Your business does not exist in a vacuum. Even with social isolation happening, people still and always will have opinions on your product or service. Without hearing your customer, you will continue to operate through your own personal lense. Blockbuster is a perfect example of a company that did not keep their finger on the pulse of the entertainment industry in terms of how people were spending their time with it. They failed to modify their practices accordingly, which in turn had a negative impact on their company. Unfortunately, not receiving what your clients think of your business is a fast way to becoming irrelevant.

But we know that you are adaptive and resilient. You’re the type of leader who makes necessary changes to help your business thrive. With many businesses having to update their practices, taking advantage of Feedback Requests is a great opportunity to garner valuable information from customers during this time. “The term ‘feedback’ is used to describe the helpful information or criticism about prior action or behavior from an individual, communicated to another individual (or a group) who can use that information to adjust and improve current and future actions and behaviors.” (Source) To put it simply, feedback is just another term for effective listening.

Listening to the community you serve is essential at all times, especially now with the on-going pandemic. If you missed out on last week’s blog post, we mentioned that sending requests to past, current or new customers via SMS or email is a way to stay engaged within your community. There are many ways to use Feedback Requests, but utilizing a 1st party landing page for compliments, complaints, or suggestions can be highly beneficial in a number of ways.

These are our top recommendations on how you can utilize feedback to grow your business:

Use Positive Feedback to Motivate & Grow Your Team

Obtaining feedback from your customers is a way to develop a virtual focus group for your company that is continually growing. “One of the main benefits of focus groups is that they offer an in-depth understanding of the participants.” (Source) The qualitative data that can come from feedback is worth its weight in gold for your business. Positive feedback can be used to not only continue to motivate your team but also be a catalyst for growth in your business. This will give you the opportunity to champion your customer’s voice and utilize their words to help you grow your business by motivating your team and giving proof that what your company has to offer is excellent.

Another key strategy of growth your company can implement is utilizing embedded feeds with schema markup, like the one ReviewPush has to offer. The reason being is because positive embedded reviews are a huge help in improving local SEO. Your online reputation and how you attract leads through local SEO can be the deciding factor as to why your customers choose your business vs. your competitors. “Brick-and-mortar businesses wanting to win against competitors should make sure all the local signals across Google’s local search landscape are consistent and correct.” (Source)

Create a Safe Space to Resolve Negative Feedback

It is inevitable that your company will have to deal with negative feedback at some point. Negative feedback is generally rooted from a poor customer experience of some sort. Our advice is to always tune your ear to what your customers have to say so that you can be aware of how you can improve your offer, service, or product. However, always keep in discretion your own personal branding and your “why”. Stay aligned with those two factors as you effectively listen to your client’s positive or negative feedback to resolve the issue. Keep in mind that feedback is always available, but it is your company’s choice whether to listen to it.

Moreover, what is beneficial about ReviewPush’s 1st party landing page, is that you can listen to your customer’s input in a safe, private space. Creating a safe space where your customer’s input can be heard is of high value because the reason why they are presenting their issues is to ideally fix the problem. Ultimately it is your decision on how you address this matter and how you offer a pragmatic resolution. If your customer has any negative feedback, always be sure to stay true to your company’s mission statement and serve a solution to them.

At any level, humans value to be heard and acknowledged. When crisis arises, it’s important to have the mindset that we’re all in this together. Leave no concern unanswered. Acknowledge those in need and become a brand leader who listens well to their community. Your customers are ultimately the foundation of your company’s community. Champion them so that they become ambassadors for your business and customer service. Instead of a vacuum, foster a space where your clients can become your biggest fans.

Lee McNiel