Customer feedback is by far one of the most important tools in your business arsenal if it’s used wisely. You probably shop at physical locations where they ask you for your feedback. Sometimes, businesses will even give you a coupon if you leave feedback. The internet has changed the process of giving feedback to businesses, and it has also made it far easier for customers to leave feedback.

Why is feedback so important?

The main reason why feedback is so important is that it enables you to gauge how well you’re performing. Honest feedback gives you insight into the customers’ expectations and how well you fulfilled them. The keyword here is honest because, as all business owners know, sometimes people leave negative feedback for a variety of reasons, and usually, it’s because the customer feels like they’ve been wronged in some way. Also, sometimes dishonest businesses will bombard their competition with negative feedback as a means of taking away their customers.

How to get feedback from customers

We’re going to break this down into three sections. The first section will be for those of you who have brick and mortar businesses, those who have online business, and service businesses. Actually, for all three of you, the need for online feedback is still the same. However, brick and mortar businesses can benefit from other forms of feedback that aren’t related.

Brick-and-mortar businesses

If you own a restaurant or a retail establishment, it’s a good idea to keep slips of paper near the register asking people to give you feedback. Restaurant owners can offer a 10% discount on the guest’s next visit or a free slice of pie if they’re willing to fill out a form and give some feedback.

Online feedback is also important. If you have a Google My Business account, which all brick-and-mortar businesses should, you can encourage your customers to leave feedback online. The feedback they give you might help boost your rankings in Google.

Online businesses

Feedback for online businesses is only available on the internet. Sure, you can go the route of having people fill out a form online for a discount or whatever, but since your business is strictly online, it’s best to keep all your feedback online.

Just like with brick-and-mortar businesses, you will benefit from having a Google My Business account. You should also find other places where you can encourage your customers to leave feedback. Also, leaving feedback on product pages is a great way to convince potential customers to buy from you.

Feedback is super important for service-based businesses

Products speak for themselves and there’s not much wiggle room when it comes to if something is quality or not. Service-based businesses are an entirely different beast and feedback is so vital for them. Those who regularly read bizop.org know this fact all too well.

The feedback you receive on sites like Google and other service directories is vital to your success. Potential customers will read the reviews and they’ll take them into account before buying your service.

Always suggest to your customers that they leave you feedback online. Take a look at the businesses in your area on Google and elsewhere, and you’ll notice right away that they probably have a ton of positive feedback.

How to deal with negative feedback

You’re going to get negative feedback at some point, and it’s going to sting. You’ve done your very best, and all the customers have gone and left you negative feedback. What do you do now? The first thing that you can do is try to rectify the situation and make the customer happy. If there’s nothing you can do that will satisfy their needs, chalk it up to someone who you can’t please. It won’t be the first customer you have like that, and it won’t be the last.

It’s also a good idea to look into hiring a reputation management company. These companies will scour the entire internet and try to find negative feedback that you can address quickly. You don’t want someone bad-mouthing your business and people not knowing your side of the story. Sometimes, these companies can work to have the feedback removed but don’t count on that happening.

Final Words

Feedback, you think of it as something that wastes your time. How many companies have asked you for your feedback for you, only to forget about its moments later? As you can see, customer feedback is important, and it can tell you a whole lot about your performance as a business. More importantly, it can help boost your rankings on Google so you get even more customers.