5 reasons why businesses should not ignore customer feedback

Product managers are often extremely invested in their creations, making them resistant to feedback. Their defensiveness is easy to understand since the finished product is a result of their blood, sweat, and tears. 

However, product-led growth will only lead a business so far. What you should aim for is customer-centric growth driven by customer engagement, which is where product marketers emerge as rising stars.

Product marketers are the bridge between the customer and the product. They recognize that external feedback plays a crucial role in molding the product and its positioning in the market.

And let’s not forget that 72% of customers share positive feedback with six or more people. Meanwhile, 13% of these customers would share negative feedback with 15 or more people! Either way, the message is clear – the word on your product or service will get out. It’s up to you how you shape the narrative.

5 ways customer feedback helps businesses

If you thought collecting customer feedback was anything less than essential, then we’re about to change your worldview. The following benefits of customer feedback will paint it in a whole new light:

1. Feedback-fueled product improvement and innovation

What’s better than learning about your product’s strengths and weaknesses straight from the people who’ve used it? Your customers offer unique first-hand accounts of their experiences while using your product or services, making them a valuable source of insights. 

Once you tune into your customer’s needs and preferences, it becomes easier to refine your product to match their expectations. Case in point: Amazon’s Kindle, which has undergone multiple iterations based on customer feedback and requirements.

Customer feedback can also help you think outside the box and innovate to expand your product’s capabilities. You can even use customer feedback to discover opportunities for new products or services to fill market gaps.

2. Incorporating feedback into your brand identity

Customer feedback in the form of reviews is essentially social proof.

Positive reviews confirm your product’s prowess and highlight areas where the product excels. On the other hand, negative reviews shed light on product deficiencies, which you can address to enhance customer satisfaction. They’re two sides of the same coin, which establish a brand presence and reinforce its credibility.

While it’s clear how positive reviews can shape public opinion, you might be wondering where negative ones fit in the picture. Well, by handling negative feedback quickly and empathetically, you can turn the tables in your favor. Don’t just take our word for it; six out of ten customers can attest to this fact!

3. Retaining customers and mitigating churn

Here’s a fun fact: all’s not lost if a customer leaves negative feedback – no matter how rotten. The fact that they’ve shared their input means that they’ve given you an opportunity to salvage the situation. In fact, more than 50% of customers expect brands to respond to negative feedback within a week.

Here’s where you can run customer retention and re-engagement campaigns to win back customers and make them realize why they picked you in the first place. Once you get them talking, it will be easier to get on their good side. That’s not to say that this journey will be easy, but once you bring back a customer from the brink of churn, the exercise will be well worth it.

4. Involving customers in business decisions

To demonstrate how customer feedback drives business decisions, let’s take the example of Starbucks’ iconic beverage – the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

After basking in the success of its first two seasonal drinks, Starbucks was looking for its next big hit. The Starbucks team shortlisted 20 key flavors and combinations ranging from classics like chocolate and caramel to offbeat flavors like orange and cinnamon – and of course, pumpkin.

Starbucks then ran a written survey to get a feel of what their customers would like to see on the menu. Interestingly, the pumpkin-based drink scored high on uniqueness. The team took three months to formulate a recipe and tested it in 100 stores – the rest is history. What was supposed to be a limited-edition drink turned into a cult hit that continues to stay in demand even 20 years after its launch. 

5. Turning clients into brand ambassadors

Positive feedback and exceptional customer experience can make your product a brand. Delivering on these fronts consistently earns you a loyal customer base. Making these long-term clients feel like they matter by incorporating their feedback and rolling out product improvements is the final element to completing the customer loyalty hyperloop.

Once your customers are on this journey, they are more likely to recommend your brand to their friends and family. Such word-of-mouth marketing, relatable advocacy, and credible endorsements will paint your brand in a positive light and help you attract new customers.

Gymshark’s marketing campaigns feature real-world customers turned brand ambassadors. Their ability to connect with their audiences through authentic experiences is a classic example of the butterfly effect of taking customer feedback seriously.

Tips and tricks to collect customer feedback

As we’ve established, customer feedback is a mine of valuable insights. But let’s be real: asking for feedback is no walk in the park. No, scratch that – asking for feedback is easy, but getting a response is the tough part. After all, when was the last time you shared feedback? Probably only if the product or service blew your mind or left you extremely disappointed. 

Here are a few tips and tricks to make sure that your clients don’t ghost your feedback request:

• Personalize your requests: Tailor your feedback outreach to match the tone and preferences of the customer segment you’re targeting. Customizing the feedback form allows you to get more relevant data while increasing the chances of participation.
• Leverage a range of channels: Websites, emails, social media platforms, apps – your customers are everywhere. In the same vein, you should unlock feedback pathways across all these channels to make yourself more accessible.
• Hit the right notes: While maintaining an omnichannel presence, also ensure that the feedback format matches the channel. Lengthy feedback forms should be reserved for email campaigns while more succinct customer surveys can pop up within apps.
• Respond to feedback: We cannot emphasize enough how responding to feedback makes your customer feel valued. Whether you’re offering a heartfelt apology or making adjustments to the product, your slightest consideration can go a long way in making a lasting impression on the customer.
• Get a unified customer view: You'll be working with disparate data from various sources and at different stages of the customer journey. As such, it’s best to centralize everything onto a customer engagement platform or a customer relationship management solution. Doing so offers you a high-level view of all your customer data.
• Keep it simple, silly: Follow the KISS philosophy while curating the feedback loop. You want the process of sharing feedback to be as seamless as possible. Similarly, short and focused surveys with minimal cognitive load are less likely to receive hostile reactions from your customers.
• Incentivize responses: Some customers would rather listen to fingernails on a chalkboard than share feedback. While there’s little you can do to convince such customers, you can offer incentives like access to exclusive content, promos, or lucky draws to encourage the rest.

Conclusion

Nearly 100% of consumers read product feedback and reviews before purchasing. This figure highlights the importance of customer feedback for brand image, credibility, and trust.

Apart from managing external factors, customer feedback also nurtures internal business processes by highlighting inefficiencies, improving products continuously, and cultivating customer loyalty and advocacy. Such a twofold advantage propels businesses to a whole new plane of product enhancement and customer satisfaction for long-term growth, sustainability, and profitability.