But the one area where South African companies still fall woefully short of the mark is in their use of the information provided to them through customer feedback. The fact is that they don’t use it. They put strategies in place to improve customer service and the more progressive amongst them may even create forums for customers to voice their concerns or delight. But that’s where it ends.
If You’re Not Getting Feedback, There’s a Problem
Customer feedback – whether it comes from a form or a public rant in your store about shoddy service – is an invaluable gift. It’s a sure sign that customers care enough to bother telling you what they think. And that takes effort.
Think how much easier it would be for them to do business with your competitor. Wayde Kennedy, of customer experience based auditing company, Phantom Group, says: “If businesses aren’t getting feedback, they’re doing something wrong.”
Having received the feedback, what do you do with it?
Firstly, feedback should be used as a powerful indicator of what the business is doing right, and where they aren’t meeting the mark. Think of it as free consulting services, courtesy of your most valuable asset – your customer. But while it may be possible to react immediately to some complaints and feedback, it’s not possible to do so in all instances.
This is largely because it isn’t recorded and tracked in a systematic way. In order to achieve this, you need to put the mechanisms in place that empower your employees to note, record and lodge customer feedback. But it’s not just enough to file the information. You need to measure and track it so that you can react to it.
If this sounds like a job all on its own, it should be, if done properly. You can outsource the entire function to a reputable company that will source and track customer satisfaction information and also provide direction on how to put it to best use.
Visit www.phantomgroup.co.za for more information.