Customer Feedback - ask for it openly and politely - it doesn’t hurt - it helps

How likely are you to agree to provide assistance to someone asking you for feedback as you are leaving the office at 5:00 pm, or for that matter how likely are you to offer assistance because you saw a memo requesting feedback posted in the lunch room? These situations are good analogies for why exit surveys and passive requests for customer feedback online don’t work and provide biased views at best.

The right way to get customer feedback is to be upfront and polite. Provide customers with a clear and easy way to opt out, and when they do don’t immediately ask them again. Whether customers participate or not this approach builds integrity for the brand. This approach tells all your customers that their opinion matters, whether they have the time to provide it or not.

I thought the days when IT specialists were directing business strategy went the way of the dinosaurs in 2001. However the extinction was not complete as the following email I received yesterday shows.

“The request for feedback as proposed is that the invitation is presented before the customer reaches our home page. Even though this would only be presented to a percentage of our customers, the risk of losing bookings with the diversion is potentially material.”

Sorry, but wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.

1. Wrong because the invitation for valued feedback builds trust and loyalty with all visitors, not only participants.

2. Wrong because research shows that booking and conversion rates go up slightly while a proper request for feedback is running.

3. Wrong because there is no opportunity for abandonment because whether the visitor clicks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to participate after their visit, the outcome is the homepage.

4. Wrong because the opportunity that is lost by not listening to your actual customers in the context of real situations is material.

Listen to your actual customers, it doesn’t hurt, it helps.