Obtaining Customer Feedback

Obtaining feedback from customers is an effective way of improving your customer's satisfaction and increases your profits.

Identifying your customer's needs and wants, then investigating if your sales and/or service delivery system can (or should) be changed in a responsible, cost effective manner should be the main focus of collecting feedback.

What Feedback?

Customer feedback is essential management information. Generally, it can be an inexpensive source of market research because your customers visit your store regularly.

Some questions that should be asked are:

Who are your customers? Why are they your customers (and not somebody else's)? What do they like and dislike about your store? How can you make them feel valued? What should you do to keep them as customers?

Customers are an important source of information about the service standards of your store.

Methods of Obtaining Feedback

The methods used to gather customer feedback can vary and will depend on your workplace. Some methods can be time consuming and expensive. You need to determine the best way to obtain the information you need in a cost-effective way.

There are a number of methods you could use:

Surveys either personal, telephone or mail Mystery shopping Customer suggestions or comment cards Focus groups Toll free phone numbers

Below is a sample customer feedback form. While not always flattering to your store they can be a valuable method of identifying potential problems in the store. Usually, the customer that takes the time to fill out these forms feel strongly about the situation. If this type of feedback collecting method is used, it is very important to follow up and publicly respond to the issues raised by the customers. Otherwise your customers will feel that you are not taking their concerns seriously so why bother.

Dear Customer,     To help us provide the service you deserve, please tell us     what you think about our store. 1. Did you enjoy your visit to our store? [] Y [] N 2. Were you happy with the service we provided? [] Y [] N 3. Did we have the products you wanted in stock? [] Y [] N 4. Do you have any other comments you would      like to share with us? [] Y [] N Name:   Address: State: Phone:   Store Location:   Time and Date of visit: