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customer feedbackDefinition
Information coming directly from customers about thesatisfaction
or dissatisfaction they
feel with a product or aservice. Customer comments and
complaints given to
acompany are an important resource for improving and
addressing
the needs and wants of the customer. The information is procured
through written or
oral surveys,online forms, emails, letters, or phone calls from
the customer to the
company.
Types of Customer FeedbackBy Laila Alvarez, eHow
Contributorupdated September 30, 2010
Print this article1.
o Customer feedback is often received by phone.
Businesses often rely on customer feedback to inform them how
well their business is running.
Feedback about products, store cleanliness, customer service or
other business aspects can helpmanagement fix problems they may not
have known were there. There are many types of feedbackthat
businesses need to take into consideration when determining what is
going right and what couldbe going better.
2.Comment Cards
o In-store comments are often left via comment cards, which are
are usually index-card sized andallow the customer to tell the
business about their experience. Often, they are blank, leavingroom
for the customer to fill out a note with nothing but their
imagination. Other times, theyinclude questions for the customer to
answer such as "did you enjoy your experience today?"Businesses
like this type of feedback because there is usually a mix of good,
neutral and badcomments, since customers have time to fill them out
while waiting in line at the register. It also
gives management hard-copies to review and to show
employees.
Phone Calls
o While comment cards offer businesses a mix of comments, phone
calls usually offer a limitedvariation of comments. Because it
takes effort for a customer to call a business customer serviceline
and speak to a representative, the comments are usually either very
good or very bad. For acustomer to call in comments, they usually
must be either really thrilled with something theyexperienced or
really disappointed. This type of feedback is good for management
to know about
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out-of-the-ordinary experiences the customer may have had.
However, the feedback is not typicaland, therefore, cannot be used
to accurately judge a store's performance, unless the callshappen
frequently.
Online Submissions
o
It's common today for customers to make purchases online, and
leave feedback online as well.Often, businesses will include a
survey or comment section at the end of a purchase. This type
offeedback works similarly to comment cards, since the survey is
convenient for the customer to fillout. Online submissions left in
a general "contact" form on the business website, however,
worksmore similarly to phone call feedback, since it takes time for
customers to seek out the contactpage and write an e-mail to the
business. This type of feedback allows for the information to
beeasily forwarded and passed on to all members of management via
e-mail.
Spoken Word
o Customer feedback may also come directly from the mouth of a
customer. Often, this can comeas an answer to a direct question at
the register. A customer service representative may ask "Didyou
find everything you were looking for?" or "How did you enjoy your
experience in the store
today?" This feedback, though, may be easily forgotten in the
moment. Often, a customer willvolunteer spoken feedback if he's
experienced extraordinary service, good or bad, that he wishesto
share. An example would be a customer telling a manager that an
employee did a good joband should be rewarded.
Social Media and Blogs
o Indirect customer feedback is not new, but being able to track
it is. Although it's still not likely for abusiness to track
comments that a customer has shared with a friend, a business is
able to trackcomments posted on social media sites (Facebook,
Twitter, Myspace) and blogs. Sites that mixsocial media and
reviews, such as Yelp, also give businesses an insight into the
true feelings of acustomer. While customers may give standard
"good" responses on comment cards or in-storequestions, what they
say to friends is usually the truth.
