How Social Media Has Changed the Customer Feedback Scenario

Getting customer feedback on products and services is essential for all businesses, be it a small business or a large corporation. Surveys or feedback forms were the most common method to get customer feedback for many decades. They are no more relevant due to the ubiquitous use of social media bringing about a transformation in feedback modes. And social media is a great tool to get instant feedback. With a presence in this high visibility media, creating a profile on multiple social sites and soliciting feedback helps to maintain brand visibility, thus facilitating faster feedback. Here are the best social media platforms recommended by Shane Barker that can help your business get customer feedback.

Using Social Media to Get Customer Feedback

As a business, your products and services are aimed at meeting customer needs and it is important to make an effort to provide the best experience possible. According to experts, customer service is the new form of marketing. You could create a survey to get feedback to know exactly what could work for business. Getting the right information is not always an easy task – it is your responsibility to design a survey that is engaging. Depending on the information you seek to get from your survey, some of the areas that need to be covered are:

» Product/service usage

» Demographics

» Satisfaction scale

» Possibility of renewed contact

Using a survey maker is a good idea as it can act as the foundation to tailor questionnaires to be used in different media. However, the essential element that needs to be addressed is:

How well have you integrated social media use into customer experience?

According to a recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Survey, companies that integrate their customer experience with social media have been able to offer top-notch customer service and experience compared to competitors. According to this survey, just over 1/3 of respondents felt that companies have the tools and bandwidth to provide a great customer experience. In addition, market leaders or 12% of companies were aggressively using social media to promote their brand and listening to their customers as well. They went beyond just product branding and awareness to focus on generating leads for sales and also reducing risk related to their brand. The same top 12% of companies also posted the highest revenues with 10% or higher in just the preceding two years.

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What Factors Have Helped in Making A Difference?

The HBR survey also contained inputs from market leaders such as: › “Living Human Values” which resonate with customers. Shared values definitely play a role in engaging customers. When organizations trust, legitimize and even celebrate common social values, this moves people to work for “overall best interests” and the greater good. › “Customer Empowerment” via information availability and networked community. If a brand has a clear idea of brand position and integrity, it results in a win-win situation. Word-of-mouth advertising works only so long as originality, honesty, and authenticity survive time. › “Customer-Centric” companies understand their customers’ needs. Hence, this justifies connecting via social media. › “Improving all the time” is not just a line in a song. This is the cornerstone for companies which are well integrated and have customer interests at heart. They are not afraid to face criticism and engage well on social media. The willingness to improve in the face of criticism builds brand loyalty.

Why Finding an Authentic Voice Is Important for Companies?

An authentic voice is the best and quickest way to improve customer engagement. Some critical points to focus on are: 1. Empowering the Frontline: Managers who are familiar with the Schlesinger & Heskett model will be able to achieve the almost impossible. The model depicted in illustration form below is relevant and works even in a digital world:

2. Staying Real: Customers have access to so much information these days, it is hard to fool them. Acknowledging that you don’t know is the best way to handle a situation as it leaves room for improvement. 3. Helping Out: If there is anything that makes a customer’s life-and job easier, doing it will make your brand more beloved. 4. Empathizing: At some level, even a company is a customer. Empathizing helps you to become much better. A linear customer journey is no longer valid – with freely available information and entrenched use of mobile devices and social media, customers have the power to make or break a brand. Customers are increasingly adding to “micro-moments”, in which they look for information and share their recommendations whenever they can spare a bit of time. Some good customer satisfaction survey examples from highly visible brands such as Airbnb, the Hilton group of hotels, Uber cabs and Netflix to name a few, have been used effectively by these companies to improve their products and services. After all, the point of starting a company is to fill a market need and retaining customers is even more important than getting new ones, just to lose them due to poor service.

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In conclusion, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay, and it has forever changed the way business is conducted. For companies wanting to stay afloat and prosper, the only way forward is to be proactive and harness social media to make customers believe that change is possible. Each company has to find its very own mix of tactics to survive in a highly competitive market.