7 Smart Ways to Collect Customer Feedback Online

Customer feedback is the best way to improve your product.

If asked, your customers will tell you what they like and what they don’t like and how they use your product (which sometimes you never thought about). If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, your customers feedback can turn into valuable insights which may point to future business development directions.

Pictures are worth a thousand words so keep reading because we will delight you with illustrative examples.

Here are 7 smart ways to collect customer feedback online:

1. Survey forms

Whether you use Google forms, JotForm or TypeForm, the times of customers filling in boring feedback forms are long gone.

Now companies and organizations have a plethora of services which help them collect customer feedback while providing a pleasant experience.

The way your company is collecting feedback is as important as any other form of communication. It is an opportunity to show your customer that you care about their insights and you also care about how you are speaking to them.

Google Forms is one of the widely used online service to collect customer feedback:

• You can use your own photo or logo;
• It is intuitive – it will pick just the right colors to complete your own unique form;
• It provides you with a set of curated themes to set the tone;
• You can add images and YouTube videos to keep your customer engaged;
• There are multiple question options;
• Your forms have responsive formats;
• Responses are automatically organized;
• You can add collaborators.

JotForm is another provider of great survey forms:

• The collected information is sent directly to your integrated accounts and email inbox;
• It is integrated with MailChimp, Dropbox, Google drive etc;
• Its forms are specifically designed for various industries: marketing, healthcare, agencies, designers etc;
• You can add payment processing to your form (PayPal is one of the supported payment platforms);
• You can choose from a wide range of free form templates.

TypeForm is also a provider of survey forms with a twist:

• It puts the spotlight on conversational;
• It offers templates for every stage of the customer journey;
• It has a great interface that keeps people engaged;
• Make your questions pop with gifs, images, videos;
• Easy embedding into your website.

2. Instagram Story poll

In october 2017, Instagram introduced the interactive poll stickers that allow companies to ask questions and see results from followers as they vote.

Given there are 400 million daily active Stories users worldwide (statista.com), the poll sticker is a great and fun way to collect feedback from your customers.

3. Facebook poll feature

Facebook is another social media platform which helps companies collect audience data.

By using polls, your company can increase its organic reach, attract attention, build brand awareness, build a relationship with your audience and increase engagement.

4. Surveys on your website

You have been working hard to attract visitors to your website.

Why not make the best of their visit and ask them questions using a website-hosted survey?

SurveyMonkey is one of the service you can use to host your surveys on your website.

Here are 3 types of surveys provided by SurveyMonkey:

• Pop up in a window – it provides a direct method of getting in front of your users;
• Website embedded – use it when you don’t want to interrupt your website visitors experience;
• Pop up invitation – it is correlated with the embedded survey because it pops up inviting your website visitor to take a survey.

Find out how Hootsuite used Qualaroo to discover valuable insights related to their landing page visitors behaviours.

5. Social media listening

Whether they are happy about your product or angry about your service, your customers turn to social media to tell everyone about it.

According to a Marketing Land study, 71 percent of all complaints on social media are posted on Facebook.
They may not mention your brand name so if you are not using a social media listening tool, you may miss out on a great opportunity to collect feedback.

Here are 7 ways you can grow your business using social media listening tools.

6. Chatbots

Chatbots are one of the most flexible and efficient automation tools available right now.

They can be programmed to achieve various objectives and meet company needs through conversation. They can live on company’s website, inside your company’s app or Messenger.

From increasing sales to qualifying leads, there is little chatbots cannot do. Using chatbots instead of the good old survey forms is a step up in the right direction. Chatbots can actually support your company to create a more engaging, fun and ultimately human customer experience.

Discover more about the benefits of chatbots in our article How to gain more leads with conversational marketing.

7. Survey inside Messenger

In a recent study, Survey Monkey found that 9 out of 10 people who took a survey on Messenger enjoyed their experience and would take a survey again in the app.

There are over 1 billion people messaging Facebook pages every month to ask questions so Messenger is definitely a great medium to talk to your customers and collect their feedback.

Learn about conducting surveys inside Messenger here.

Tips on how to craft your questions

Whatever tool you are using to collect customer feedback, here are our tips on how to craft your survey questions:

• Write your questions with your customer in mind what’s in it for them;
• Be specific and on point – asking vague questions will only get you vague answers;
• Be creative;
• If your survey is long-form, give them an incentive to complete your survey;
• Segment your customers and ask them laser-focused questions;
• Tell them they belong to a selected few;
• Get their attention with humour;
• Use a problem you have already identified as a starting point.

Here are a few examples:

 

 

Marketing research done right

Either you start a new business, launch a new project / product / service or you just want to stay ahead of your competition, a strong and smart marketing research will give you the necessary advantage over the competition. Moreover, in this ever-changing and moving market, with the technology changing it day by day and with consumers always up-to- date and in control of the situation, research becomes more and more important daily. Therefore, market research is a key component of any good product team management process, sales and marketing strategy, or business growth strategy.

“Marketing research can give a business a picture of what kinds of new products and services may bring a profit. For products and services already available, marketing research can tell companies whether they are meeting their customers’ needs and expectations. By researching the answers to specific questions, small-business owners can learn whether they need to change their package design or tweak their delivery methods–and even whether they should consider offering additional services,” writes entrepreneur.com.

Research deserves its important place in a business activity and should be treated accordingly.  We are presenting you some of the steps you must take in order to make sure your research is done right.

source: AdWeek

1. Primary research focuses on gathering data from analyzing current sales and the effectiveness of current practices. It also takes competitors’ plans into account, giving you information about your competition. The pieces of information will be received following: interviews (qualitative and quantitative), surveys, questionnaires (online or by mail), focus groups.

2. Secondary research. Analyzing the data that has already been published. and that can help you identify competitors, establish benchmarks and identify target segments. Your segments are the people who fall into your targeted demographic–people who live a certain lifestyle, exhibit particular behavioral patterns or fall into a predetermined age group.

3. Study the Economy: Just like the history is important in knowing and understanding who we are as a culture and what we will be in the future, showing what we can expect, so is knowing and understanding the economy helping your business grow. You can better understand reports about some of the most important big factors affecting the industry you’re in and the customers you hope will spend their money on your products or services.

Being up-to-date with the economics world will help you know how to adjust your business, prevent difficult situations and choose the right time to expand.

4. Read Business and Industry Publications: Whatever your industry, there’s likely a trade group or research firm out there compiling industry statistics and trends that are all insights into your business. Join your industry trade group or follow key industry thought their leaders on social media and media (their TV, print, online appearances). Being part of the industry and its insights will help you find out detailed industry statistics and trends that can help you better understand the past, present and future of companies like yours.

5. Look Elsewhere:  Take example from successful local and international businesses. A similar business on the opposite end of the country may give you some great promotional ideas, or an international market could start complaining about rising commodity prices before they affect you directly.

6. Hire a smart internal researcher and a good research agency. Your researcher will be able to present you monthly reports regarding the market and your consumers, while the agency will be a key element when making an important move on the market.  They will for sure make the difference.

More ideas and steps you can find here.