customer feedback

When implementing a Net Promoter programme, many organisations grow impatient. The initial business case may look compelling, but it may take months or even years before the results from acting on customer feedback show up in the (financial) numbers.

You know your customers are satisfied because the customer satisfaction (CSAT) score that you see on your daily dashboard tells you as much. The score is solid. But you aren’t satisfied; you believe it could be so much better. And rightly so – it usually can be. So, what’s a company to do to earn even better CSAT scores?

Author and businessman Harvey Mackay once said: “You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen – not just money, but respect.”

Those words could not be truer when it comes to customer experience and to your business.

What’s the secret to a great customer experience?

I’ll keep today’s post simple – and fun. Bob Farrell, founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, shared the secret to a great customer experience in 1973 (yes, almost 50 years ago!!), when he developed a motivational speech for new employees called Give ’em the Pickle!, based on a letter he received from a disappointed customer.

I originally wrote today’s post for Eptica. It appeared on their blog on June 13, 2019.

Problem Statement: Brands have been running Voice of the Customer programs for years, but customer experience has generally not improved. How can brands make sure that their VoC programs deliver ROI?

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If you want to improve the customer experience, you first need to understand your customers and their experiences; to do this, I typically recommend three approaches, all of which go hand in hand:

The following is an excerpt from my book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the “Customer” in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business

With whom and how do you socialize customer insights?

You’re listening to customers. You’re combining their feedback with those bread crumbs of data that they leave with every transaction and interaction with your brand. You’ve developed customer personas to better understand who they are, what problems they are trying to solve, and what jobs they need to get done. You’ve mapped their journeys to understand their experience today and their expectations for a better experience tomorrow.

Social media has become the go-to channel for customers and brands to communicate with one another. The conversation can involve anything from questions to complaints to shout-outs, but whatever the context, brands must be ready to respond with stellar customer service. Below are 11 methods for providing customer service through social.