Customer Feedback: A Beginner’s Guide
As your business accumulates more and more customers, many are likely to want to give feedback on your services, products, and overall customer experience. While it can feel difficult to hear honest feedback on something you’ve put so much time and energy into, these reviews are crucial for your future business development.
We’ve worked with many e-commerce businesses, and we understand the importance of customer reviews. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to your own customer feedback, below is our beginner’s guide to help get you started:
Why Are Customer Reviews Important?
People Trust Peer Reviews
It’s easy to see the benefits of customer feedback by putting yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Imagine you’re looking for a good restaurant in an unfamiliar location. You’re likely to pull up reviews online to see what other customers had to say about the quality of food, service, and overall dining experience at various locations. You’re unlikely to choose a restaurant that has overwhelmingly bad reviews or one with no reviews at all.
Similarly, potential customers will want to see what existing customers have to say about your business. If the reviews are unappealing or nonexistent, they are unlikely to become customers themselves.
Negative Feedback Is Constructive Criticism
While negative feedback is never desired, it’s important to respect negative reviews. If you do happen to receive negative feedback, view it as constructive criticism. Identify what made the customer unhappy, and see how you can improve on that subject in the future. If there is some way you can immediately address their problem, such as refunding a lost order, reach out to them and rectify the situation.
How to Ensure You’re Getting the Best Customer Feedback
Incentivize Customers to Leave Reviews
Create a way for your customers to be rewarded for their honest feedback. Examples of this include providing them with a discount coupon, free shipping on their next order, or a free gift with their next purchase. Not only are they more likely to leave you a review, but this could make them more likely to become a return customer as well.
Make Leaving a Review Easy
Customers don’t want to have to track down a place to leave a review for your business. Provide an easy-to-find form or comment section on your website so that customers can leave feedback about their experience. For e-commerce purchases, consider sending a “how did we do?” e-mail after the customer has received their item.
Try Not to Remove Negative Reviews
As stated earlier, most negative feedback can be seen as constructive criticism. If someone does leave you a negative comment, it’s important that this comment is left public for your customers to see. Every company gets a few negative reviews, and businesses with squeaky-clean feedback can seem too good to be true. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. If you find that a comment is vulgar or inappropriate, it is best to remove it from your site.
While it can be easy to get caught up in what others think of your business, don’t let reviews rule your decisions. Not everyone can be pleased, and if most customers are satisfied with your business, that’s all that truly matters.
What are your tips when it comes to customer reviews? Let us know in the comment section below!
