them.

Up to 93% of people check online reviews before buying a product from a company. That said, businesses should focus on managing user expectations and how they present them. Leveraging and managing feedback could become a strong factor to a business or brand’s growth or success.

Why Customer Feedback and Reviews Matter

So why does customer feedback matter, and why should companies pay attention to it? Let’s look at the top three reasons why social proof and client feedback should be a priority.

It strengthens your customers’ loyalty

A business-client relationship should be a two-way street. Clients patronize a brand, and the brand takes care of them. 

Fostering this kind of relationship leads to long-term bonds with customers and helps a company extend the customer lifetime value. Studies show that 83% of customers say they feel more loyal to brands that listen to and resolve their customer concerns. 

It makes your products and services better

The feedback process is a vital part of the product development and improvement process. Constructive feedback should serve as a barometer and catalyst of product and service improvements. 

Customer feedback is valuable because it serves as an outsider’s perspective looking in. Companies that act strategically on feedback improve significantly, which leads to more growth.

It’s a significant marketing boost

There are two types of customer feedback companies should shoot for — positive and constructive. Constructive feedback is great because it gives business points to improve. But companies should also shoot to collect and leverage positive feedback. When companies receive positive feedback, it adds a marketing boost to the brand. 

Therefore, companies should use positive feedback to generate marketing buzz. 

How to Collect and Leverage Reviews

Some people think that getting reviews is a once-in-a-blue-moon chance, hence they don’t really make an effort to gather feedback and reviews. But reports seem to indicate that 47% of people leave reviews online each month. That means that your brand can collect a lot of reviews if you make an effort to do so. When you do that, you can experience all the benefits mentioned above and so much more. So here are ways to collect reviews and then analyze and leverage them.

Collecting Reviews

First, let’s discuss tips and best practices for collecting reviews. Here are four great strategies to try out.

• Set up an immediate request for a review — Companies that release new products should have a feedback process in place. And when asking for feedback, request as immediately as possible.
  
  People don’t always have feedback as a top-of-mind task, so treating it as an urgent matter can increase the likelihood of getting feedback.
  
  The same practice should also happen when getting feedback about customer service representative performance.
  
  One good practice is to include a feedback form using a feedback tool or chat support software. Have your system send the feedback request immediately after talking to an agent. Some companies add the feedback form directly into the chatbox or email to get instantaneous feedback.

• Simplify the review process — One other major reason people don’t give feedback is that it’s challenging. A simple and quick customer feedback management system is key to getting great reviews.
  
  Keeping it simple always works. And avoid having too many questions - only include the most important ones.
  
  A simple review process depends on excellent user experience, speed, and ease of use. The more straightforward the review process, the more people will leave feedback that can help improve your service or add a good word to your brand.

• Give superb customer service — This strategy, giving superb customer service, involves giving customers something actually to talk about. 72% of customers who experience good customer service will talk about it to others.
  
  To improve customer service, companies should invest in training their customer service representatives to respond proactively and confidently.
  
  Customer support isn’t just about being friendly or responsive. It’s also about saying the right things and clearly communicating empathy and a desire to serve.
  
  Don’t seek to provide a helpline solely. Make sure to also give your help desk personnel the tools and skills to delight their customers.
  
  
• Provide multiple platforms for review — The more channels for people to leave reviews, the better, especially if you’re confident in your company’s products and services.
  

Don’t bribe your customers for feedback

When collecting feedback, avoid offering rewards upfront as it generally gives the feeling that you’re buying people’s feedback. It also adds a sort of bias to the feedback, which will work to your company’s disadvantage.

Instead, show them that they are the ones who benefit from their feedback. Explain that their feedback helps you improve on the products and services they use. You can offer something after getting feedback if you’d like, but be very wary of how people respond to it. 

Analyzing and Leveraging Feedback

Companies can leverage feedback for internal and external purposes. Here are some ways to do that.

• Differentiate customers — Each customer might use your product differently, so they have different needs you must address. For example, if you collect feedback from all customers, including free and paying users, you must know which one you should prioritize. In most cases, feedback by paying users must be prioritized as you gain revenue from it. Of course, you shouldn’t ignore feedback from free users as well. But it pays to know where your effort must go into the most. You can also use some of the top HR software solutions to integrate feedback tools to automate the performance reporting process.
• Visualize data — When you collect data, you’ll get a lot of it. It can be overwhelming and difficult to understand, rendering it useless. Visualize your data through graphs and charts so it’s easier to digest.
• Actually take action — When a customer gives you feedback, they would expect you to actually do something about it. If customers report a bug, talk with your team on how to fix it. If they’re encountering hiccups due to a missing feature, consider adding it. With feedback, you get data on what you should address or prioritize.
• Win back lost customers — If you have lapsed or inactive customers, you need to know why they stopped using your product or engaging with your business in the first place. You can win back lost customers through customer feedback surveys.

Automating Customer Feedback Management with Digital Tools

Truth be told, not all companies have the time and energy to manually track, gather, analyze, and leverage customer feedback. That’s why using a customer feedback management tool can be a great investment for the company. These tools automate feedback management through better reporting and storing all testimonials and feedback comments from clients in one place for future reference. Using these tools to automate processes will also help ensure that your company gets the necessary push from customer feedback, whether they be constructive comments for improvement or praise for authority building.